2022 Outfielder and Designated Hitter Rankings

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Up this week are my just-for-fun 2022 player rankings. I’ve done my best to list players where they’ll be eligible next year, and the free agents-to-be are listed without teams. Players with options for next year are still listed with their current teams if those options have a legitimate chance of being exercised. Those players are noted with asterisks.

Click to see other other preliminary 2022 rankings:

Top 300 | SP | RP | OF | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C | DH

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Outfielder and Designated Hitter Rankings

2022	Outfield	Team	2021	July
1	Juan Soto	Nationals	2	2
2	Ronald Acuna Jr.	Braves	1	1
3	Kyle Tucker	Astros	10	6
4	Mike Trout	Angels	5	10
5	Mookie Betts	Dodgers	4	3
1 DH	Shohei Ohtani	Angels	6 DH	1 DH
6	Eloy Jimenez	White Sox	68	49
7	Cody Bellinger	Dodgers	7	11
8	Luis Robert	White Sox	8	85
9	Christian Yelich	Brewers	3	17
10	Bryce Harper	Phillies	6	5
11	Byron Buxton	Twins	9	28
12	Yordan Alvarez	Astros	n/a	12
13	Whit Merrifield	Royals	12	8
14	J.D. Martinez	Red Sox*	n/a	7
15	Aaron Judge	Yankees	15	14
16	Teoscar Hernandez	Blue Jays	14	16
17	Starling Marte		22	13
18	Nick Castellanos	Reds*	28	9
19	George Springer	Blue Jays	16	18
20	Randy Arozarena	Rays	13	15
21	Ketel Marte	Diamondbacks	n/a	23
22	Trent Grisham	Padres	24	22
23	Austin Meadows	Rays	23	21
24	Alex Verdugo	Red Sox	32	26
25	Jarred Kelenic	Mariners	69	55
2 DH	Franmil Reyes	Indians	3 DH	5 DH
26	Cedric Mullins	Orioles	85	24
27	Lourdes Gurriel	Blue Jays	18	25
28	Jesse Winker	Reds	49	19
3 DH	Nelson Cruz		4 DH	4 DH
29	Dylan Carlson	Cardinals	52	38
30	Tyler O’Neill	Cardinals	64	45
31	Ramon Laureano	Athletics	29	32
32	Brandon Lowe	Rays	25	37
33	Kris Bryant		n/a	29
34	Mitch Haniger	Mariners	60	30
35	Nick Senzel	Reds	20	93
36	Charlie Blackmon	Rockies*	21	27
37	Eddie Rosario		17	20
4 DH	Giancarlo Stanton	Yankees	5 DH	6 DH
38	Andrew Benintendi	Royals	36	44
39	Adolis Garcia	Rangers	174	31
40	Joey Gallo	Rangers	40	36
41	Ian Happ	Cubs	19	56
42	Alex Kirilloff	Twins	109	62
43	Michael Conforto		41	57
44	Bryan Reynolds	Pirates	88	39
45	Max Kepler	Twins	31	35
46	Tommy Pham		45	34
47	Jared Walsh	Angels	n/a	42
48	Wil Myers	Padres	34	33
49	Amed Rosario	Indians	n/a	41
50	Jarren Duran	Red Sox	121	72
51	Kyle Schwarber		44	47
52	Ryan Mountcastle	Orioles	30	46
53	Mark Canha		83	53
54	Anthony Santander	Orioles	27	52
55	Michael Brantley	Astros	56	40
56	Dominic Smith	Mets	47	71
57	Raimel Tapia	Rockies	43	43
58	Chris Taylor		107	50
59	Clint Frazier	Yankees	35	102
60	Avisail Garcia	Brewers*	91	58
61	Victor Robles	Nationals	38	64
62	Tommy Edman	Cardinals	33	48
63	Manuel Margot	Rays	66	65
64	Austin Hays	Orioles	48	70
65	Randal Grichuk	Blue Jays	79	66
66	Justin Upton	Angels	58	60
67	Mike Yastrzemski	Giants	46	63
68	Jorge Soler		37	67
69	Dylan Moore	Mariners	26	54
70	Jo Adell	Angels	111	87
71	Kyle Lewis	Mariners	65	110
72	Akil Baddoo	Tigers	NR	84
73	Andrew Vaughn	White Sox	n/a	108
74	Hunter Renfroe	Red Sox	72	68
75	Josh Rojas	Diamondbacks	n/a	81
76	Cavan Biggio	Blue Jays	42	73
77	Gregory Polanco		54	79
78	Pavin Smith	Diamondbacks	185	91
79	Luis Arraez	Twins	n/a	80
80	Aaron Hicks	Yankees	63	NR
81	Trevor Larnach	Twins	181	99
82	Andrew McCutchen	Phillies	62	69
83	Garrett Cooper	Marlins	n/a	105
84	A.J. Pollock	Dodgers	61	83
85	Jesus Sanchez	Marlins	192	82
86	Willie Calhoun	Rangers	73	138
87	Marcell Ozuna	Braves	11	NR
88	Kole Calhoun	Diamondbacks*	102	92
89	Robbie Grossman	Tigers	97	74
90	Alex Dickerson	Giants	67	78
91	Taylor Ward	Angels	147	89
92	Franchy Cordero	Red Sox	55	128
93	Julio Rodriguez	Mariners	NR	NR
94	Joc Pederson		82	94
95	Aristides Aquino	Reds	99	120
96	Josh Lowe	Rays	NR	155
97	Leody Taveras	Rangers	57	147
98	Garrett Hampson	Rockies	86	90
99	David Peralta	Diamondbacks	95	86
100	Brandon Nimmo	Mets	98	100
101	Jake Fraley	Mariners	123	126
102	Lorenzo Cain	Brewers	81	112
103	Jon Berti	Marlins	80	98
104	Taylor Trammell	Mariners	152	121
105	Riley Greene	Tigers	NR	NR
106	Myles Straw	Astros	74	59
107	Ryan Vilade	Rockies	NR	NR
108	Brad Miller		n/a	133
109	Hunter Dozier	Royals	59	101
110	Scott Kingery	Phillies	89	NR
111	David Dahl	Rangers	75	116
112	Cristian Pache	Braves	94	NR
113	Adam Duvall	Marlins	106	96
114	Mauricio Dubon	Giants	90	161
115	Enrique Hernandez	Red Sox	120	113
116	Miguel Andujar	Yankees	108	95
117	Austin Slater	Giants	84	118
118	Michael A. Taylor		71	88
119	Yasiel Puig		76	NR
120	Daulton Varsho	Diamondbacks	77	123
121	Josh Naylor	Indians	92	NR
122	Harrison Bader	Cardinals	101	117
123	Oscar Mercado	Indians	116	142
124	Zach McKinstry	Dodgers	n/a	132
5 DH	Yermin Mercedes	White Sox	NR	7 DH
125	Jackie Bradley Jr.	Brewers*	100	119
126	Corey Dickerson		103	160
127	Nick Gordon	Twins	n/a	162
128	Steven Duggar	Giants	NR	111
129	Odubel Herrera	Phillies*	150	97
130	Jurickson Profar	Padres*	105	122
131	Edward Olivares	Royals	149	143
132	Adam Eaton		87	107
133	Monte Harrison	Marlins	128	163
134	Roman Quinn	Phillies	96	NR
135	Danny Santana		n/a	139
136	Stuart Fairchild	Diamondbacks	194	NR
137	Jake Meyers	Astros	NR	166
138	Victor Reyes	Tigers	70	127
139	Drew Waters	Braves	169	NR
140	Jake Bauers	Mariners	112	141
141	Nomar Mazara	Tigers	113	136
142	JJ Bleday	Marlins	NR	NR
143	Jason Heyward	Cubs	114	125
144	Daz Cameron	Tigers	164	172
145	Brandon Marsh	Angels	196	NR
146	Sam Haggerty	Mariners	157	NR
147	Kevin Kiermaier	Rays	117	131
148	Andrew Stevenson	Nationals	104	150
149	Kevin Pillar		115	140
150	Orlando Arcia	Braves	NR	NR
151	DJ Stewart	Orioles	122	134
152	Tim Locastro	Yankees	125	145
153	Brett Gardner		119	103
154	Brennen Davis	Cubs	NR	NR
155	Chas McCormick	Astros	NR	115
156	LaMonte Wade Jr.	Giants	NR	114
157	Yonathan Daza	Rockies	153	109
158	Estevan Florial	Yankees	NR	174
159	Stephen Piscotty	Athletics	126	175
160	Lars Nootbaar	Cardinals	NR	144

• Ronald Acuña Jr.’s unfortunate knee injury drops him out of the top spot here. I probably would have kept him over Fernando Tatis Jr. as the No. 1 overall player if not for his torn ACL. As is, I’m putting him fourth among position players. He should be ready for Opening Day, but he probably won’t be 100 percent.

• It’s not a great class of free agent outfielders behind Starling Marte and Michael Conforto, though it will get better if Nick Castellanos opts out. That would seem to be an easy call for him if he finishes off his career year healthy. He’s owed $34 million over the next two years under the terms of his Reds deal. J.D. Martinez, who has one year and $19.375 million left on his contract, also had another opt out after declining to exit Boston each of the last two offseasons. It’d be an easier call for him if he knew whether the DH would be available in the NL next year, but it seems highly unlikely that will be determined by the time he needs to make a decision. Unless he’s willing to take a big pay cut to play for a contender, Charlie Blackmon will pick up his $21 million player option to stay in Colorado.

• There are some key eligibility questions here. Eloy Jimenez could return to the White Sox lineup at the end of the month, but he’ll probably DH the majority of the time and might not get the 20 games in the outfield he’d need to maintain eligibility in standard leagues. It looks like Yordan Alvarez will get his 20 games in the outfield, assuming that he stays healthy; he’s at 12 right now. Shohei Ohtani probably won’t, since he’s sitting at five. Whit Merrifield has 14 games in the outfield, so it looks like he’ll probably remain eligible here in addition to second base.

• The DHs are listed with the outfielders here. As of right now, there seems poised to be five significant DH-only players in standard leagues: Ohtani, Franmil Reyes, Nelson Cruz, Giancarlo Stanton and Yermin Mercedes (although labeling Mercedes as significant might be a stretch).

• The top minor leaguer on the list is Boston’s Jarren Duran, who should debut sometime this year. I don’t know that he’ll hit for average initially, but he will offer power and speed while batting in a quality lineup. Then it’s quite a drop to Julio Rodriguez, Josh Lowe, Riley Greene and Ryan Vilade. No one from that group is assured of being up at the start of the year, though. Lowe probably has the best chance; he has been great in hitting .290/.362/.518 in Triple-A this year and he could debut for the Rays this summer. Julio Rodriguez might be more of a 2023 guy, but as one of the game’s top-five prospects, he can’t be ignored here.