Fantasy Baseball: Positional Rankings - Outfield

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

If you know me, then you know that I have a soft spot for the outfield position. Actually, it's really a soft spot for center fielders, but that really doesn't matter. What matters here are stats, stats and more stats. With that being said, the position is stocked with productive fantasy players of all kinds.

The Top 20:

1. Ryan Braun - Brewers

2. Matt Kemp - Dodgers

3. Carl Crawford - Rays

4. Justin Upton - Diamondbacks

5. Matt Holliday - Cardinals

6. Jacoby Ellsbury - Red Sox

7. Ichiro Suzuki - Mariners

8. Curtis Granderson - Yankees

9. Nick Markakis - Orioles

10. Adam Lind - Blue Jays

11. Adam Jones - Orioles

12. Grady Sizemore - Indians

13. Jason Werth - Phillies

14. Carlos Lee - Astros

15. Josh Hamilton - Rangers

16. B.J. Upton - Rays

17. Manny Ramirez - Dodgers

18. Andre Eithier - Dodgers

19. Carlos Gonzalez - Rockies

20. Alfonso Soriano - Cubs

The Elite:

It's amazing how much different most of the top fantasy outfielders are in the "post" steroid days. Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford, who are now bona fide superstars in my mind have pretty much everything to offer you. Kemp is a 5 tool player who is still so raw it gets me so excited to see how he improves from year to year. Crawford, most likely headed to New York after the season, got his health back last year and really took off. He hit for average (.305), a decent amount of power and RBI (15, 68) and stole a ton of bases (60). The true elite fantasy outfielder has to be Ryan Braun. He's a proven power hitter (32 HR, 112 RBI) who also hits for average (.320), scores (113 runs) and has a career .937 OPS.

The 2nd Tier:

This category brings you a couple of youngster, Jacoby Ellsbury and Justin Upton who have very different styles of play. Upton bring the thunder while Ellsbury steals a ton of bases. Ellsbury really needs to increase his on base percentage a bit more to become an elite fantasy player. I also like Matt Holliday, hitting behind Pujols only, and the very consistent Ichiro to fill out the 2nd tier.

On the Rise:

Adam Jones - will have a season much like Matt Kemp in 09' as long as he stays healthy. Can do pretty much anything.

Carlos Gonzalez - Was lights out in the 2nd half last season. He gets a chance to do it from the start and build off his .284 average and 13 homers in only 289 at bats.

Andrew McCutchen - Much like Gonzalez, McCutchen starting to show his potential during the 2nd half of last season. He will not be hitting in the lead off spot this season, so you should see his RBI total be a bit higher than expected. Look for him to hit about .290 with 20 homers, 80+ RBI and 30+ steals. That is great for a 4th outfielder in fantasy.

Jason Heyward - The biggest buzz in baseball is created by this young phenom. I, for one, bank on him winning the NL Rookie of the year as he bursts on to the scene. He might struggle a bit off the block, but look for him to hit 25 home runs his rookie season.

Travis Snyder - He will have a year very similar to Adam Lind's 2009, when Lind had a breakout season. He may not his 35 homers and 135 RBI, but look for 25+ and 85+ RBI.

On the Slide:

Jason Bay - Don't get me wrong. I like Jason Bay and think he's a fine player, but I just look at what happened to David Wright last year in the first season Citi Field. After hitting 63 home runs combined the previous two seasons, Wright had a measly 10 in 2009. Bay has good power, but not nearly enough to top 20 this season.

Josh Hamilton - The man just can't stay healthy. Unless you can get him late, stay away and take someone potentially less productive who you can count on playing everyday.

Alfonso Soriano - Pretty much the same thing as Hamilton. His average dropped 50 points last season and he only stole 9 bags. Even being dropped in the order will not increase his RBI, so I say watch out.

Vernon Wells - Wells is an absolute waste of a fantasy pick. This is by far the worst contract in baseball now that Barry Zito had a decent year last year.

Sorry about taking so long on this, but sometimes reality sticks itself into Fantasy and Fan Fanatic Sports. Stay tuned on Wednesday for the Starting Pitchers and Friday for the Relievers.

Eagles make Frozen Four, but it's RIT I'll be watching

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

The stage is set for the Frozen Four and once again Boston College will be there.

The Eagles earned their seventh trip in the last 11 seasons (2000-2010) with a 9-7 win over Yale Sunday evening. That's right. There were 16 goals between the two sides, which was an NCAA record for a regional game, eclipsing the previous mark of 13.

BC will face Miami (OH), who survived a double-overtime battle with Michigan, 3-2.

But with all the exciting action going on in the tournament, there is no better story than RIT, which has become this year's Bemidji State. RIT made heavily favored Denver (the No. 2 overall team in the tournament) look just plain bad in the opening round, then made New Hampshire look even worse with a 6-2 win to propell itself to Detriot.

Maybe it was the home-ice feel in Albany. Maybe the stars aligned just right. Maybe they caught Denver in the midst of a badly-timed slump (remember, they lost two games in the conference tournament, too). Maybe they dodged a bullet in having UNH upset Cornell. Or maybe the Tigers are really just that good.

I knew RIT was a balanced team, but the Tigers surprised me in how well they skated, making Denver look slow and how good their transition game is, as was displayed in the UNH game.

Do they have enough to get past Wisconsin and get to the title game? I'm still not sure and I don't know if anyone else can be, either. After all, most of the nation has only seen this team play for 120 minutes so far this year.

But in a tournament that now has three No. 1 seeds and a No. 4 remaining, I'm becoming a Tigers fan.

Here's how my bracket is shaping up (Click on the bracket for a larger view). Check back for analysis on how each Hockey East team has performed in the tournament thus far.