Hitter List 8/2: Top 150 Hitters – Week 18 Fantasy Baseball 2023

Let’s get some basics out of the way regarding how to interpret these rankings. None of this stuff should come as any major surprise, but it never hurts to provide background:

I would recommend not paying super close attention to the specific ranks of each player, and honing in more on the respective tiers that they’re in. Each tier represents a grouping of players that I think could arguably perform at a similar level, and/or carry similar levels of risk in terms of injury concerns or playing time obstacles. If Player X is ranked at #55 and Player Y is ranked at #65, but they’re in the same tier, it means that I personally like Player X a lot better, but think there’s a valid argument to be made for Player Y performing just as well.

I take rankings like this as more of an art than a science. Every person’s rankings are influenced by their own biases, strategic philosophies, determinations of risk, and projections. It’s why no two rankings are ever exactly alike. Jon’s way of evaluating and ranking players has worked out well for Jon (and me) over the years, but it might not be a great fit for you. I can’t possibly predict your team’s specific needs, your league mates’ player evaluations, or your current waiver wire, and if I could it’d be weird. In a bad way.

Yes, these ranks vary from the official PL positional rankings that I also developed in the off-season. That’s because these are only mine – no input from others. This is a safe space for me where I answer to no one but myself…and you if you leave a comment.

I’m doing my best to use 5 starts or 10 appearances as the threshold for positional eligibility. I have not included presumed eligibilities based on likely new positions, but once those eligibilities are earned I’ll add them in. This is just a maintenance thing and we will update eligibility throughout the season. Feel free to let me know if I’m missing any!

To keep things in the same ilk, here are a couple of notes on how I generally evaluate hitters before we dive in:

Stolen bases are losing value in a hurry, at least on a per-stolen-base basis. In 2022, zero players stole 10 bases in the first month of the season. In 2023, that number was six. Almost twice as many players picked up three steals in the first month of 2023 compared to 2022. In short, stealing 20 bases in 2023 doesn’t add the value it did in 2022. Steals are much more streamable now.
So what am I doing with that conclusion? Back in 2022 and earlier, a projection of five or 10 stolen bases really mattered as finding those five or 10 steals was not only impactful to the standings, but it was difficult. It still impacts the standings, sure, but it’s no longer difficult. Five or 10 steals in 2022 is more like 10 or 15 steals in 2023 in terms of scarcity and procurement.

If I want to get some insight on whether what I’m seeing is new or if it’s just normal fluctuation, I’d use my favorite tool—the rolling chart. which I’ll also reference as appropriate. You can also get rolling charts from sources like FanGraphs or Baseball Savant. If you have any questions about how to do that or how to read these charts, reach out to me!

No stat is an island and they should all be taken in proper context. For ranking purposes, the primary starting points I use are plate discipline, wRC+, quality of contact metrics (also known as Statcast batted ball data), lineup context, and the skills we can measure using tools such as our PLV Hitter Attributes. I also use various projections (some free, some I buy) and dollar value generators. Unlike Nick, I’ll also look at other rankings as I prepare my own to feel how my colleagues value certain players, positions, or stats. I recommend trying as many of these things as you can until you find what you like.
Positional eligibility, and specifically multi-eligibility, is neat but also isn’t a huge factor in many 10- and 12-team leagues anymore due to the prevalence of multi-eligible players. It’s of more value in deeper contests like the NFBC, or in leagues with limited roster moves (draft and hold leagues, transaction limits/costs, extremely short benches, etc.), but even then the value is fairly situational and context-dependent.

On a similar note, I don’t penalize players for only qualifying in the utility slot. At most, it is a mild inconvenience if a DH-only player is available at a great value and you already have filled your utility spots.
Anyone talented enough to make it to the big leagues can be brilliant or putrid for 50 to 100 at-bats regardless of true talent. Heck, it could even last a month with no change in potential or skill. It also could be wildly meaningful. We can’t and don’t know which of these will be true until it’s over, though track record, scouting, and trends give us hints.
If you’d like input on a player or have any feedback, your best bet is to reach out to me on the website formerly known as Twitter (@ifthechufits) or in the comments!

Ranking Notes

Check out the Hacks & Jacks podcast featuring Scott Chu and Joe Gallina, which also happened to be a finalist for Best Baseball Podcast of 2021 by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA)!

I also host an AMA in the r/fantasybaseball subreddit every Friday starting around 12pm ET that lasts through the rest of the day and into the weekend, so feel free to join the fun and ask questions or make comments.

TIER 1

Fernando Tatis Jr.continues to slump, but that’s not enough for me to change my rest-of-season outlook in any meaningful way. His upside is too immense, and the Padres seem poised for a second-half surge.

This tier just feels loaded with talent, and I bet we will feel that in 2024 drafts. I probably would want to pick in the middle or back of the first round if I had to pick, assuming I was doing a draft today.
Austin Riley continues to crush baseballs, and if you wanted him at the top of this tier, I wouldn’t argue much.
Bobby Witt Jr. seems to be turning a corner in his sophomore season, and he could be in the middle or top of the tier before long.

No actual changes here, apart from slight shifting thanks to Witt Jr.
Wander Franco has shown signs of life lately, but the limited power has me hesitating on putting him back in Tier 3.

I still believe that Bryce Harper will put on a fireworks display this fall, and until then he will continue to have excellent ratios.
I will continue to mention every week that Elly De La Cruz will not be consistent, and that’s OK. The good should outweigh the bad, however it will make those in head-to-head leagues pull their hair out at times.

TIER 6

This Tier has a net +2 to all rankings

Trea Turner continues to frustrate, and I don’t think you can do much about it unless some brave soul in your league is willing to take the gamble. You’ll sacrifice ceiling, but hopefully improve your floor.
Michael Harris II is showing strong plate skills (8.8% walk rate, 15.8% strikeout rate) and has gotten on base in 15 of 16 contests since the break. He’s probably stuck batting ninth, but Harris is the best bottom-of-the-order hitter in baseball right now and he still has a realistic shot at the 20/20 season that eluded him in 2022.

TIER 7

There was movement all over the place in this tier for a myriad of reasons (guys getting hurt, guys coming back from the IL, guys falling hard, etc.), so the numbers to the right are probably even less helpful than usual.
Masataka Yoshida hasn’t been awful, but he takes a bit of a fall here because I continue to reevaluate his ceiling, and the limited power is putting a harder cap on it than I originally hoped.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. came back to a team that seems a bit more interesting than it did when he went down. It was good to see Jazz hit a double and steal a base, though I didn’t love that he hit the pine against a lefty. I don’t anticipate that will continue, and Jazz’s power/speed combo should finally begin to shine through.
I don’t know what’s wrong with George Springer, though it’s worth noting that he seems to have had similar dips before that were fairly short-lived (see below in 2018, 2021, and earlier this season). You can’t drop him yet, that much I do know.

Josh Naylor is hopefully going to avoid the IL and continues to put the ball in the air, so the recent slump isn’t a sign that he’s returning to the old, boring Naylor.

TIER 8

From here until Tier 12, there is an average net gain of +4 to all players

Nick Castellanos is the bane of my analyzing existence (along with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Cody Bellinger). Everything has fallen apart lately and I can’t really point out a reason that makes any sense, especially considering that Castellanos was so strong in the first half with metrics that supported the results. Sometimes, there’s no way to identify what is happening with the data we have available and we have to accept that we are at the mercy of the player.

TIER 9

Ha-Seong Kim gets his second big bump of the season as the Padres geared up for a second-half run at the postseason. Kim should continue to bat at the top of the order, and with two of Soto, Machado, and Tatis Jr. clicking at any given time, I expect Kim to get plenty of pitches to hit and plenty of runs scored.
Keep it going, Gunnar Henderson! He has five home runs and 28 combined runs and RBI so far in the second half and I expect the good times to keep coming as Henderson continues to avoid strikeouts and put the ball in play.
Salvador Perez takes a tumble in the hitter rankings, but he stays right where he was in terms of catcher rankings. Perez has always been an aggressive hitter at the dish, and that will lead to extended slumps that eventually give way to blistering hot streaks. It’s just the nature of his play style.

TIER 10

Dansby Swanson is slugging .735 since July 3 and the entire offense (other than Suzuki) is on fire. They won’t stay this hot, of course, but Swanson had been underperforming all season and finally looks like he can hit the way we expected coming into 2023. His 2022 will likely end up being a career year, but there should still be a handful of top-75 to top-100 hitter seasons in him.
Are we finally seeing Hunter Renfroe be the power-hitting machine he was supposed to be? He has the strength to pile up a lot of home runs in a very short time, and with Ward out for the season, this offense will need every home run they can get from Renfroe to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Jonathan India drops in part because of the injury (which hopefully only requires a minimum stay on the 10-day IL) and in part because I’ve taken a closer look at his recent performance and found it particularly lacking. India would have been an ideal trade candidate if he wasn’t hurt, though staying a Red isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

TIER 11

I may have overrated Jorge Soler during an earlier hot streak. Like many other sluggers, the ups and downs can be quite extreme.

TIER 12

There is a +5 to +7 net change to all rankings in Tiers 12 and13.

Every time I get sick of Alec Bohm, he puts together a stretch that reminds me that he ought to be a top-100 hitter. The power is probably capped at 15-17 home runs in a single season, but the .280-.290 batting average and 90 RBIs are nothing to scoff at.
I’ve explained this before, but Austin Hays is an aggressive hitter, and while he won’t pile up too many strikeouts, he will pile up some very ugly outs via poor contact.
Jordan Walker has plenty of upside, but it may take longer than redraft fantasy managers can wait for it to really blossom.
Lars Nootbaar should be the primary leadoff man going forward with Brendan Donovan having season-ending surgery, and it’s an ideal situation for a guy who can make contact while also putting up 15% or higher walk rates over extended periods.

TIER 13

There is an average change of +12 to all rankings in this tier

Another late-season surge from Tyler O’Neill would be classic him, wouldn’t it? There’s no denying he has power and speed, so as long as he stays healthy O’Neill should continue to climb these rankings.
Here’s to hoping that Ryan Mountcastle continues to show off the power we saw in his rookie campaign and doesn’t have to worry about platoons ever again.

TIER 14

The last tier is enormous, and that’s intentional. At this stage of the season, needs are highly specific from team to team and your positional and categorical needs combined with your place in your league’s ranks will dictate how patient you can be and what you need to prioritize.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand could certainly turn it around, but the early returns are a good example of the risks involved with holding prospects in redraft leagues. You need to be able to absorb and stomach this kind of early slump whenever you play the prospect game in non-keeper formats.
I cannot understand how a guy with Daulton Varsho’s speed and power just stops hitting entirely when he moves to a better team and better hitting environment.
Jake McCarthy looks like he’ll be a platoon player with the addition of Pham, and I have a bad feeling that McCarthy’s dismal second-half performance is an indicator that he’s just too streaky to trust.
Jake Burger is going to a worse park, but should get a chance to be an everyday guy even when he slumps in Miami. The average will still stink, but let’s see if Miami can help him continue his recent run of good plate discipline.
Luke Raley is sitting more and more as the power has evaporated entirely in the second half. It was a great run earlier this season, but I’m getting pretty close to moving on, especially if I’m fighting for my life in the standings.
Ezequiel Duran needs to really turn it on over the next two weeks if he’s going to carve out a meaningful role when Corey Seager returns. The DH slot is more open with the loss of Jonah Heim, but you don’t get to DH if you’re not hitting on a contender.

And now, once again, it’s time for the Hitter List:

Rank	Hitter	Position	Change
1	Ronald Acuña Jr.T1	OF	-
2	Shohei Ohtani	DH	-
3	Fernando Tatis Jr.	SS, OF	-
4	Mookie Betts T2	2B, SS, OF	-
5	Freddie Freeman	1B	-
6	Aaron Judge	OF	+4
7	José Ramírez	3B	-1
8	Juan Soto	OF	-1
9	Kyle Tucker	OF	-1
10	Bo Bichette	SS	-1
11	Pete Alonso T3	1B	-
12	Rafael Devers	3B	-
13	Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	1B	-
14	Matt Olson	1B	-
15	Corbin Carroll	OF	-
16	Austin Riley	3B	+4
17	Corey Seager	SS	-
18	Yordan Alvarez	OF	+1
19	Marcus Semien	2B, SS	+2
20	Adolis García	OF	-4
21	Paul Goldschmidt	1B	-3
22	Julio Rodríguez	OF	-
23	Bobby Witt Jr.	SS	+4
24	Manny Machado T4	3B	-1
25	Luis Robert Jr.	OF	-1
26	Wander Franco	3B, SS	-1
27	Nolan Arenado	3B	-1
28	Ozzie Albies	2B	-
29	Francisco Lindor	SS	-
30	Randy Arozarena	OF	-
31	Christian Yelich	OF	-
32	Will Smith T5	C	-
33	Adley Rutschman	C	-
34	Sean Murphy	C	-
35	Bryce Harper	DH	+2
36	Elly De La Cruz	3B, SS	-1
37	Kyle Schwarber T6	OF	+2
38	Trea Turner	SS	-2
39	Nathaniel Lowe	1B	+2
40	Christian Walker	1B	+2
41	Michael Harris II	OF	+7
42	Ketel Marte	2B, OF	+1
43	J.T. Realmuto	C	+2
44	Luis Arraez	1B, 2B, 3B, OF	+2
45	Jose Altuve	2B	-1
46	Josh Jung T7	3B	+3
47	Eloy Jiménez	OF	+3
48	Alex Bregman	3B	+4
49	Masataka Yoshida	OF	-9
50	Cedric Mullins	OF	+6
51	Jazz Chisholm Jr.	2B, SS	+19
52	Anthony Santander	OF	+5
53	Josh Naylor	1B, OF	-
54	J.D. Martinez	DH	-7
55	Max Muncy	2B, 3B	+7
56	George Springer	OF	-18
57	Yandy Díaz	1B, 3B	-3
58	Nico Hoerner	2B, SS	+9
59	Steven Kwan	OF	-
60	Gleyber Torres	2B, SS	-9
61	Matt Chapman	3B	+2
62	Nick Castellanos T8	OF	-7
63	Lane Thomas	OF	-3
64	Matt McLain	SS	+2
65	Teoscar Hernández	OF	+4
66	Cody Bellinger	OF	+5
67	Alex Verdugo	OF	+5
68	Ha-Seong Kim T9	2B, 3B, SS	+32
69	Gunnar Henderson	3B, SS	+7
70	Bryan Reynolds	OF	+10
71	Andrés Giménez	2B	-3
72	Mike Trout	OF	+7
73	Salvador Perez	C	-9
74	Riley Greene T10	OF	+7
75	Dansby Swanson	SS	+20
76	Hunter Renfroe	OF	+14
77	Isaac Paredes	1B, 2B, 3B	+1
78	Andrew Vaughn	1B, OF	+6
79	Jonathan India	2B	-21
80	Starling Marte	OF	-19
81	Spencer Steer	1B, 3B	+4
82	Spencer Torkelson	1B	+5
83	Byron Buxton	OF	-1
84	Bryson Stott	2B, SS	+5
85	Carlos Correa	SS	+6
86	Francisco Alvarez	C	+6
87	Esteury Ruiz T11	OF	+6
88	Whit Merrifield	2B, OF	+13
89	Brandon Nimmo	OF	-3
90	Lourdes Gurriel Jr.	1B, OF	+4
91	Jorge Soler	OF	-18
92	Xander Bogaerts	SS	-18
93	Justin Turner	3B	+3
94	Alec Bohm T12	1B, 3B	+15
95	C.J. Cron	1B	+3
96	Austin Hays	OF	-13
97	CJ Abrams		+5
98	Orlando Arcia	2B, SS	+5
99	Willson Contreras	C	+5
100	Jeremy Peña	SS	+7
101	Brandon Drury	1B, 2B, 3B	+7
102	Andrew Benintendi	OF	+8
103	Jordan Walker	3B, OF	-28
104	Jarren Duran	OF	+7
105	Henry Davis	C, OF	-8
106	Lars Nootbaar	OF	+20
107	William Contreras T13	C	+5
108	Tyler O’Neill	OF	+21
109	Jake Fraley	OF	+9
110	Triston Casas	1B	+12
111	Ryan Mountcastle	1B	+17
112	Joc Pederson	OF	+11
113	Christopher Morel	2B, 3B, OF	+7
114	Giancarlo Stanton	OF	-
115	Jeimer Candelario T14	3B	+12
116	Seiya Suzuki	OF	+3
117	Ian Happ	OF	+13
118	Edouard Julien	2B, 3B	+6
119	Christian Encarnacion-Strand	1B, 3B	-6
120	Andrew McCutchen	OF	+12
121	Will Benson	OF	+12
122	Thairo Estrada	2B, SS, OF	+12
123	Daulton Varsho	C, OF	-18
124	Chas McCormick	OF	+11
125	Brandon Lowe	2B, OF	+UR
126	Nolan Gorman	2B, 3B	+10
127	Maikel Garcia	3B	-2
128	Mickey Moniak	OF	-7
129	Jake McCarthy	OF	-41
130	Zack Gelof	2B	+12
131	Ty France	1B, 3B	+13
132	José Abreu	1B	+13
133	Bryan De La Cruz	OF	+14
134	Jake Burger	3B	+UR
135	Wilmer Flores	1B, 2B, 3B	+UR
136	Ryan McMahon	2B, 3B	+UR
137	J.P. Crawford	SS	+UR
138	Marcell Ozuna	OF	+UR
139	Anthony Rizzo	1B	+4
140	Yainer Diaz	C	+UR
141	Carlos Santana	1B	+UR
142	Sal Frelick	2B, 3B, SS, OF	-1
143		OF	-27
144	Luis Rengifo	1B, 2B, SS, OF	+UR
145	James Outman	OF	+UR
146	Tommy Edman	2B, SS, OF	-8
147	Ezequiel Duran	3B, SS	-41
148	Ezequiel Tovar	SS	-33
149	Brent Rooker	OF	+UR
150	Leody Taveras	OF	-19

And here’s the Taxi Squad, presented in no particular order:

Taxi Squad

Hitter	Position	Team	Comment
Ronny Mauricio	2B/SS	NYM	No idea when he comes up, or if he plays every day when he does, but among the most imminent of the top prospects.
Garrett Cooper	1B/OF	MIA	Not enough upside to hold through a slump.
Kyle Manzardo	1B	CLE	Should get a look at 1B/DH in Cleveland in the next few weeks.
Kris Bryant	OF	COL	Everything has faded so quickly.
Tim Anderson	SS	CWS	Finally hit his first HR of the season, hitting .338 in the second half (with zero power, of course).
Brayan Rocchio	3B/SS	CLE	Highly-regarded prospect, though he needs to find a way to get the ball in the air a little more for his strong hit tool and limited power to play.
Ramón Laureano	OF	OAK	Still speedy, but the power is a bit suspect and the ratios will likely stink.
Jake Bauers	1B/OF	NYY	Leads off for the Yankees, but that’s about it.
Tyler Soderstrom	C/1B	OAK	It’s tough to hit for power in Oakland, but his catcher eligibility makes him somewhat interesting.
Nick Madrigal	2B/3B	CHC	What a bummer. He just can’t stay healthy.
Brandon Marsh	OF	PHI	This is just a hot streak, which is normal for a guy with this profile.
Heston Kjerstad	OF	BAL	Slashing .350/.400/.567 (140 wRC+) since the All-Star Break in Triple-A.
Alejandro Kirk	C	TOR	Hot right now, but mostly interesting in points leagues.
Dominic Canzone	OF	SEA	Curious to see how much he plays in Seattle.
Jonathan Aranda	2B/3B	TBR	Optioned back down.
Blake Sabol	C/OF	SFG	Sabol sat against two of three lefties. The loss of playing time is fine if you’re using him at catcher, but not if he’s in your outfield.
Kerry Carpenter	OF	DET	Slumping for a few weeks now.
Colt Keith	3B	DET	He’s been promoted to Triple-A and is by far their best-hitting prospect right now.
Cal Raleigh	C	SEA	A streaky power-hitting catcher with more upside than most.
Endy Rodriguez	C	PIT	Strikeouts in six of his first seven at-bats is not indicative of what we expect going forward.
Jack Suwinski	OF	PIT	The floor is higher in OBP, and he’d still be ranked if I was doing that format.
Ryan O’Hearn	1B/OF	BAL	Will be streamable against righties, at least.
Tommy Pham	OF	ARI	How often will he start against righties?
LaMonte Wade Jr.	1B/OF	SFG	Useful in points leagues for the contact ability, but doesn’t do much else.
Coby Mayo	3B	BAL	Finally in Triple-A!
Michael Massey	2B	KCR	Had some hype in the preseason and is hot right now, but I’m not too excited yet.
Trent Grisham	OF	SDP	Hot, but we’ve done this dance too many times before for me to get excited.
Alex Kirilloff	1B/OF	MIN	Every time he heats up he gets hurt.
Nolan Jones	OF	COL	A fifth outfielder for fantasy purposes who is too streaky to trust.
Eugenio Suárez	3B	SEA	Flashing power but feels like a streamer in favorable matchups and parks.
Mark Canha	OF	MIL	If he plays everyday, Canha can be useful in OBP formats.
Eddie Rosario	OF	ATL	Hot and cold is how he’s always been, and the cold is FREEZING.
Paul DeJong	SS	STL	Being traded doesn’t change my opinion of him much.
Zach Neto	SS	LAA	Hitting ninth now and that’s no fun.
Taylor Ward	OF	LAA	Hitting the 60-day IL means he’s no longer going to be a factor in 2023.
Marco Luciano	SS	SFG	Once-hyped prospect hasn’t shown us much in recent years but raw talent is there.
Royce Lewis	3B	MIN	Oblique issues (and really any core issues) are scary, yo.
Javier Báez	SS	DET	Hitting poorly, but scoring tons of runs. If that doesn’t make sense to you, then you’re normal.
Harrison Bader	OF	NYY	Fine to stream when healthy, but injury risk is extreme.
Keibert Ruiz	C	WAS	It was between him and Yainer Diaz for the last catcher on the List
Ke’Bryan Hayes	3B	PIT	Off the IL, but my expectations are low.
Travis d’Arnaud	C	ATL	Streamable catcher.
Jordan Westburg	2B/3B	BAL	Losing playing time.
Jeff McNeil	2B/OF	NYM	Stopped striking out, but still not hitting for any power.
Josh Lowe	OF	TBR	Performing better, but playing less.
Colton Cowser	OF	BAL	I don’t think there’s enough in this bat to be relevant in the near-future.
Oswald Peraza	SS	NYY	Part-time player who needs to be full-time to be relevant.
Danny Jansen	C	TOR	Performs well in short bursts, but consistency hasn’t been a strength.
Bo Naylor	C	CLE	Catcher has been a wasteland in Cleveland, so Naylor should get plenty of chances to play.
Amed Rosario	SS/OF	LAD	Looks like he’s a platoon player now.
MJ Melendez	C	KCR	The playing time is useful in two-catcher leagues, but it’s time to move on in one-catcher formats.
Randal Grichuk	OF	LAA	People will be interested because he has pop, but he’s just a run-of-the-mill streaky hitter.
Joey Votto	1B	CIN	Keeps playing, but the quality of contact continues to fade.
Corey Julks	OF	HOU	Hoped he’d find more time higher in the order, but didn’t happen.
Jake Cronenworth	1B/2B	SDP	Making more contact and could find a way to be useful in deep formats.
Jarred Kelenic	OF	SEA	You don’t need to keep holding in 12-teamers.
Yan Gomes	C	CHC	Goes on hot streaks just enough to be rostered from time to time.
Joey Meneses	1B/OF	WAS	The magic of 2022 seems so long ago, doesn’t it?
Anthony Volpe	SS	NYY	There’s still a lot of hope here, but 2023 will likely go down as a disappointment.
Jose Siri	OF	TBR	The pop and speed are always present, but playing time and contact are not.
Kris Bryant	OF	COL	He’s droppable.
Tyler Stephenson	C	CIN	Losing playing time on the crowded roster.
Jonah Heim	C	TEX	I wouldn’t expect him back until September.
Brendan Donovan	ALL	STL	Undergoing season-ending surgery
Mike Tauchman	OF	CHC	Hot again—but need to see more to think he’s more than just a streamer.
TJ Friedl	OF	CIN	Maybe you can stream him again if he heats up, but the value was in his lineup spot, and that’s gone.

15 responses to “Hitter List 8/2: Top 150 Hitters – Week 18 Fantasy Baseball 2023”

Andre says:

August 2, 2023 at 5:09 PM

Jorge Polanco?

- Scott Chu says:
  
  August 2, 2023 at 9:00 PM
  
  I was going to put him ion the back end of the List, so I took him off the Taxi Squad, and then I didn’t have room for him. Consider him a Taxi Squad-caliber guy. Injuries and ineffectiveness all season have me very down.
  
nozekas says:

August 2, 2023 at 8:42 PM

Verdugo seems really high, and up 5 spots from the massive slump he’s been on. Why? I feel I would be laughed out of my league if I offered him for guys you have ranked behind him like Reynolds and Henderson.

- Scott Chu says:
  
  August 2, 2023 at 9:03 PM
  
  That tier has an average gain of +4,and he’s in a spot where the average gain is +5. That move up is entirely attrition from injuries and guys who fell.
  
  I keep waiting for Verdugo to turn it around, as he has an excellent hit tool and has not slumped like this previously to my recollection. I’ll have to dive a little deeper next week.
  
  As for Gunnar and Reynolds, note that people were trying to cut these guys as recently as 3-4 weeks ago. I agree that those guys are on a much better trajectory, but there was a time very recently where some think you have been laughed out for offering Gunnar or Reynolds for Verdugo and that time was fairly recent.
  
mik3brooks says:

August 2, 2023 at 10:06 PM

Thanks, Scott! I love your ranking notes!

Andre says:

August 2, 2023 at 11:18 PM

Thanks, Scott!

GoBruins says:

August 3, 2023 at 3:16 AM

Adames not even on the taxi squad? Is it time to move on? Can’t take my mind off last September but I could sure use the roster spot.

- Scott Chu says:
  
  August 6, 2023 at 4:56 PM
  
  It feels harsh, and he’s among the 20-40 players who I could easily add to the Taxi Squad for one reason or another, but he just can’t show power for more than a few games at a time.
  
Neverending Story says:

August 3, 2023 at 7:23 AM

Any thoughts on where Trevor Story might slot into the list when he returns, understanding it may take a little time to ramp up.

- Scott Chu says:
  
  August 6, 2023 at 4:57 PM
  
  I just recorded Hacks and Jacks that will come out Monday, but long STORY short, he’ll be in the last tier to account for his massive risk. If you have been struggling at 2B, he’s worth a grab, but he’s not in my top 15 at the position.
  
Sweet Chin Music says:

August 3, 2023 at 8:55 AM

Thanks Scott, I appreciate your dedication to this list. It’s not easy work to appease the masses!

As a longtime Vaughn fanboy who plucked him in my dynasty league shortly after he was taken 3rd overall by the White Sox. I finally had to cut bait on him. He’s remarkably mediocre and with nearly 3 full seasons under his belt, we just aren’t seeing any type of real improvement out of him.

What say you?

- Scott Chu says:
  
  August 6, 2023 at 4:59 PM
  
  It’s rough to drop him in dynasty, but depending on what is available I get it. The power just isn’t coming yet, and it’s starting to look like it won’t. He can be a backend/decent CI most of the time, but in 10-12 teamers that’s not very exciting.
  
Charl says:

August 6, 2023 at 9:29 AM

“ I cannot understand how a guy with Daulton Varsho’s speed and power just stops hitting entirely when he moves to a better team and better hitting environment.”

Maybe it’s because his avg exit velocities were never that good?

I also don’t understand why Nolan Gorman is so low. Was that due to him being banged up for a few days with the bruised foot and sore back?

- Scott Chu says:
  
  August 6, 2023 at 5:04 PM
  
  Average EV is useful, but Varsho had a double-digit barrel rate last season and I hoped he could do something similar again. The batting average was always going to stink, but I thought we could see 20-23 HR and SB and some decent counting stats. That’s an elite catcher.
  
  Gorman is taking walks and that’s cool, but as of now I still see him as an extreme boom-bust bat. The duration Ln of his current performance and what his next slump looks like could convince me that his floor is higher than my current evaluation – that’s when I’d be willing to give him a big boost.
  
Charl says:

August 6, 2023 at 9:41 PM

It’s very difficult to maintain anything close to a 10% barrel rate with avg exit velos that low. For example not a single player this season with a double digit barrel rate has avg exit velos below 88mph. Tough to imagine he’d dip this low but it was always within the window of possibility.

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Hitter List 8/2: Top 150 Hitters – Week 18 Fantasy Baseball 2023

Scott Chu

15 responses to “Hitter List 8/2: Top 150 Hitters – Week 18 Fantasy Baseball 2023”

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