Drafting outfielders can be a tricky task. At the least, an owner must have three competent starters, which creates challenging depth issues. Seeking a balance between strength and weakness in your outfield also leads to discrepancies in how you go about building the rest of your team. No matter your approach, how and when to address your outfield will be at the heart of a good draft strategy.

Plan to build a strong pitching staff? Draft a great outfielder high, take balanced pitchers, and target underrated hitters later in the draft. Want to build a Murderer’s Row lineup? Go Holliday, Ludwick and Beltran and lock in your league’s deepest, most talented outfield. Have five starting outfielders to draft? Adding excellent No. 4 and No. 5 outfielders can give you a big-time edge on your opponents.

Although rankings are subjective, especially this far in advance of next season, the list is informational and helpful as you prepare for your drafts next season. The theme for this list is youth, to a point, because young players represent the best opportunity to exponentially grow.

Sometimes, the best picks won’t be big power threats, as evidenced by Curtis Granderson, Alex Rios, Nick Markakis or Matt Kemp, but it takes all types of outfielders to make the fantasy world go ‘rond. Take that into consideration as you scan this list and get ready for next year’s draft.

1. Matt Holliday, COL
2. Grady Sizemore, CLE
3. Josh Hamilton, TEX
4. Ryan Braun, MIL
5. Carlos Beltran, NYM
6. Nate McLouth, PIT
7. Ryan Ludwick, STL
8. Ichiro Suzuki, SEA
9. Carlos Quentin, CWS
10. Manny Ramirez, LAD

11. Carl Crawford, TB
12. Curtis Granderson, DET
13. Vernon Wells, TOR
14. Jacoby Ellsbury, BOS
15. Alex Rios, TOR
16. Carlos Lee, HOU
17. Nick Markakis, BAL
18. Jason Bay, BOS
19. B.J. Upton, TB
20. Matt Kemp, LAD

21. Jermaine Dye, CWS
22. Alfonso Soriano, CHC
23. Andre Ethier, LAD
24. Bobby Abreu, NYY
25. Raul Ibanez, SEA
26. Magglio Ordonez, DET
27. Brad Hawpe, COL
28. Adam Dunn, ARI
29. Shane Victorino, PHI
30. Vladimir Guerrero, LAA

31. Torii Hunter, LAA
32. Corey Hart, MIL
33. Jay Bruce, CIN
34. J.D. Drew, BOS
35. Lastings Milledge, WAS
36. Milton Bradley, TEX
37. Pat Burrell, PHI
38. Hunter Pence, HOU
39. Jose Guillen, KC
40. Denard Span, MIN

41. Willy Taveras, COL
42. Randy Winn, SF
43. Xavier Nady, NYY
44. Johnny Damon, NYY
45. Carlos Gomez, MIN
46. Brian Giles, SD
47. Nick Swisher, CWS
48. Justin Upton, ARI
49. Delmon Young, MIN
50. Skip Schumaker, STL

Heading into ‘09, be careful of warning signs such as declining numbers, injuries during the second half of the season, postseason performances and other clues that might give you a better scope of what a particular player will do. Here are five guys, either on our rankings list or off, who have potential to drastically improve their draft stocks.

Hunter Pence, Houston Astros
Pence’s 2008 regular season was a classic case of a talented, young player in a sophomore slump. Pence burst onto the scene in ‘07 with a .322 average, 17 home runs and 69 RBIs in 108 games. However, in his first full season, Pence’s batting average slipped to .269, but managed to hit for some power with 25 homers. Pence can easily rise up the rankings with a better K-to-BB ratio and improved on-base percentage.

Pat Burrell, Philadelphia Phillies
Take Pat the Bat’s 33 home runs as Exhibit A of high power versus low average players. Burrell hit .275 with 23 home runs, 57 RBIs and 49 runs scored in the first half, then saw his numbers plummet to .215-10-29 after the All-Star break. In addition to the troublesome splits, Burrell also faces an interesting offseason, one in which he could change uniforms and leave hitter hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park.

David DeJesus, Kansas City Royals
The Brooklyn native set career-highs in the power categories, but a career-best 12 homers still doesn’t say much. DeJesus has a knack for making contact and getting on base, but after that, there’s not much more to his game. Injuries forced DeJesus to miss a full month of play this season, so that would explain why he scored 31 fewer runs than the season before. He remains a quality reserve outfielder, but doesn’t offer enough premium production to be much more.

Fred Lewis, San Francisco Giants
Lewis deserves a starting job on a talent-challenged Giants team. Lewis was able to post a respectable on-base percentage of .351 in sporadic action, though he struck out 124 times in 438 at-bats as a rookie. Lewis stole 21 bases while platooning in left field, a mark that figures to improve if or when he wins an everyday job.

Delmon Young, Minnesota Twins
Young is just another young star who could easily make the jump to the list next season, but in order to do, he must exhibit more power. Having just turned 23, he has plenty of time to develop plate discipline and a power stroke. He managed to score 80 runs, despite a .336 on-base percentage, but again disappointed with just 10 home runs. The power outage will help him fly under the radar in ‘09 drafts.