Ranking The Top Outfielders in Baseball

Today’s ESPN trivia question was about Carlos Beltran. It asked how high the voter thought Beltran ranked among the ranks of MLB outfielders. I voted for “The Top Half” but was outvoted by “The Top 20” and “The Top 10” had a pretty good showing as well. This got me thinking, who are the top 20 outfielders in the game and in what order? Is Carlos Beltran one of them? So, without further ado, here are my rankings of the top 20 outfielders in baseball, in order.

1. Matt Kemp- Triple Crown-esque numbers last season, he was the most dominant outfielder in baseball last year for a terrible team. In the wake of the Braun failed test revelations, I bet a lot of MVP voters are wishing they’d voted for Kemp. 39 homers, 126 RBIs, and a .326 AVG last season. He’s number 1
2. Ryan Braun- Yes there’s the whole 50 game suspension thing and possible cheating but Braun is and has been great. A career .312 hitter he had 33 bombs last season to go along with 33 steals. PED stuff aside, he’s great.
3. Jose Bautista– Jose just put together two of the best back to back seasons in recent memory. Last season, he had 54 homers and 124 RBIs and this year was arguably better. Jose hit 43 out and had 103 RBIs and a .302 AVG with a league leading walk total. No team in baseball would turn him down for their lineup.
4. Jacoby Ellsbury- He’s always been fast and now he has top quality power. After a terrible 2010 campaign, 2011 was a revelation. He finished 2nd in the MVP voting after 32 bombs, 39 steals and a .321 AVG.
5. Justin Upton- Full of potential his entire career and he’s finally begun to realize it. He had 31 homers last year while playing stellar defense and he carried his team into the playoffs. The very strong feeling that we’re about to enter the Justin Upton era puts him number 5 on this list.
6. Carlos Gonzalez- That he gets no attention doesn’t change the fact that this guy is unbelievable. In the year after he led the NL in hits and average and finished 3rd in the MVP race, Cargo was 20-20 again this year and hit .295. That this was considered a “down year” says everything about why he’s the 6th best outfielder in baseball.
7. Josh Hamilton- Hamilton is starting to age a bit and that’s caused him to slip down this list a bit but he’s still top notch. He was injured for much of this season but still finished 22nd in his quest to defend his MVP award while belting 25 bombs with a .298 average.
8. Shane Victorino- Victorino plays a great CF and sparked the lineup of the best team in baseball during the regular season.
9. Curtis Granderson- Granderson figured out how to hit lefties this season and in doing so, secured a spot in the top 10. Curtis led the AL in runs and RBI this season and hit 41 homers. He’s real good.
10. Hunter Pence- Pence excelled after moving to Philly mid-season but he has been a top outfielder for a while. Great arm, great bat (despite a weird swing), and decent glove. Top 10 for sure.
11. Ichiro- For a while, Ichiro was number 1, no doubt, but age has started to catch up with him. His average and productivity dipped big time last season. We’ve always heard that Ichiro had the power to be a home run hitter but has chosen to be a singles and steals guy instead. Maybe this year he’ll show us what he can really do and hit 40 homers.
12. Carl Crawford- He’s great. We all know it. I’ giving him a pass on last year entirely. In fact, he really should be higher on the list.
13. Andrew McCutchen- Electric player. His numbers didn’t really reflect how good he has been. He will be a top player in the league for a while. Watch out.
14. Mike Stanton- He’s huge and he just keeps getting better. The top prospect in baseball at one time, he could be the best hitter by far in a lineup that features Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez.
15. Shin-Soo Choo- Another underrated guy. He had a terrible year last year on and of the DL but was 20-20 with a .300 AVG the previous 2 seasons.
16. Torii Hunter- He’s aging for sure and is a long way off from being the best CF in baseball in Minnesota but Torii is still the man. Last year was his first in right and the first in a while he didn’t win a gold glove but he still deserves a spot on the list.
17. Adam Jones- Adam hasn’t quite put it all together yet but he’s a great defender and did hit 25 homers last season. Maybe the most telling thing about him is that the O’s wouldn’t trade him for Martin Prado and Jair Jurrjens.
18. Brett Gardner- Gardner is generally considered the best defensive left fielder in baseball and he stole more than 45 bases for the second year in a row this season. If only he could figure out how to hit consistently.
19. Nick Markakis- Nick won a gold glove this year and played at least 160 games for the third year in a row. He’s on the cusp offensively.
20. Nelson Cruz- An amazing postseason performer with maybe the best postseason ever in 2011, Nellie can hit a little in the regular season too. He’s not the most durable guy but he’ put at least 20 balls over the fence in each of the last 3 seasons.

(Honorable Mention: Matt Holiday, Carlos Beltran, Grady Sizemore, BJ Upton, Chris Young and Michael Bourne)

There you have it, the top 20 outfielders in the biz. What do you think?

-Max Frankel