The movement of a pitch is defined in inches, both in The 33-year-old hit .307 with runners in scoring position, and he had a .937 OPS in 205 plate appearances after the All-Star break. Join the Best Live Fantasy Chat Community! He failed to maintain a red-hot start in his first season with the team, but he put together the best year of his career in 2021, hitting .309/.362/.576 for a 136 OPS+ with 38 doubles, 34 home runs and 100 RBI for a career-high 3.2 WAR. How high/low, in degrees, a ball was hit by a batter. The 27-year-old posted a 171 OPS+ with 42 extra-base hits in 254 plate appearances, and he had 10 DRS in 509.2 innings in center field. With 5.3 WAR, he joined Jason Heyward (6.4, 2010) and Dusty Baker (5.1, 1972) as the only rookie outfielders in Atlanta Braves history with a 5-WAR season, and he edged out teammate Spencer Strider for NL Rookie of the Year honors. The 25-year-old posted a 128 OPS+ with 28 doubles, 30 home runs, 107 RBI and 25 steals in 29 attempts. 34 uncommitted RHP Anthony Marano (DePaul Catholic HS, NJ). Myles Straw, Houston Astros/Cleveland Guardians. Jeff Francoeur - +23.4 runs. Hardest OF assists, 2022 1. 1 spot on this list for years to come. He hit .264/.367/.487 with 29 doubles, 23 home runs and 10 steals, which, coupled with his usual standout defense in right field, was enough for him to finish fourth in WAR on a stacked Dodgers roster. All told, he hit .333 with 17 homers and a 1.158 OPS over 43 games in 2020. Reynolds hit.302/.390/.522 with 35 doubles, 24 home runs, 90 RBI and 93 runs scored for a 146 OPS+ despite having little in the way of protection in a bad Pittsburgh lineup. 23. pitch. He hit the walk-off home run in the NL Wild Card Game and had a three-homer game in Game 5 of the NLCS. He also hits the ball much harder than Santander. Tier Four 6. The veteran has been a productive fantasy bat for several years, but his 2020 slash line (.322/.412/.515) was well above his performance from 2017-19 (.257/.363/.492). How hard, in miles per hour, a fielder throws the ball. Three years ago, Ronald Acuna and Juan Soto emerged on the scene at two of the best rookies of all now. He'll never walk much or provide and value on the bases, but his power in the Blue Jay's stacked lineup is too tantalizing to pass up. But that seemed to be more about a rookie being overly aggressive than anything else. He once again tallied more walks (135) than strikeouts (96) while hitting .242/.401/.452 with 25 doubles, 27 home runs, 62 RBI and 93 runs scored. the fastest reactions and most direct routes in the You might not realize just how strong his arm is, though, because the focus tends to be on his hitting first, then his running, then his defense. The last time we saw him, he struggled his way to a 28.6% strikeout rate and a .220 average while missing almost two-thirds of the season. 58: Mitch Haniger (Seattle Mariners) Haniger missed all of 2020, but it sounds like he'll be ready to go for the 2021 season. How fast, in miles per hour, a ball was hit by a batter. The Cardinals seem to regularly find an unheralded rookie who emerges as a key contributor, and in 2022 it was Donovan who started the year as the team's No. Bryce Harper may never reach his 2015 MVP pinnacle again, but his ability to hit for power, get on base, and drive in runs will always make him a valuable fantasy player. Yordan lvarez actually played more games at designated hitter (77) than he did in the outfield (56), but since there are not enough everyday DHs for us to do a top 25 list for that position, he's being included here alongside the rest of the league's best outfielders. Mike Trout missed 30 games at midseason with a back issue and still finished eighth in AL MVP voting while taking home his eighth Silver Slugger Award. Martinez, Corbin Carroll, Jacob deGrom, Aaron Judge, Julio Rodriguez, Starts and Sits - All Starting Pitcher Matchups for Fantasy Baseball (May 1 - May 7), Nick Mariano's Waiver Picks - Get 'Em While They're Hot (Premium Content), Top Hitter Streamers - Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups and Starts for Week 6, Week 6 Waiver Wire Rankings - Pickups Include Logan Allen, Jarren Duran, Brett Baty, Gavin Stone, more, Points League Hitters: Waiver Wire Pickups for - Week 6, Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for - Week 6, Wurth 400 DFS: DraftKings, FanDuel NASCAR Daily Fantasy Lineup Picks, Starts and Sits - All Starting Pitcher Matchups for (Apr 24 - Apr 30), DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Picks (4/30/23): Today's Top MLB DFS Lineups, Top Hitter Streamers - Waiver Wire Pickups and Starts for Week 6. It was not his best all-around season by any stretch of the imagination, due in large part to the significant time he spent watching from the sidelines, but it was still good enough for a top-five ranking on this list. A hyped prospect since he was selected fifth overall in the 2015 draft, his breakout season went a long way toward replacing George Springer's lost production. Jorge Soler is one of the most interesting players on this list. Don't fall for the name recognition: Aaron Judge should not be at the top of draft boards, and he has to prove he can be both healthy and productive before he moves out of Tier 3. A .230/.305/.388 career hitter in 534 plate appearances entering the 2022 season, Ward was one of the year's biggest surprises. Last year was particularly concerning, as his exit velocity and barrel percentage fell by eight percent and four percent, respectively. F inal. How fast, in miles per hour, a ball was hit by a batter. After a terrific finish to the 2019 season with the Chicago Cubs, Nick Castellanos signed a four-year, $64 million contract with the Cincinnati Reds in free agency. Yes, Gallo hit .160 with a 38.6 percent strikeout rate after the Rangers traded him to the Yankees. Alvarez wasn't just good for a rookie, he was the best hitter in baseball not named Mike Trout or Christian Yelich, as his OPS+ would have been third in the majors had he qualified. Smith is the player I like more going forward, as he's shown a more consistent ability to hit for average and get on base. The Yankees re-signed Brett Gardner, but they may finally give Frazier a chance to play every day. In a down season by his own lofty standards, Juan Soto was still one of the most productive offensive players in the game. With free agency looming after the 2022 season, another performance like that would set him up for a huge payday next winter. The 31-year-old remains one of baseballs most imposing sluggers, but he has appeared in just 41 regular season games over the past two years. Previous picks: Mookie Betts (hit), Joey Gallo (power), Christian Yelich (run), Harrison Bader (defense), Cody Bellinger, CF, DodgersKey stat: 101.1 mph max arm strength. The 27-year-old is miscast as a center fielder (-14 DRS, -3.2 UZR/150) and that undercut his overall value a bit. The movement of a pitch is defined in inches, both in Buxton is the riskier pick, as he has only played more than 100 games once in his career, but he provides more power and baserunning ability than Laureano. mlb outfield arm strength rankings. His 6.4 WAR marked the sixth time in nine MLB seasons that he's been a 6-WAR player, and he finished fifth in NL MVP voting, one spot behind teammate Freddie Freeman. He racked up 4.7 WAR despite missing 35 games early in the season with a fractured rib. Outfielder Kai Murphy, the son of Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy, who was the Padres' interim . and, on certain types of batted balls, Sprint Speed. A Kearns 4. Discover the current and all time season leaders in Seasonal, Offensive, Defensive, and Pitching Wins Above Replacement in Major League Baseball on ESPN.com MLB Wins Above Replacement - 2023 Season: He made a clear effort in 2020 to get the ball in the air, increasing his launch angle by almost 10 points, and it resulted in a massive spike in home run rate. Escape Velocity takes the average of a player's batted ball velocities subtracted from 88. able to make a catch on an individual batted ball. Martinez started cold and never recovered last season, and Meadows was never right after dealing with COVID-19 in July. I really like Jeff McNeil at this spot. Two defense-first players lead the Tier 6 pack, as Ramon Laureano and Byron Buxton are both more valuable in real life than fantasy. Max Kepler is someone I like at this spot. Esten McLaren. For a pitcher it is the average of his softest 50% of batted balls allowed. The wild card in this tier is Kelenic, MLB Pipelines No. 14. Target Wiemer as a free agent outfielder on the waiver wire. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. The Red Sox acquired him at the deadline, and he finished with a 148 OPS+ and 32 home runs in 113 games, posting a .266/.374/.554 line that represented career highs across the board. -- Thomas Harrigan Previous picks: Michael Brantley (hit), Nelson Cruz (power), Trea Turner (run), Kevin Kiermaier (defense) For a batter, Best Speed is an average of 50% of his hardest hit balls. The 26-year-old finished the season as a 6.0 WAR player, earning a spot among the Gold Glove finalists in center field on top of his excellent offensive numbers. Expect Bellinger to return to his MVP form this season. He is only middle of the pack in terms of exit velocity and hard-hit percentage, making him extremely reliant on BABIP luck. Mullins didn't quite match the out-of-nowhere 30/30 season he put together in 2021, but he was still one of the game's better everyday center fielders. However, the slugger has missed nearly a full seasons worth of games (142) over the past three years due to an assortment of injuries, which is something for fantasy managers to keep in mind. 6-foot-2, 240 pounds. Need more power? A player I don't like is Michael Brantley. Assuming he is healthy, of course. As a rookie, he hit .314/.377/.503 with 37 doubles, 16 home runs and 68 RBI to finish fourth in NL Rookie of the Year balloting and rack up 4.2 WAR. Ugly defensive metrics (-15 DRS, -17.7 UZR/150) and the fact that he was essentially a platoon player (57 PA vs. LHP) kept Pederson from ranking any higher, but he was a terrific bargain on a one-year, $6 million deal. Bellinger's contact and strikeout rates barely moved, so the main culprit appears to be a .245 BABIP. Statcast refers to the spin that contributes to movement The precision is there (nine errors across nearly 1,140 innings last year), and so is the power and reaction time. An intercostal strain limited Winker to only one game after Aug. 15. Outfielder Jump. Los Angeles Dodgers. Or his 92 mph rocket from right to nail Stephen Strasburg at first base and preserve a Hyun-Jin Ryu no-hit bid on May 12. A prototypical right fielder with plus power and a strong throwing arm, Renfroe was productive once again playing for his fourth team in as many years. No other infielder came close to matching his average arm strength on Statcast-measured throws. There were only seven players with an on-base percentage higher than Conforto's last year, and only four of those seven could match his .412 on-base percentage. His production bottomed out during the abridged 2020 campaign, but he bounced back in a big way this year. 1 spot in 2023? 2021 Fantasy Baseball Outfielder Rankings 2. There are safer options available, but it's far more likely that Yelich's down season was more attributed to unluckiness and small sample size than an actual decline of skill. All rights reserved. In addition, ATC Projections by Ariel Cohen were the #1 most accurate projections system in 2019. A solid comp to Kaiser would be current Seton Hall outfielder, Devin Hack out of Somerville High School, a 2019 grad. That being said, Mike Trout is Mike Trout, and even in a down season, he still improved his exit velocity by almost 3 mph. Springer has been one of the most productive outfielders in the game over the past five years, and he has joined up with a Blue Jays team that averaged 5.03 runs per game in 2020. This is not to say Santander is a bad player. Not only does he not hit for average or steal bases, but his average and supporting cast are so weak that it hampers his ability to drive in runs despite his massive power. He played more games in the outfield (93) than he did at his natural position of third base (55), and he posted a 124 OPS+ with 32 doubles, 25 home runs and 73 RBI in a 3.3 WAR season. Through all the excess options, it becomes even more important to find the top values and to not settle for "good enough" production. Jump is a Statcast metric that shows which players have As a matter of fact, the consensus top two outfielders Mike Trout and Mookie Betts also are considered the two best overall players in MLB. L Walker 9. How quickly, in seconds, a catcher can get the ball out Harper hit .338/.476/.713 with 20 home runs after the All-Star break, doing his part to help a Phillies team that tried in vain to chase down a postseason berth. Then theres Stanton, who might be the biggest boom-or-bust pick in fantasy. Or his game-saving throw from center field to the plate against the Red Sox in the 10th inning of Game 3 of the 2018 World Series. And it would be a crime not to grab Bellinger in this five-tools exercise somewhere. But the best of the best can fire lasers directly at their targets, from any position. He famously set the Royals home run record in 2019 but fell off the table in 2020. For the remaining three-quarters of the season, however, he hit .190 with a .644 OPS. He doesn't have much help in the lineup, but playing time is guaranteed and if you can get a guy with a .575 slugging percentage at this stage of the draft, you're not complaining. Andrew Benintendi, Kansas City Royals/New York Yankees. With all the controversy surrounding the Astros the last few years, it's easy to forget just how dominant he was in 2019. Perhaps most important of all, he played in a career-high 151 games, proving he can stay healthy for a full season after injuries had significantly limited him in 2019 (69 games) and 2021 (92 games). It's time to put a bow on the 2022 MLB season with Bleacher Report's final positional rankings. Escape Velocity takes the average of a player's batted ball velocities subtracted from 88. How much spin, in revolutions per minute, a pitch was Grisham showcased his flashy tools during the shortened season, reaching double digits in both home runs and steals. Or, he could be in minors by July. The well-rounded Betts is our second-ranked outfielder and No. Jump is calculated only on plays that are Two Stars or harder, meaning Once the unanimous best fantasy player in baseball, Mike Trout has slipped a bit due to less aggressive baserunning (just one steal last year) and a "down" 2020 (career-low 162 WRC+). He hit .271 with a .349 on-base percentage, tallying 34 extra-base hits, 30 steals and 3.2 WAR, and he was also a Gold Glove finalist in center field. Red Sox. But that represents the bulk of the 26-year-olds big league experience. Yes, you can chalk that up to small sample size and rib and calf injuries, but there is no denying that none of his rate stats have been the same since 2017. He also slugged 38 home runs while winning his second straight Gold Glove. The 29-year-old opted out of the final two years of his contract shortly after the World Series concluded. Right behind them are Mookie Betts, who someone got better in his first season in Dodger Blue, setting a career-high in sweet spot percentage and home run rate. The ultra-versatile Taylor was an All-Star for the first time in 2021, posting a 110 OPS+ with 25 doubles, 20 home runs, 73 RBI, 92 runs scored and 13 steals in 148 games. play. Fantasy managers can still find some starting-caliber outfielders in this tier. Exit Velocity & Barrels Leaderboard Current: Exit Velocity & Barrels A table displaying leaders in Statcast metrics such as Sweet Spot % (SwSp%), Barrels, Exit Velocity (EV), Batted Ball Distance (DST), Projected Home Run Distance (HR-DST), Launch Angle (LA) and Batted Ball Events (BBE) . To qualify for inclusion, a player simply had to have at least 200 plate appearances. With that, he became just the second player in Astros history with a 30-homer, 25-steal season, joining Hall of Famer first baseman Jeff Bagwell who did it twice. The 28-year-old hit .291 with 35 homers, 97 RBIs, 106 runs and an .899 OPS the last time we saw him. His 149 OPS+ ranked eighth among all qualified hitters and trailed only Aaron Judge (211) and Yordan lvarez (187) among outfielders. 16. Previous picks: Jeff McNeil (hit), Gary Snchez (power), Tim Locastro (run), Victor Robles (defense), Javier Bez, SS, CubsKey stat: Five assists over 90 mph in 2019. And much-ballyhooed Mariners rookie Jarred Kelenic has a moderate knee strain. Whether it's unleashing the ball from deep in the outfield, across the infield or behind the plate, it can make the seemingly impossible happen. Let's dive into the top 25 outfielders of the 2022 season. 1. A Bolt is any run where the Sprint Speed (defined as The deal to acquire him from the St. Louis Cardinals prior to the 2020 season in exchange for prospect Matthew Liberatore looks like a major win. The 23-year-old had more walks (145) than strikeouts (93) on his way to an MLB-best .465 on-base percentage. Brandon Nimmo was a 5-WAR player for the first time in his career in 2022, just in time to test the free agency waters. The last edition ran April 17, while the next edition will be published May 15. Grab him for the floor he provides in average and RBI but the upside isn't there. He also posted well-above-average defensive metrics (5 DRS, 19.7 UZR/150) in left field, which makes it much easier to justify including him in these rankings. xERA is a simple 1:1 translation of xwOBA, converted to He filled up the stat sheet with 22 doubles, 25 home runs, 76 RBI, 89 runs scored and 14 steals while playing his usual solid defender in center field in a 4.0-WAR campaign. produces a result. How far, in feet, a runner is ranging off the bag at the