RADIO
The 2015 season will be remembered as the year of the prospect. From Kris Bryant to Michael Conforto, rookies have drastically altered the dynasty landscape. Suddenly, your 30 year old (plus) keepers like Carlos Gomez, Adam Jones and Jose Bautista are smelling like listerine (the gold antiseptic kind) and Mookie Betts is making your loins a quiver.
There is no harder dynasty position to rank thank OF. It’s the deepest and every year there seems to be breakouts like A.J. Pollock and Lorenzo Cain. Both outperformed Jones, Gomez, Michael Brantley, and Justin Upton. Each respectively, were considered top 10 keepers by ESPN and each saw their keeper stock tumble.
Moving forward, the average age of your top 10 Dynasty Outfielder is just 26. Only Gomez cracks 30 and our youngest player is Bryce Harper, barely edging out Mookie Betts by nine days. This will be the first year since Mike Trout’s rookie campaign that we could conceivably begin the conversation about Trout being usurped as king of dynasty. Bryce Harper’s 9.5 WAR was best in the majors and highest since 2013 when Trout posted a 10.5. Harper bested Trout in every offensive category, which makes me excited to see how Trout responds and if Harper’s encore performance changes anyone's mind.
Top 10 Dynasty Outfielders For 2016
Make sure to also check out our awesome 2016 fantasy baseball rankings dashboard, where you will find more of my dynasty rankings. You'll also find RotoBaller staff rankings for all positions, tiered rankings starting to ramp up, MLB prospect rankings for 2016, and much more. Okay, let's get to it.
1. Mike Trout, 24
Cumulative over the last three seasons, Trout is 4th in HR’s with 105, 24th in SB, 8th in RBI and 13th in batting average. He is the top run producer with 328 and also leads everyone with a 27.5 WAR. He is simply the best player on the planet and might be the best baseball player ever. He undeniably retains the throne as the world’s top dynasty athlete for 2016.
2. Bryce Harper, 23
“Bryce Pilaf” hit more home runs as a teenager than Ken Griffey Jr. After a sophomore slump and an injury plagued 2014, all fears of a potential bust were squashed after leading the majors with a 9.5 WAR. Overall he ranks second.
3. Giancarlo Stanton, 26
With the most HR over the first half of 2015, Stanton put his power on display by blasting 29 four baggers. Stanton’s 484 foot blast off Carlos Martinez was good for longest HR in all of major league baseball. When healthy, “Bigfoot” is the biggest home run threat. We all know Stanton has not been able to stay healthy. After missing time in three of the last four years due to injury, you have to hope he can put another full season together - just to see what it would look like.
4. Starling Marte, 28
Love Marte. The king of BABIP and infield hits is also typically tops in LD%. He has tremendous speed and decent power. Marte is a line drive hitter, and he was able to turn some of those line drives into 13 first half home runs. Then, surprisingly unluckily, only hit six more over the remainder of the season.
I believe Marte has room to improve and will put together an MVP caliber season. Marte, along with Betts, Paul Goldschmidt, Pollock and Manny Machado are some of your 30/30 candidates, which is encouraging considering we haven’t had a 30/30 season since both Ryan Braun and Trout both did it in 2012.
5. Mookie Betts, 23
His rookie campaign saw him just nearly miss a 20/20 season with a 18/92/77/21 stat line. Betts’ .351 wOBA was better than Marte, Dee Gordon and Jose Altuve. He hits the ball hard and runs with plus speed. His 11% strikeout percentage ranks him 26th. He is also an athletic freak of nature. After never playing the position, Betts played better than average CF after a minor league career at 2B. He’s a keepah.
6. Andrew McCutchen, 29
The perennial 20/20 candidate had a surprising down year in 2015 with only 23 HR and 11 SB. While we have seen what McClutch is capable of, he underperformed in almost every category. I expect an increase in batting average, HR, and SB in 2016. Be careful though, Steamer is projecting a mirror image of 2015. It might be time to sell.
7. Joc Pederson, 24
Like a lot of rookies who struggle to make adjustments to major league pitching, Pederson fell off a cliff after July of last season. He would probably have been slotted ahead of Marte if he kept up his early season pace, but after only batting .210 for the year, Steamer is only projecting Pederson to hit .228 in 2016. What makes him irresistible is his power. In 2015, he was winner of the golden Sledgehammer, an award for the longest average distance of home runs - 421.7 feet. That is amazing.
8. A.J. Pollock, 28
After posting 20 HR with 39 SB and a .315 BA, Pollock earns the title of breakout star for 2016. Even more impressive, Pollock finished the season third in runs, right behind Trout and Harper with 111. Pollock has big expectations heading into the 2016 season and his dynasty owners are certainly hoping for a repeat.
9. Carlos Gomez, 30
Gomez’s combination of power and speed is very desirable. Considered a top ten draft pick at the start of the 2015 season, Gomez’s stock has dramatically fallen after his worst season in five years. After starting the season with a nagging hamstring injury, he was never able to get right and regain full health. I hope for a couple more elite seasons of production out of Gomez. It’s safe to mark him down for another 20/20 season while batting around .280/.357/.455 so long as he is healthy.
10. George Springer, 26
I’m not the biggest Springer fan, I’m just influenced by popular opinion. Springer is like the next Jay Bruce as far as I am concerned. He will probably hit around 30 HR with a .229 BA
Just Missed The Cut:
J.D. Martinez, 28
Yasiel Puig, 25
Justin Upton, 28
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