Tiers are a particular form of rankings that is less concerned with parsing individual players and more with denoting the biggest drop-offs. Players whose value is essentially the same are bundled together to help you prioritize which position to draft next. If the goal in a draft is to maximize the return of each pick, then a simple way to do so is to target a position that's nearing a drop-off and wait on a position that isn't. By crossing off names as you go, your path to victory should become clear.
Below are the outfield tiers for 2024, depicting a position that you should make every reasonable effort to address in Round 1. It's dominant there but has two severe drop-offs thereafter. The Also-Elite tier is completely vacant, as you can see, and The Next-Best Things tier could quickly pass you by. If you don't have three outfielders by the time the top 29 are gone, you'll be wishing you did.
You'll notice that several DH-only players are included here, denoted by the parentheses. There aren't enough to tier independently from every other position, so I typically tier them at the position where they're most likely to gain eligibility, however unlikely it may be (see Ohtani, Shohei). It just so happens this year that every DH-only player is, for tiering purposes, an outfielder. Don't let it fool you into thinking the position is deeper than it is.
The Unmatched: Ronald Acuna
The First-Rounders: Julio Rodriguez, Corbin Carroll, Mookie Betts, Kyle Tucker, Fernando Tatis, Juan Soto, (Shohei Ohtani), Aaron Judge, Yordan Alvarez
The Also-Elite -- none
The Near-Elite: Luis Robert, Michael Harris, Randy Arozarena, Mike Trout, Cody Bellinger, Adolis Garcia, Kyle Schwarber, Nolan Jones^, Joshua Lowe^, Jazz Chisholm^, Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio^
The Next-Best Things: Wyatt Langford, Bryan Reynolds, Evan Carter, Spencer Steer, Seiya Suzuki, George Springer, Teoscar Hernandez
The Fallback Options: Lane Thomas, (Marcell Ozuna), Jordan Walker, Nick Castellanos, Chas McCormick, Cedric Mullins, (Eloy Jimenez), Anthony Santander, Riley Greene, Christopher Morel, (Byron Buxton), Jorge Soler, Ian Happ, Brandon Nimmo, TJ Friedl, James Outman^, (J.D. Martinez), Esteury Ruiz^, Kerry Carpenter, Jarren Duran, Starling Marte, Steven Kwan, Jung-Hoo Lee, Masataka Yoshida
The Last Resorts: Tyler O'Neill, Sal Frelick, Henry Davis, Tommy Edman, Lars Nootbaar, Giancarlo Stanton, Will Benson, Alex Verdugo, Daulton Varsho, Lourdes Gurriel, Taylor Ward, Kris Bryant, Jack Suwinski, Jarred Kelenic, Matt Wallner, Parker Meadows, Max Kepler, Jose Siri, Brent Rooker, Nelson Velazquez, Jake Fraley, Leody Taveras, Jeff McNeil, Garrett Mitchell, Hunter Renfroe, Austin Hays, MJ Melendez, Victor Scott, Brendan Donovan, Whit Merrifield
The Leftovers: Charlie Blackmon, Alex Kirilloff, Wilyer Abreu, Bryan De La Cruz, (Heston Kjerstad), Luke Raley, Mitch Haniger, Willi Castro, Johan Rojas, Luis Rengifo, Ezequiel Duran, Ryan O'Hearn, Tommy Pham, Jasson Dominguez, Ceddanne Rafaela, Colton Cowser, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Andrew Benintendi, (Joey Meneses), Brandon Marsh, (Andrew McCutchen), Joc Pederson, Jake McCarthy, LaMonte Wade, Edward Olivares, Harrison Bader, Jason Heyward, Joey Gallo, Brenton Doyle, Michael Conforto, Mike Yastrzemski, Mark Canha, Eddie Rosario, Alec Burleson, Sean Bouchard, Nick Senzel, Alek Thomas, Jesus Sanchez
^ one tier lower in points leagues
() DH-only
