2023 Dynasty Fantasy Positional Rankings: Outfielder — College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects

Image credit: Juan Soto (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

In the outfield, you’ll find a mixture of archetypes, including power, speed and defense-first players—and sometimes you can find all three within the same player, especially at the top of our rankings. Players approaching their peak years but already contributing across multiple categories are gold in dynasty leagues and there are several fitting the bill in the outfield who you should accumulate on your roster.

Our rankings are targeted specifically for dynasty leagues, with a focus on balancing a variety of scoring formats. To achieve this we focused on wRC+ as our primary measure. While wRC+ by its nature is OBP-slanted, we took into consideration high and low batting averages when ranking players. The goal of these positional rankings is to provide the best possible order based on a value of three to five years, which means older, productive veterans are discounted and may be ranked alongside or even behind prodigious talents yet to debut.

Keep all of this in mind when considering your team’s needs and the context of your league. If you are trying to compete in 2023, you should prefer Joey Gallo over the Mets’ Alex Ramirez (who we have ranked back-to-back), but some of your league mates, especially those not competing, would likely prefer Ramirez in a trade.

Because of the depth of the position and the typical necessity to roster three or more on your fantasy teams, we have listed 150 outfielders below and added additional targets, sleepers and players to fade.

1. Juan Soto, SDP

2. Julio Rodriguez, SEA

3. Ronald Acuna Jr., ATL

4. Kyle Tucker, HOU

5. Aaron Judge, NYY

6. Yordan Alvarez, HOU

7. Fernando Tatis Jr., SDP

8. Mike Trout, LAA

9. Mookie Betts, LAD

10. Bryce Harper, PHI

11. Michael Harris, ATL

12. Corbin Carroll, ARI

13. Randy Arozarena, TBR

14. Luis Robert Jr., CHW

15. Eloy Jimenez, CHW

16. Jackson Chourio, MIL

17. Seiya Suzuki, CHC

18. Byron Buxton, MIN

19. Cedric Mullins, BAL

20. Kyle Schwarber, PHI

21. Jordan Walker, STL

22. James Wood, WAS

A GP Target: With an unusual combination of plate skills, double-plus raw power and athleticism, Wood cemented himself among the best prospects in the game during his full-season debut in 2022. He hit .337/.453/.601 over 50 games with Low-A Lake Elsinore before he was shipped to the Nationals as a part of the Juan Soto trade. Wood’s ability to discern balls and strikes is elite, as he chased pitches outside of the zone at a rate of 23%, while making contact at a rate of 75% or better. While Wood’s plate skills are tremendous, his raw power is easily double-plus. Wood slugged 40 extra-base hits over 76 games, while displaying elite exit velocity data. Wood’s 90th percentile exit velocity of 109 mph and hard-hit rate of 49% put him among the best raw power hitters in the minor leagues. With a full season under his belt, Wood might develop into one of the top five prospects in the game by the end of the 2023 season.

23. Bryan Reynolds, PIT

24. George Springer, TOR

25. Tyler O’Neill, STL

26. Andrew Vaughn, CHW

27. Daulton Varsho, ARI

28. Riley Greene, DET

29. Teoscar Hernandez, SEA

30. Steven Kwan, CLE

31. Christian Yelich, MIL

32. Taylor Ward, LAA

33. Jake McCarthy, ARI

34. Kris Bryant, COL

35. Adolis Garcia, TEX

36. Starling Marte, NYM

37. Giancarlo Stanton, NYY

38. Lars Nootbaar, STL

A GP Target: There are few players I’m more interested in targeting in drafts this year than Nootbaar. After exceeding his rookie limits in 2022, Nootbaar put up a .228/.340/.448 line over 347 plate appearances. His batting average was dragged down by an unusually low batting average on balls in play of .248. In all likelihood that number should regress to the mean of .300, a typical BABIP. Nootbaar limits strikeouts—he was sat down via strikeout in just 20.5% of his plate appearances, while walking at a robust rate of 14.7%. In addition to his pristine plate skills, Nootbaar’s exit velocity data is strong—his 91.7 mph average exit velocity ranked 25th among players with 200 or more batted-ball events in 2022. He’s not just pounding the ball into the ground, either, as his barrel rate ranked inside the top 50. If Nootbaar gets 500 plate appearances in 2023 he may rank within the top 25 at the position.

39. Anthony Santander, BAL

40. Royce Lewis, MIN

41. Druw Jones, ARI

42. Nick Castellanos, PHI

A DW Fade: Despite making it to the World Series, Castellanos would rather forget 2022. He had the lowest barrel rate of his career (below the MLB average), as well as the lowest line drive rate and the highest pop up rate. If you look at his percentiles on his Baseball Savant page, he essentially posted career lows across all metrics. One of the biggest culprits responsible for his downturn was his inability to handle fastballs, posting an xSLG against heaters below .500 for the first time in his career. It is rare that a player’s true talent would fall off so precipitously one year removed from a 34-home run season, so there should be a bit of a bounce back, though projection systems still only see him as a slightly better than average hitter. Because he is now in his 30s, his dynasty value will likely continue to decrease.

43. Sal Frelick, MIL

44. Evan Carter, TEX

45. Brandon Nimmo, NYM

46. Ian Happ, CHC

47. Emmanuel Rodriguez, MIN

A DW Target: The Twins outfielder blasted his way into our minds in a 188-plate appearance stint in 2022 before being felled by a knee injury which required surgery. Before that injury, Rodriguez had a ridiculous 18% walk rate (leading to a ludicrous .492 on-base percentage) due to a keen eye that resulted in a 12% chase rate. Although his profile is currently mostly full of synonyms for ‘outrageous,’ he does have some swing-and-miss to his game—something to watch in 2023. He still has a plus hit tool and plus power and could cement himself as a top 20 prospect in the sport by the end of the season.

48. Pete Crow-Armstrong, CHC

49. Cody Bellinger, CHC

50. Masataka Yoshida, BOS

51. Colton Cowser, BAL

52. Zac Veen, COL

53. Mitch Haniger, SFG

A GP Fade: Entering his age-32 season Haniger has had just two full, healthy seasons under his belt. The expectation that Haniger will stay healthy is a difficult bet to make. While Haniger does hit the ball hard and shows average plate skills, it’s not enough to overcome the risk that Haniger will play under 80 games again in 2023. Now that he’s an aging veteran on the wrong side of 30 and moving to one of the worst home parks for righthanded power hitters in baseball, I’m unlikely to target him in leagues of any scoring style. Betting on a full, healthy and productive season for Haniger feels like a fool’s errand.

54. Elijah Green, WAS

55. Esteury Ruiz, OAK

A DW Sleeper: Ruiz has been the target of much derision ever since he debuted for the Padres in 2022, mostly for his lack of juice in the bat. Being traded to the Brewers—and then to the Athletics—within a year has done nothing to change the notion that, in terms of real life value, he is only a fringe regular. True, his exit velocities do not jump off the page, but his 90th percentile exit velocity is essentially average for Triple-A (despite the fact that Ruiz is younger than the average age for the level) and he has a knack for pairing his highest exit velocities with optimal launch angles. As Whitey Herzog has been attributed as saying, speed can’t slump—and Ruiz should post more than 30 stolen bases per 600 plate appearances. The question is whether he can contribute enough at the dish to be given those plate appearances. I believe that he can, and that would result in an extremely valuable fantasy contributor.

56. Jasson Dominguez, NYY

57. Dylan Carlson, STL

58. Christopher Morel, CHC

59. Jarred Kelenic, SEA

60. Andrew Benintendi, CHW

61. Oscar Gonzalez, CLE

A GP Fade: Gonzalez’s playoff run last season was impressive as he came through in clutch moments for the Guardians. As often happens following a stellar playoff performance, Gonzalez is now being overrated in drafts. Gonzalez hit .296/.327/.461 over 382 plate appearances in 2022. His batting average was heavily buoyed by his .345 batting average on balls in play, and his 3.9% walk rate in 2022 was among the bottom 15 in baseball among hitters with a minimum of 300 plate appearances. He also showed one of the worst approaches in baseball, as Gonzalez’s 48.3% chase rate ranked the second worst in the sport, behind only Javier Baez. Betting on Gonzalez maintaining that level of production while chasing at an exorbitant rate is just not a gamble I want to make.

62. Hunter Renfroe, LAA

63. Harrison Bader, NYY

64. Alex Verdugo, BOS

65. Jesse Winker, MIL

66. Austin Meadows, DET

67. Ramon Laureano, OAK

68. George Valera, CLE

69. Michael Conforto, SFG

70. Bryan De La Cruz, MIA

71. Austin Hays, BAL

72. Jesus Sanchez, MIA

73. Garrett Mitchell, MIL

74. Alek Thomas, ARI

75. Joc Pederson, SFG

76. Everson Pereira, NYY

77. Miguel Bleis, BOS

78. Gavin Cross, KCR

79. Alexander Canario, CHC

80. Ceddanne Rafaela, BOS

81. Josh Lowe, TBR

82. Kevin Alcantara, CHC

83. Andy Pages, LAD

84. Samuel Zavala, SDP

A GP Sleeper: The youngest player to play at the full-season level in 2022, Zavala held his own over 33 games in Low-A. At the time Zavala was just 17, and hit .254/.355/.508 with a 13.5% walk rate and a respectable strikeout rate of 26.2%. Beyond his plate skills and production Zavala displayed power, posting a .254 isolated slugging percentage with Lake Elsinore while posting exit velocity data in-line with the major league average. Zavala’s average exit velocity of 88.2 mph, 90th percentile exit velocity of 103.5 mph and hard-hit rate of 38.4% portend future plus power at maturation. His strong swing decisions should be enough for him to overcome fringe-average bat-to-ball skills. Despite his age, Zavala is the type of prodigious young prospect worth going all in on for rebuilding teams and competitive rosters alike.

85. Robert Hassell III, WAS

86. Mason Auer, TBR

87. Brennen Davis, CHC

88. Oscar Colas, CHW

89. Spencer Jones, NYY

90. Chase DeLauter, CLE

91. Jake Fraley, CIN

92. Will Brennan, CLE

93. Trent Grisham, SDP

94. Alec Burleson, STL

95. Seth Brown, OAK

96. Kyle Stowers, BAL

97. Oswaldo Cabrera, NYY

98. Jonny DeLuca, LAD

99. Alex Ramirez, NYM

100. Joey Gallo, MIN

101. Max Kepler, MIN

102. Heston Kjerstad, BAL

103. Josue De Paula, LAD

A GP Sleeper: De Paula boasts a unique combination of athleticism, plate skills and projectable power. One of the standouts of the Dominican Summer League in 2022, De Paula’s price in dynasty is yet to reach a fever pitch, making him one of my primary targets this offseason. The cousin of New York City basketball legends Stephon Marbury and Sebastian Telfair, De Paula has strong athletic bloodlines. His bat-to-ball skills and approach are plus, while his frame hints at future plus power potential. With the Dodgers player development behind him, De Paula is one of my primary targets in dynasty leagues in 2023. He should be a late-round target for all managers in 2023 dynasty startups.

104. Juan Yepez, STL

105. Matt Wallner, MIN

106. Gabriel Martinez, TOR

107. Lourdes Gurriel Jr., ARI

108. Tyler Gentry, KCR

A DW Sleeper: After not being among the Royals’ top 30 prospects a year ago, Gentry truly broke out to find himself as the No. 7 prospect in the organization entering 2023 after putting up a .326/.422/.542 slash line across two levels. With scouting grades of 50s or 55s across the board, Gentry will likely start this season in Triple-A, but if he continues to lower his strikeout rate and increase his contact quality, he may find himself manning right field in the majors by the second half of 2023.

109. Joey Wiemer, MIL

110. Manuel Margot, TBR

111. Dustin Harris, TEX

112. Aaron Zavala, TEX

113. Anthony Gutierrez, TEX

114. Grant McCray, SFG

115. Gabriel Gonzalez, SEA

116. Edward Olivares, KCR

117. Nolan Jones, COL

118. Estevan Florial, NYY

119. Lawrence Butler, OAK

120. Drew Gilbert, HOU