August Outfielder Rankings

Kjerstad could make fantasy impact if called up

Connor Rogers explains why the Baltimore Orioles might call up minor-leaguer Heston Kjerstad and what the potential move could mean in deeper fantasy formats.

Welcome to the post-trade deadline edition of the rankings. As always, players are ranked for the rest of the season based on how I see them performing for the rest of the season.

Click to see other August rankings:
Top 300 | SP | RP | OF | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C

Every season is draft season. Dominate your football, basketball and baseball drafts with the Rotoworld Draft Guide Bundle. Get all 3 draft guides for one low price of $44.99 and save an additional 10% when using code BUNDLE10 at checkout. Click here to buy now!

Outfielder rankings

Dropping off: Taylor Ward (43rd), Brandon Donovan (85th), Derek Hill (122nd), Wil Myers (123rd), Jesse Winker (130th), Jonny DeLuca (136th), Trey Mancini (148th), Jo Adell (151st), Rougned Odor (152nd), Tucupita Marcano (153rd), Franmil Reyes (155th)

• I feel like Seiya Suzuki will immediately take a step forward if I ever give up on him completely, but at this point, it’s not clear that he belongs in the Cubs lineup against right-handers. Maybe if he were better defensively and on the basepaths. The Cubs have the newly acquired Jeimer Candelario seeing time at first right now, they could also call up Matt Mervis to play against right-handers and go with Cody Bellinger in center and Mike Tauchman in right in those situations. They’re not lacking options.

• The Royals will have to spend the next two months trying to figure out which of Drew Waters , Kyle Isbel, MJ Melendez, Nick Pratto , Edward Olivares and the newly acquired Nelson Velázquez belong in the outfield picture for the start of 2024. Everyone in the group will have options, so it’s not like any permanent decisions have to be made. Still, it would be nice to narrow things down a bit, particularly if the team wants to sign a veteran outfielder in free agency. I liked what I saw of Velázquez with the Cubs last year, but he was disappointing in Triple-A prior to this week’s trade, hitting .253/.333/.469 with a 29% strikeout rate for Iowa. It still seems like the Royals will have to give him a chance in the coming weeks, which would make things tougher on Waters and Isbel. I’ve been waiting all year for Melendez’s excellent exit velocity numbers to begin to pay bigger dividends, but it just hasn’t happened. Plus, his strikeout rate, which came in at 24.5% as a rookie, is up to 28.8% now. Unfortunately, he’s hitting like a catcher while no longer seeing any time at the position. Barring a big change from the Royals, he won’t qualify there in 20-game leagues next year; he’s played the position just 10 times.

• I’m guessing the Blue Jays don’t have big immediate plans for Davis Schneider , but the 24-year-old is fairly interesting. He’s capable of playing three infield spots (not so much shortstop) and the outfield corners, and he was hitting .275/.416/.553 with 21 homers for Triple-A Buffalo. I assume he’ll see time in left field against lefties. There’s a case for simply giving him Daulton Varsho’s job, but Varsho is so good defensively and still might have a hot streak in him here at some point.