Injuries and lineup shuffling and breakouts and slumps are everywhere, so let’s get them applied to the Hitter List!
Only 47 players have hit the 50 plate appearance mark, so while some stats are getting close to a meaningful sample (walk and strikeout rates, in particular), a lot are still filled with noise. I’ll mention some stats, but as a general rule I’m trying to avoid taking too much meaning from the stats themselves.
Oh, and one other thing — I won’t be here to write this column for the next two or three weeks because my family is growing! My wife is very pregnant with twins, and they’ll be delivered on or before the 18th, so I’ll be spending my time trying to somehow keep up with them. My esteemed colleague Dave Swan will be covering for me until I can reliably carve out enough time to write again.
Let’s get some basics out of the way in terms of how to interpret these rankings. None of this stuff should come as any major surprise, but it never hurts to provide background:
- Dansby Swanson already has four games with at least three hits, and while the power hasn’t shown up yet, I believe that it will soon.
- Gleyber Torres continues to play well and even led off for a game earlier this week. If he starts doing that more, the upside would definitely go up.
- Anthony Santander is cold, and he’s been a streaky hitter in the past. I’m not overly concerned yet, but another bad week or two would get me there.
- Alec Bohm already has three home runs. He didn’t have three home runs in 2022 until May 21. 20 home runs, here we come!
- Nick Castellanos is looking better than he did last season, but he remains the most difficult top-75 player for me to get a feel for as his 2022 struggles did not make much sense.
- José Abreu has just one extra base hit so far and one barrel. The sample is small, but it’s not promising.
- Luis Arraez has a batting average north of .500 because that’s just what Luis Arraez does. Four straight multi-hit games, and he’s only struck out three times this season while walking six times. I’m surprised he hasn’t swiped a bag yet, but seeing Arraez bat third is kind of neat.
- Jorge Polanco is playing in rehab games and should be nearing a return.
- I might not have dropped Jake McCarthy far enough.
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- Jarred Kelenic looks good in the majors, and that must feel so good. Projections will keep him down due to the horrible major league samples in 2021 and 2022, but there’s still hope that he can be a 25 home run, 15 stolen base guy.
- Jake Fraley is hitting really well, but also sitting against lefties.
- Bryson Stott isn’t going to give you a lot of home runs or steals, but leading off for Philadelphia is a nice gig if he can keep it. Stott was very up and down in 2022, so I’m being a bit cautious for now.
- Keep an eye on rookie Spencer Steer. The plate discipline has been excellent and while he’s been a bit lucky on batted balls, it’d be neat if he was a serviceable back-end third baseman or decent corner infielder.
- Jorge Mateo is striking out a lot less than I thought, and that’s worth watching.
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- Ke’Bryan Hayes will keep playing because of the glove, but the bat is not doing what I hoped coming into the season.
- Brian Anderson falls, but that’s mostly because of the guys I wanted to move up. I still like him as a plug-in, but let’s not forget that his upside is fairly limited.
- I’m waiting to see what the timeline is for Adam Duvall’s wrist injury. He’s been hot, sure, but he’s not necessarily a true priority on your IL in leagues with only two IL spots.
And here’s the Taxi Squad, presented in no particular order:
