Hitter List 8/8: Ranking the Top 150 Hitters To Own ROS

[hitter_list list_id=”24315″ include_stats=”1″ season=”2018″]

Welcome back to Hitter List. Every Wednesday during the regular season, I’ll rank the current value of the top 150 hitters for the remainder of the year. Use these rankings to help get a sense of both a player’s expected performance and his trade value in your fantasy leagues moving forward.  They’re constructed with 12-teamer, H2H, 5×5 leagues in mind; adjust as needed for your specific setup. Position eligibility does factor in to a degree.

We’re officially in the back half of the season, which means that adjustments to the List will be more aggressive than they’ve been previously. In particular, injuries will take on added importance as even a minimum DL stint will cost a player a decent chunk of their remaining games. Rest assured that any rankings you vehemently disagree with were explicitly an attempt to insult you and/or your favorite player(s) personally. Seriously, before you work yourself into a rage in the comment section, understand that this is only one person’s opinion. I’m wrong a lot! Comes with the territory of doing this sort of thing.

On to the highlights!

• For the first time this season, Mike Trout falls out of the top spot. His sore wrist hasn’t landed him on the disabled list yet, but he hasn’t played since sustaining the injury and may not be back until the weekend. That, plus the potential for a sore wrist impacting his swing, is enough to eliminate the slight edge he had over Jose Ramirez.
• The Brewers’ roster crunch results in slight drops for Jonathan Schoop, Travis Shaw, Mike Moustakas, and Eric Thames this week (Jesus Aguilar’s drop is more to do with performance, but he’s probably impacted by the logjam as well). Hard to see how they’ll juggle playing time going forward without severely compromising the infield defense by slotting Schoop and Shaw out of position, or putting Thames in the outfield semi-regularly.
• Injury roundup: Both George Springer (thumb) and Ian Kinsler (hamstring) are expected to only require a minimum DL stint., The news is a bit more grim for Tommy Pham, who only made it a couple of games into his tenure with the Rays before breaking his foot. He could miss the remainder of August. Wil Myers‘ foot isn’t broken – just bruised – but he’ll miss at least the next week in the best case scenario. More likely, he’ll require more than the minimum 10 days and then need a rehab assignment to shake off the rust.
• New to or back on the List this week: Jonathan Villar, Mallex Smith, Adalberto Mondesi, and Steven Souza. When asked if Villar will have the green light to steal bases, Orioles manager Buck Showalter responded, “Is there a color greener than green?” Everyday at-bats and carte blanche on the base paths could make Villar a fantastic source of steals down the stretch. Smith and Mondesi offer similar upside; the former will benefit from Pham’s injury in terms of playing time and is hitting .403 with eight steals over the past month. Mondesi hasn’t been hitting quite as well, but he does have 11 swipes in just 32 games this season. Souza, meanwhile, has slashed .295/.374/.534 with three homers and two steals since returning from injury last month.