Pitchers and catchers think they’re so cool just because they report first and get everyone all hot and bothered. Well we haven’t forsaken the other positions, and I’m here to take you on a nice leisurely tour through our outfield ranks.

Our highly esteemed rankings panel includes fine gentlemen such as Brad Johnson, Max Petrie, Kyle Bishop, Harris Yudin, Jeff Kahntroff, Bill Dubiel, and myself (okay, so six-sevenths of esteem). We've all provided our individual rankings below, created tiers, and came out with a staff consensus rank.

Editor's note: Since this column obviously won't be enough for you, be sure to also check out our 2016 fantasy baseball rankings dashboard. Everything you need, in one easy place - tiered staff rankings for all positions, top MLB prospects, dynasty/keeper rankings, and lots more.

2016 Fantasy Baseball Rankings Analysis: Outfield (Part One)

Tier One

There’s no other way to cut it, you’re going to be thrilled to land either Mike Trout or Bryce Harper heading into 2016. Trout is still #1 for five of us, but Harris and Bill have Harper first on their boards. I can respect that, though I personally want Trout’s floor as tied to his durability.

I know, the August wrist injury last year really crippled his year-end statline, stupid Trout only hitting 41 dingers. Bryce muscled out 42 while hitting .330 and just looking supremely dominant, walking almost as much as he struck out! That’s 124 walks to 131 strikeouts for you number-lovers. You won’t go wrong here.

Tier Two

This houses the best outfield bats for the rest of us mere mortals who don’t score top three overall picks or pony up $$$ in auctions. Giancarlo Stanton could be a top tier player if his body could keep up with his strength, though I won’t hold the whole getting hit in the face with a pitch against him. When he’s on the field he swings the strongest bat in all of baseball, hitting laser shots like he’s playing tee ball. Andrew McCutchen got off to a very slow start, and the steals dipped, but he should still be considered a safe pick in the first round. He won’t vault you to glory, but he should give you an amazing foundation to work with.

You’ll also find three young guns here in George Springer, Mookie Betts, and A.J. Pollock. All three are in healthy offensive environments, with Springer and Betts in two of the strongest lineups in baseball. None of these guys are going to be regular first rounders in most drafts, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me they ended 2016 with top-12 numbers.

Tier Three

There's plenty of upside, but you can see the fleas with most of the players here. I believe J.D. Martinez and Justin Upton are both a notch above the rest in here (as reflected in the numbers), but Tier 2.5 doesn’t really gel. Martinez and Upton join forces in a Detroit Tigers lineup that also has some guy named Miguel Cabrera and the 1-6 of this squad is quite formidable. Both should have great years, as Martinez's swing is clearly legitimate and Upton, while streaky, will put together enough heat waves to be a force. Nelson Cruz won’t be a .300 hitter again, that .350 BABIP was way off the usual .295 BABIP we’re used to seeing from him. The power is real though, he should contribute at least 35 home runs if health permits.

Carlos Gomez is another intriguing name, as you can see some of us really believe in him and others are cooler on him. I think he’s a solid dice-roll, but I’m usually not keen on rolling dice that early. I don’t see the average going back up to the .280 range, but the power and speed has a good shot at coming back. If he returns to 20-30 form with the counting stats that come with playing in a very strong Astros lineup, then you’re going to be raking in Scrooge McDuckian profits.

Tier Four

It's a big one, housing 17 players with the polarizing Yasiel Puig as the headliner. There’s no doubting that Puig struggled last year, it’s just a matter of how far you see him bouncing back in 2016. He walked less, struck out more, and made worse contact in his third major league season. Injuries to both of his hamstrings didn’t help his cause for any consistency during the season, but at the same time he was clearly off at the dish. Can he rekindle that plate discipline? Maybe he just needs Don Mattingly out of his life (sorry, Donnie).

There are some buzzy younger players here in Christian Yelich, Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, Adam Eaton, and Billy Hamilton. Yelich really turned it on after his back injury subsided, just don’t count on that power stroke coming around. Meanwhile first half Joc had DirecTV, while second half Joc may not have even had a television. Sustaining that wild first half production would have required Monstars-level voodoo, but he isn’t nearly as bad as that second half was either.

He has power and should be good for 25 homers, and while his average won’t help anyone, if you play in OBP leagues he is a much sturdier option. Soler might get buried while the hype surrounds his teammates, but let that be your gain. The power is very real and he’s just turning 24, if he simply approaches being average at hitting pitches that aren’t fastballs then he could skyrocket.

Adam Eaton had a horrible April, and while he got on track afterwards, the White Sox offense in general sputtered for much of the year. He still managed 98 runs and grew into a power stroke (14 bombs) to complement his modest speed (18 swipes) alongside the healthy average (.287). Perhaps the power isn't totally sustainable, but seems to be a solid five-cat player who could still have some growth in him. Billy Hamilton...what can I say about B-Ham? I don’t hide that I hate him (Kyle just had to one-up me with his 53rd ranking to my 52nd) [Looooove youuuuuu...hate the Hamburglar. -Ed.] I see the appeal, I really do, as he’s electric on the basepaths. In just 450 plate appearances he stole 57 bases and was only caught eight times! I just can’t get with how much of a suck he is on the other categories, but if he commits to a level approach at the plate and tries to put the ball on the ground more, playing to his elite speed strength, then I could be eating crow all year.

Outfield Tiered Fantasy Baseball Rankings (February)

Ranking Tier Name Brad Max Kyle Nick Harris Jeff Bill 1 1 Mike Trout 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 Bryce Harper 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 3 2 Giancarlo Stanton 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 2 Andrew McCutchen 3 4 4 4 4 6 4 5 2 Jose Bautista 8 5 6 5 5 7 5 6 2 George Springer 6 9 5 6 6 9 7 7 2 Mookie Betts 5 6 9 7 7 5 10 8 2 A.J. Pollock 7 7 8 8 15 4 6 9 2 Starling Marte 9 8 7 12 13 8 8 10 2 Ryan Braun 11 10 10 9 8 10 9 11 3 J.D. Martinez 10 12 11 10 11 12 11 12 3 Justin Upton 13 11 12 11 9 13 14 13 3 Charlie Blackmon 12 14 13 13 19 15 15 14 3 Nelson Cruz 15 16 15 15 10 16 16 15 3 Lorenzo Cain 18 19 14 16 14 11 12 16 3 Carlos Gomez 14 13 23 19 22 14 19 17 3 Kyle Schwarber 16 15 16 21 17 24 17 18 3 Carlos Gonzalez 19 17 19 18 16 21 18 19 3 Adam Jones 20 20 21 14 25 19 13 20 3 Yoenis Cespedes 23 21 20 17 12 20 20 21 3 Jason Heyward 17 18 17 20 18 25 21 22 4 Yasiel Puig 21 23 18 23 26 17 24 23 4 Hunter Pence 26 22 22 22 33 22 23 24 4 Jacoby Ellsbury 22 24 41 30 20 18 25 25 4 Brett Gardner 25 26 27 31 31 23 31 26 4 Curtis Granderson 30 33 28 28 24 32 26 27 4 Alex Gordon 24 31 29 33 28 37 29 28 4 Kole Calhoun 28 27 31 36 32 35 28 29 4 David Peralta 38 28 24 27 38 31 32 30 4 Christian Yelich 29 37 35 29 21 34 36 31 4 Matt Holliday 40 30 32 26 42 30 30 32 4 Joc Pederson 33 41 25 38 23 36 35 33 4 Jorge Soler 42 32 30 34 35 29 33 34 4 Corey Dickerson 36 29 33 24 37 54 22 35 4 Adam Eaton 35 40 26 25 47 28 39 36 4 Billy Hamilton 27 25 53 52 29 27 34 37 4 Michael Brantley 49 38 37 41 27 33 27 38 4 Shin-Soo Choo 37 35 38 32 30 41 40 39 5 Michael Conforto 31 34 40 48 36 39 42 40 5 Gregory Polanco 44 36 42 43 43 26 36 41 5 Josh Reddick 32 43 36 40 53 40 38 42 5 Stephen Piscotty 39 39 39 37 39 52 44 43 5 Hanley Ramirez 34 48 44 35 44 47 46 44 5 Randal Grichuk 43 44 34 39 54 45 45 45 5 Dexter Fowler 48 42 43 45 46 48 43 46 5 Matt Kemp 41 45 45 42 52 49 41 47 6 Ben Revere 55 51 56 55 41 44 48 48 6 Kevin Pillar 52 55 51 49 49 46 51 49 6 Delino Deshields 65 49 48 47 40 59 53 50 6 Steven Souza 56 56 46 46 45 53 61 51 6 Billy Burns 45 54 47 59 50 55 55 52 6 Evan Gattis 47 47 55 44 57 73 49 53 6 Ender Inciarte 59 46 54 56 61 51 47 54 6 Wil Myers 68 60 65 58 34 42 58 55 6 Ben Zobrist 54 52 58 57 55 63 50 56 6 Jayson Werth 50 61 49 68 67 43 52 57 6 Gerardo Parra 46 50 57 54 56 71 60 58 6 Khris Davis 63 62 52 53 58 50 62 59 6 Marcell Ozuna 67 57 50 61 65 57 57 60 6 Melky Cabrera 57 53 59 62 69 62 54 61 7 Cameron Maybin 70 59 62 60 72 60 59 62 7 Mark Trumbo 78 78 69 50 59 38 74 63 7 Jay Bruce 64 70 68 51 64 65 69 64 7 Carlos Beltran 62 67 63 64 76 58 66 65 7 Eddie Rosario 60 64 67 72 68 67 67 66 7 Odubel Herrera 58 66 60 74 86 66 56 67 7 Aaron Altherr 61 63 61 63 88 68 65 68 7 Colby Rasmus 71 75 66 65 51 70 72 69 7 Rusney Castillo 69 58 64 69 89 56 68 70 7 Brandon Moss 51 71 74 67 74 74 64 71 7 Byron Buxton 75 76 72 79 48 61 70 72 7 Aaron Hicks 77 68 70 66 78 69 63 73 8 Brad Miller 66 69 71 78 71 72 76 74 8 Denard Span 74 73 86 77 60 64 71 75 8 Danny Valencia 53 65 79 75 80 81 73 76 8 Nori Aoki 73 72 80 80 62 75 88 77 8 Domingo Santana 81 77 77 70 66 76 87 78 8 Marlon Byrd 80 79 73 76 84 80 75 79 8 Kevin Kiermaier 83 84 75 85 73 73 80 80 8 Chris Colabello 93 82 84 73 75 90 86 81 8 Brock Holt 79 83 81 83 94 91 79 82 9 Hyun-soo Kim 76 92 98 71 - 85 83 9 Derek Dietrich 82 96 76 84 - 88 81 84 9 Yasmany Tomas 97 74 96 86 81 78 82 85 9 Austin Jackson 72 95 88 82 91 87 - 86 9 Jackie Bradley Jr. 96 97 83 87 77 77 90 87 9 Eduardo Escobar - 88 89 88 - 84 89 88 9 Dalton Pompey 86 80 78 98 87 97 - 89 9 Nick Markakis 87 91 93 92 79 - 90 9 Leonys Martin 94 93 95 93 63 93 - 91 9 Andre Ethier 85 87 87 90 99 83 - 92 9 Avisail Garcia - 85 - 99 82 - - 93 9 Mark Canha 98 89 82 109 83 86 78 94 9 Franklin Gutierrez 95 100 90 81 - 79 91 95 9 Anthony Gose - 102 85 100 93 82 77 96 9 Jarrod Dyson 106 81 94 97 70 94 - 97 9 Alex Rios 88 90 99 94 96 - 84 98 9 Desmond Jennings 99 86 - 96 90 92 - 99 9 Josh Hamilton 91 94 97 95 92 89 - 100 9 Preston Tucker 107 99 91 89 - 83 101 9 Chris Coghlan 84 103 100 91 - - 102 9 Adam Duvall 90 104 - 103 85 99 - 103 9 Michael Taylor 89 102 92 102 95 98 - 104 9 Oswaldo Arcia - 105 - 104 100 96 85 105 9 Coco Crisp 92 106 - 101 98 95 - 106 9 Angel Pagan 102 99 - 107 - - - 107 9 Rymer Liriano 105 101 - 105 - 100 - 108 9 Seth Smith 101 107 - - - - - 109 9 Rajai Davis 100 - - 108 - - - 110 9 Abraham Almonte 104 - - - - - - 111 9 Nomar Mazara 103 - - 106 - - - 112 9 Will Venable - 108 - 110 97 - -

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