Hitter List 5/3: Ranking the Top 150 Batters ROS

Today marks one month since Opening Day, and there has certainly been some shakeup in the rankings of who’s putting up fantasy stud numbers versus what we may have been expecting. The ascent of repatriated Eric Thames and rookie exit velocity wonder Aaron Judge have contrasted starkly with the struggles of noted power bats Todd Frazier and Jose Bautista. And then you’ve got solid work being done by young players like Nomar Mazara and Manuel Margot to go alongside plate efficiency by Reds and White Sox players who were fantasy no-names thirty days ago.

With all that context taken into account, let’s review the Top 150 hitters in fantasy baseball:

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Notes

• Ian Desmond and Miguel Cabrera got their rankings restored to previously held levels upon reactivation from the DL. J.D. Martinez was on the right track but sustained a minor injury to the other foot, so his return is still up in the air. Both Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki are tentatively slated to see reinstatement to the active roster at some point during Toronto’s upcoming homestand, so check their statuses within your fantasy sites/clients and see whether they get a bounceback here next week.
• Neither David Dahl nor Adrian Beltre have concrete timelines for return, so they’ll continue to be outside the rankings or falling within them, respectively, until we hear otherwise.
• Gary Sanchez is reportedly due back to the Yankees’ order on Friday, so he’s been quasi-promoted because he can still provide you some limited value during the weekend series with the Cubs.
• We’ll continue to show previous rankings along the far right, so you can see some of the biggest risers and divers. Due to continued excellence on the field, those seeing significant promotion include the aforementioned Eric Thames and Aaron Judge. Others were Ryan Zimmerman, Jose Ramirez, Andrew Benintendi, Adam Duvall, Addison Russell, Eugenio Suarez, Chris Owings, Jay Bruce, Michael Brantley, Steven Souza, Jr., Starlin Castro, Brandon Phillips, Travis Shaw, Domingo Santana, Corey Dickerson, Zack Cozart and Matt Davidson.
• Some of the players who saw a substantial demotion after unproductive weeks own bodies of work that are either underwhelming across the board or lopsidedly imbalanced as 5×5 category success goes, relative to expectation. The guys who experienced this include Xander Bogaerts, Rougned Odor, DJ Lemahieu, Carlos Gonzalez, Mark Trumbo, Evan Longoria, Gregory Polanco, Alex Bregman, Kole Calhoun, Dustin Pedroia, Jackie Bradley, Jr., Eric Hosmer, Ben Zobrist and Melky Cabrera.
• Falling out of the Top 150—with their previously held rank in parentheses—are Adam Eaton (66) due to an ACL tear; Jason Kipnis (118), Adrian Gonzalez (119) and Brandon Drury (146) dropped out due to poor hitting performance. Meanwhile, Lucas Duda (142) is still on the DL, with Brandon Crawford (140) and David Freese (149) joining him there.
• Making their first appearances on the Hitter List are Scott Schebler (133), Michael Conforto (134), Josh Harrison (138), Didi Gregorius (139), Matt Wieters (140), Ender Inciarte (146) and Yulieski Gurriel (147).