As we dive headlong into the second full week of the regular season, so too must the rankings of the Top 150 hitters be adjusted to reflect the most viable and productive fantasy bats across the game. There was some moderate shakeup in the middle ranks of this sophomore edition of the Hitter List. Injury prognoses and recent DL entrants have been handicapped accordingly, and 11 new players who are generating buzz with their offense have debuted toward the bottom. For elaboration on some of the changes you’ll see, refer to the notes appended to this post below the list itself.
Without further ado, let’s review who the Top 150 hitters in fantasy baseball:
If I was a betting man, I’d say Haniger continues to move up the rankings. On a different note, any thoughts on Mark Reynolds?
Certainly. 25.6% K rate is concerning, but when you consider he’s doing everything with a .286 BABIP, that says to me he’s primed to get even better numbers working for him. Leads the league in runs already and has a juicy Top 20 ISO of .343. Sign me up for that. Vis-a-vis Reynolds, the guy is killing it but I’m hesitant to anoint him when we simply have no idea where he fits in upon Ian Desmond’s return from the DL. It’s like trying to GPS a roadtrip with no known destination: I love the proverbial car Reynolds is driving but I can’t tell you what good it will be in a month, if that makes sense. I’m definitely paying attention to the situation, however, and 43.5% hard contact is hard to argue with. He’s relying on groundballs more than ever with a high BABIP, though, so I have to temper my expectations even if I could assume he has a starting job all season long.
Bryce at 9 is too low.
Why so low on Joc? 30 home run upside, and he’s below Gomez, Melky…what really makes him much different than Duvall or Thames?
Joc should really be spelled Jock — way too many Ks.
I need more production before I can justify promoting him drastically. K rate is, as commenter Anthony referenced, a staggeringly high 32%, fourth-worst in the league. Gomez’s ISO and run count are higher than Pederson’s right now, though I’ve been very underwhelmed by his start, admittedly. Joc is great in real life but currently not anything more than average for fantasy purposes. That could and likely will change for the better, but this list is designed to synthesize current performance with expected value and there is a large gap between those two commodities right now for him. BA of .250 is solid but I’m waiting for the power to materialize.
Forgot to address the Duvall/Thames part of the question. Also, Melky needs to pick it up too or he’ll drop fast into the 120s/130s. The stats are already aggressively better for Duvall and somewhat better for Thames (BA especially), and they are hierarchically ranked accordingly relative to each other within the 150:
Duvall – .367/.424/.733, 3 HR, 8 R, 7 RBI, 1 SB
Thames – .333/.429/.611, 1 HR, 4 R, 3 RBI, 0 SB
Pederson – .250/.360/.400, 1 HR, 3 R, 6 RBI, 0 SB
Where is Asdrubal Cabrera?
Love the list. Obviously these guys dont qualify for your list but who would you stash in a dynasty league…Tom Murphy or Ramos? I have Posey for this year so no immediate need.
Great stuff. I grew weary with ESPN’s insistence over the first half of last season that Prince Fielder was due for a breakout. Can you add a “previous rank” column?
We’ll be adding one soon, hopefully for next week’s edition!