The calendar has turned, the baseball equinox has passed, and the Dynasty Gurus have emerged from their caves to present you with our annual positional rankings. Fortunately for all of us, the caves have internet access so we’ve been able to research, analyze, and debate these players to develop a set of composite rankings that will help you win your dynasty leagues one player at a time.

This year a team of ten gurus each submitted our rankings and we are proud to publish the composite results here and in our Discord channel. Over the next several weeks we’ll be publishing these lists by position, with separate prospect lists as well, broken down in easily digestible bites with summaries for each group of ten. Be sure to listen to the weekly review of each position’s rankings on the Join the Ranks Podcast as well.

If you’d like to see our rankings weeks in advance of them hitting the site, please consider donating below!

As a reminder, we rank for On Base Percentage (OBP) leagues and we are projecting the three-year impact each player will have on your dynasty roster.

Today we move on to the top of the very talented heap, outfielders #1 – 20.

#1 – #10

This top 10 group of Outfielders, each one of them could end 2025 as the #1 Fanasty OF (and/or overall player), and we wouldn’t be surprised. It’s that good a group.

Big City Lights

Juan Soto takes home the top spot in our rankings, and he doesn’t even steal bases (they say)! Coming off his best season as a professional baseball player, Soto set himself up well to sign a massive deal to join the Mets. The floor is quite high, with a 100/30/100/10 for the counting stats and the best OBP money can buy. Drafting Soto to your Dynasty team is a gimmie, as in, “gimmie the best outfielder available, please and thank you!” You’re drafting for a Dynasty, not only next year, so if Soto only goes 90/29/110/5, that’s the actual floor you’re paying for.

Soto’s age and super high floor had him just ahead of our #2 outfielder, reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge. Judge played most of his 2024 games in centerfield, but Yanks GM Brian Cashman said it makes sense for Judge to move back to rightfield, for those of you who play in position-specific leagues. Easy to see Judge finishing 2025 as the top OF; he actually had the best K rate of his career in 2024 (24% compared to a career rate of 28%).

In his prime at age 28, Kyle Tucker is on a one-year deal in Chicago and will look to put up a monster season heading into free agency. The Cubs gave up a lot, and they were not one piece away, but no matter. Tucker jerseys will be seen throughout Wrigleyville all summer. An early June foul ball off his right shin basically took Tucker out for the rest of 2024; sadly, he was in the midst of his best pro season; and let’s not forget how well he ended it as well, slashing .365/.453/.587 over 18 games. Most likely he’ll sign a huge deal with a big time squad in 2026 (yeah, that’s a dig at my Cubbies front office), giving him plenty of counting stat opportunities in the future, too.

Junior Junior

Mr. 40/70 himself, Ronald Acuña Jr.is our #4 ranked outfielder, although he slumped his way through early 2024 before tearing his ACL in his right knee on May 26^th, ending his season. Sadly, he tore his left knee ACL back in 2021 and it took nine months to recover. The team reported in November Acuña won’t be ready for the season start, so that already puts him behind to start the 2025 season. As he’s one of my favorite players to watch, it pains me to fade him (a bit). Don’t expect a 40/70 season, where Acuña attained 735 plate appearances, and a K% of 11.4% (compared to his next season low of 23.6%). Rather, draft expecting a 100/25/80/35 season and be pleasantly surprised with more.

2019 debutants Fernando Tatís Jr. and Yordan Álvarez come in at #5 and #6, respectively. Will we see the 2021 version of Tatís again, the one that went 99/42/97/25? He hasn’t come close the last two seasons; still, many projection systems show Tatís in for a monster season, so do with that what you will. Me? I’m still waiting on the discount. Man Mountain Yordan is coming off a spectacular 2024 and poised for an even bigger 2025; Yordan is shaking the injury bug and is there a 50+ homer season in him? If so, maybe it’s 2025? If not, he’s still a great Dynasty cornerstone.

One of our internal writers’ debates (these are the best, especially with new and veteran writers providing unique perspectives) was over the #7 outfielder rank; the Brewers’ Jackson Chourio or Tatís. Chourio is only 20, just went 21/22, and plays in a plus hitters park, on a well-constructed team usually completing. If he was the third overall outfielder taken, it wouldn’t be too hard to argue; question is, what is his ceiling? He’s most likely lower than any of the guys ranked in front of him…though it’s not too hard to see a 30/30 guy for a decade. Whoa.

How to fix a slow start?

Annoyingly slow starter Julio Rodríguez, last year’s #2 overall outfielder, drops here to 8th. Coming off his worst offensive season he hit 20/24 with a .273/.325/.409 slash line. That’s a floor to be fine with. It’s the offense around him; if that doesn’t improve, it becomes difficult to see Julio as a top-2 option…though, c’mon, if he goes 40/40 in 2025 he’ll jump right back up, and that isn’t a reach.

#9 outfielder Corbin Carroll was right behind Julio in 2024 (#3) and now follows him again, but not in a good way. Carroll hits better at home, and disappointed those who drafted the 2023 ROY highly in 2024 drafts. Hopefully, those Dynasty managers held strong, as Carroll finished the season hitting 17 homers while stealing 17 bases in only 280 plate appearances in the 2^nd half, compared to going 5/18 over 404 first-half plate appearances. There is a going concern (Accountant speak!) of Carroll’s effectiveness against lefties, a career 93 wRC+ against them (compared to a 130 vs righties); this was consistent across 2023 and 2024 (and more pronounced in his 2022 debut).

How good is the Outfield position that freakin’ Mookie Betts, on his way to the Hall already, still hitting in the best lineup in baseball, with multi-position eligibility galore (65 games at SS, 43 in Right field, and 28 at second base) is #10!? That last bit had him edge out Jackson Merrill, but it’s easy to see Merrill going ahead of Betts in Dynasty startups. My favorite 2024 stat for Betts: the lowest K rate of his career (tied): 11.0%. Hard to go wrong with any of the top-10 outfielders heading into 2025!

(Phil Barrington)

#11 – #20

When I looked at this group, my first thought was why aren’t half of them in the top ten? Then I looked at the top ten and I can see why, and I can also see that it’s only a matter of time. It’s a very young group, some who are rising, some who have probably found their plateau, and at least one who is probably on a downward trajectory.

Knocking on the door

When I think about what Jackson Merrill accomplished this year, it blows my mind. Not only did he have an incredible year at the plate, he did it while playing center field for the first time in his short professional career.  He’s also made a significant change as a hitter.  Two years ago when I wrote a Prospect Spotlight about him, he had been saying that he was changing his approach from being a contact-first hitter to becoming a Corey Seager-like power hitter. I worried that a new approach would mess up his beautiful swing and cut down on his contact rates, and I can say now I was wrong to be worried. He’s been able to add power to his game and still has above-average contact rates (87.5% in Zone, 81% Overall).

Wyatt Langford is right behind Merrill, and I wouldn’t argue if he were immediately ahead.  Langford was a top prospect and although he got off to a slow start in May, from June 1 on he hit 15 home runs with a .263/.337/.458 slash line. He’s soon to be a fixture in the top ten.  The last young gun, James Wood, could very well end up being the best of the three. In addition to power and on-base percentage, he brings speed to the game as well, with 24 stolen bases between Triple-A and the majors. An interesting statistic that reveals his maturity at the plate is that he pulled the ball 32% of the time, hit to the opposite field 31% of the time, and hit it up the middle 37% of the time.  Clearly, pitchers are going to find him difficult to pitch to.

Finally, ranked at 17, Jarren Duran may be the most under-ranked on this list. Duran has great contact rates, good hard-hit rates, hits more line drives and fly balls than ground balls, is coming off a 20HR/30SB season, and plays in a lineup that will give him the opportunity to score runs and drive in runs. I don’t think it’s too much of a hot take to say he’ll be a top-ten fantasy player, not just outfielder.

Like water, they found their level

Jazz Chisolm Jr. was the most debated player in the Guru HQ during these rankings. It’s hard to project a full season for him because he’s so rarely played a full season and that is reflected in the rankings. On the positive side, he played 147 games last year, has a low chase rate, high contact rates, and is a hard-hitting pull hitter playing in Yankee Stadium. On the other side, he didn’t play full seasons in 2022 or 2023 and most concerning to me, his already high ground ball rate continues to climb. There’s not a doubt in my mind that he will continue to be a great fantasy player, but he won’t be a top-ten outfielder.

Michael Harris II showed up all over our ranking sheets (high – 12, low – 26). There was a lot of excitement when he was called up in 2022, but the anticipated power has never shown up as expected and he’s been a very good, but not great, player.  There are underlying metrics that give hope, such as a hard hit rate of 47%, but he has a ground ball rate over 50%. Last year he had only 10 stolen bases after 20 each of the previous two years. Some of our rankers think he’ll add lift to his game, put up 20/20 seasons, and move up this list, but I think the bottom half of this tier is his level.

Riley Greene continues to be the heart and soul of the Tigers, a true leader who leaves it all on the field.  To say that he is, and will be, a top twenty outfielder without cracking the top ten is not a slight.  He’ll put up 20 to 25 home runs and provide very good on-base percentages, but with few stolen bases and playing in a lineup and ballpark that suppress counting stats, he’s at home in this tier. Oneil Cruz is an enigma to me and has more fantasy value as a shortstop than an outfielder. He’ll put up 20HR/20SB seasons, but his low contact rates and high K% will keep him out of the top ten.

Coming and going?

We can’t ignore that, in 2023, his only full season since 2020, Luis Robert Jr. hit 38 home runs with a .264/.315/.542 slash line and 20 stolen bases. Nor can we ignore that was his only full season in the past four years and that last year he played in 100 games with a .224/.278/.379 slash line. The talent and skills are there and he deserves the benefit of the doubt right now, but unless he can stay on the field and recapture the success of 2023, he’ll be dropping down these ranks.

And last, but definitely not least, Lawrence Butler is coming off his breakout season and rocketed up this year’s rankings. Projections indicate he’ll hit over 25 home runs with 20 stolen bases, and with the team relocating to Sacramento for the next few years the home run totals could be even higher than that. There is virtually no swing-and-miss in his game, he doesn’t chase pitches out of the zone often, and when he does he has a 66% contact rate and 83% contact rate on pitches in the zone. He spreads his hits all over the field, and if he starts pulling the ball more he might hit even more home runs. He doesn’t provide much help in OBP but is an above-average contributor everywhere else.

(Drew Klein)