Hitter List 9/16: Ranking the Top 150 Hitters for 2020

Hello there, and welcome to this season’s final edition of Hitter List, where every week throughout the season I’ve been flawlessly ranking the top 150 hitters in baseball.

With just a handful of games left, and playoffs now underway in H2H formats, you’re really going to want to identify and grab the hottest bats available. This has probably been the case for at least a week at this point, but now is really the time to pull the trigger on that Christian Yelich for DJ Stewart swap that you didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to pull off earlier. With that in mind, this week’s rankings are really just a glorified leaderboard from the past week, highlighting some of the hottest hitters in baseball right now–and a couple of guys with enough underlying talent to keep crossing your fingers for.

I should note that one edge you can grab here in the waning days of the 2020 season comes in the form of the discrepancy in the number of games that each team has left to play. Keep in mind, with games lasting only seven innings during doubleheaders, and no guarantee that particular hitters will start both games, grabbing players on teams with more games left isn’t a slam dunk way of securing additional at-bats. But in leagues that will literally come down to a handful of counting stats, even the slightest edge can be a difference-maker. With that said, here is how many games each team has remaining after today:

 

 

Hitter List Notes

 

• Injuries/Illnesses/Demotions: Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela, Justin Turner, Jose Altuve, Max Kepler, Nick Senzel, David Fletcher, and Ozzie Albies all made their way back to our loving arms this week.  Jonathan Schoop, Rhys Hoskins, Matt Chapman, Luis Arraez, Jon Berti, Howie Kendrick, and Shin-Soo Choo were all cast into the etern-IL abyss.

 

• Quick note: the tiers are quite large this week. Let’s be honest, over the course of 10+ games literally anyone can outperform anyone, so the range of possible outcomes widens. Still, there are certain groupings I’d prefer over others.

 

• We touched on Jeimer Candelario last week, but man has this guy been money lately. He’s now hitting .404 over his last 52 at-bats while striking out less than 20% of the time. If he could lift the ball in the air a bit more, he could take advantage of that juicy 47.1% Hard Hit rate and really take that next step towards being a future star. But it’s hard to really complain at the moment. If the changes he’s made this year stick in 2021, he could be a huge value on draft day.

 

• As expected, the hottest hitter in baseball over the past week has been… Jared Walsh? With five homers and 14 RBI in his last 30 at-bats, he’s been scorching hot, and is a must-add in all formats for these final few weeks. He hit 36 homers with a .325 average last year in the minors in just 98 games, so there’s a chance some of this is legit.

 

• Though he’s been hitless over his last two games, Adalberto Mondesi has been stuffing the stat sheet lately, with four homers and 8 steals over his last 15 games. Of course, that production came with a .218 average during that span. Mondesi’s profile is scary, because even when things are going well the way they have been for the last few weeks, his production could drop off a cliff at literally any time. If you need speed, you have to keep him rostered, but keep tabs on the next few games to see if he’s entering another protracted.

 

• Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton broke their backs. Oops, sorry, they are back. Easy mistake. Both were having solid seasons before they went down, and Judge in particular looked to be in peak form. I’m going to assume they’re healthy and uninhibited over these next 1-2 weeks because I like to live dangerously.

 

• Ah, what better way to end the year than to talk about Josh Bell. Again. For like the 15th time this year. I was a big fan coming into the year, he disappointed heavily, messed around with his swing like a mad scientist, and now is possibly back to being good?  It’s a .300 average with three homers over his last 50 at-bats, and I think you’ve gotta roll the dice here, as he’s capable of putting up some monster numbers if he catches fire the way he did in the first half of last year.

 

• I know. Austin Meadows is terrible. So is J.D. Martinez. And Max Muncy. And a whole host of other players I haven’t outright dropped from the list. Here’s the thing though–anything can change in an instant, and these guys have demonstrated the ability to perform at an elite level as recently as last season. Sometimes you just have to go down with the ship on certain players with the hope that they come alive right when all hope is lost. At this point it’s highly unlikely, but would a five-homer week from a Muncy or a Martinez truly shock you?

 

• I don’t think, coming into the season, anyone expected the Tigers and Orioles to have fun offenses. But that’s kinda been the case this year. In Baltimore there’s DJ Stewart, of course, who has hit seven homers over his last 15 games with a .310 average. Then you have Ryan Mountcastle, who is hitting .350 with five homers since he debuted and hasn’t slowed down even a little the past few weeks. Detroit has the aforementioned Candelario, along with hot-hitting Willi Castro who now has his average up to .352, and Victor Reyes who has cooled a bit but looks like a serious 10 HR/25 SB threat. It’s been a fun year for “bad” teams. Except the Mets. The Mets are always the exception.

 

• Some Cardinals’ hitters get a little extra boost simply on account of how many games they have left to play. Brad Miller has cooled off, but guys like Matt Carpenter and Tommy Edman have been good lately, and a few extra at-bats could be useful down the stretch.

 

 

Rank	Hitter	Position	Change
1	Mike TroutT1	OF	+1
2	Mookie Betts	OF	+1
3	Trevor Story	SS	+1
4	Fernando Tatis Jr.	SS	-3
5	Juan Soto	OF	-
6	Ronald Acuña Jr.	OF	-
7	Nelson Cruz	DH	+2
8	Trea Turner	SS	+4
9	José Ramírez	3B	+1
10	José Abreu	1B, DH	+8
11	Freddie Freeman	1B	-
12	Anthony Rendon	3B	+3
13	Marcell Ozuna	OF	+7
14	Xander Bogaerts	SS	-1
15	Eloy Jiménez	OF, DH	+6
16	Manny Machado	3B, SS	+7
17	Rafael Devers	3B	+9
18	Tim Anderson	SS	+10
19	Nolan Arenado	3B	-
20	Corey Seager	SS	+9
21	George Springer	OF	+36
22	Michael Conforto	OF	+22
23	Luke Voit	1B, DH	+19
24	Francisco Lindor	SS	-16
25	Paul Goldschmidt	1B	-
26	DJ LeMahieu	1B, 2B, 3B	+22
27	Trent Grisham	OF	+23
28	Dominic Smith	1B, OF	+33
29	Aaron Judge	OF, DH	+UR
30	Bryce Harper	OF	-13
31	Charlie Blackmon	OF	-15
32	Starling Marte	OF	-8
33	Josh Donaldson	3B	+UR
34	Wil Myers	OF	+18
35	Jeff McNeil	2B, 3B, OF	+46
36	Ozzie Albies	2B	+UR
37	Alex Bregman	3B, SS	+UR
38	Luis Robert Jr.	OF	-16
39	Ryan Mountcastle T2	SS, OF	+80
40	Josh Bell	1B	+45
41	Adam Duvall	OF	+UR
42	Pete Alonso	1B	+22
43		2B, OF	+45
44	Dansby Swanson	SS	-4
45	J.T. Realmuto	C	-12
46	Giancarlo Stanton	OF, DH	+UR
47	DJ Stewart	OF	+UR
48	Mike Yastrzemski	OF	+19
49	Franmil Reyes	OF, DH	-12
50	Jeimer Candelario	3B	+77
51	Michael Brantley	OF	+27
52	Jared Walsh	1B	+UR
53	Gleyber Torres	2B, SS	+UR
54	Eugenio Suárez	3B	+5
55	Whit Merrifield	2B, OF	-28
56	Brandon Lowe	2B	-1
57	Cody Bellinger	1B, OF	-50
58	Cavan Biggio	2B, OF	-17
59	Dylan Moore	1B, OF	+UR
60	Ian Happ	OF	-4
61	Adalberto Mondesi	SS	+39
62	Miguel Sanó	3B	+11
63	Christian Yelich	OF	-49
64	Jose Altuve	2B	+1
65	Justin Turner	3B	+UR
66	Brandon Belt	1B	+14
67	Alex Verdugo	OF	+19
68	Alec Bohm	3B	+53
69		3B	+6
70	Clint Frazier	OF	+20
71	Jake Cronenworth	1B, 2B	+8
72	Kyle Tucker T3	OF	-23
73	Yoán Moncada	3B	-37
74	Eddie Rosario	OF	+8
75	Nick Castellanos	OF	-45
76		3B, OF	-8
77	Marcus Semien	SS	+6
78	Donovan Solano	2B	+29
79	Matt Olson	1B, DH	-19
80	Keston Hiura	2B	-45
81	Victor Reyes	OF	+27
82	AJ Pollock	OF	+33
83	Bobby Dalbec	1B	+UR
84	Jesús Aguilar	1B	+13
85	Maikel Franco	3B	+UR
86	Jurickson Profar	2B, OF	+UR
87	Paul DeJong		+UR
88	Byron Buxton	OF	+11
89	Carlos Correa	SS	-27
90	J.D. Martinez	DH	-47
91	Jesse Winker	OF	-60
92	Hunter Dozier	3B, OF, DH	+6
93	Christian Walker	1B	-23
94	Javier Báez	SS	-41
95	Max Muncy	1B, 2B, 3B	-41
96	Anthony Rizzo T4	1B	-51
97	Colin Moran	3B	+4
98	Kyle Lewis	OF	-22
99	Didi Gregorius	SS	+3
100	Jonathan Villar	2B, SS	-61
101	Garrett Hampson	2B, OF	-8
102	Wilmer Flores	1B, 2B, 3B	+4
103	Andrew McCutchen	OF	+14
104	Tommy La Stella	2B, 3B	+UR
105	Brian Anderson	3B, OF	+35
106	Miguel Rojas	SS	+UR
107	Mike Moustakas	2B, 3B	-41
108	Jorge Polanco	SS	-13
109	Mark Canha	1B, OF	-22
110		3B	-33
111	Travis d’Arnaud	C, 1B	+UR
112	Willi Castro	3B	+UR
113	Yuli Gurriel T5	1B, 3B	-41
114	Willy Adames	SS	+UR
115	Raimel Tapia	OF	+UR
116	Ke’Bryan Hayes	3B	+UR
117	Max Kepler	OF	-33
118	Randal Grichuk	OF, DH	-55
119	José Marmolejos	OF	+UR
120	Tommy Edman	2B, 3B, OF	-26
121	Austin Meadows	OF, DH	-89
122	Brad Miller	3B, SS	+3
123	Jedd Gyorko	2B, 3B	+UR
124	Shohei Ohtani	DH	-53
125	Alex Dickerson	OF	+1
126	Ramón Laureano	OF	-68
127	Mitch Moreland	1B, DH	-38
128	David Fletcher	2B, 3B	-12
129	Chris Taylor	2B, OF	+UR
130	Nick Ahmed	SS	+UR
131	Avisaíl García	OF, DH	+16
132	Matt Carpenter	3B	+UR
133	Jean Segura	SS	-29
134	Shogo Akiyama	OF	+UR
135	Ryan Braun	OF	+UR
136	Kyle Seager	3B	-40
137	Nick Madrigal	2B	-13
138	Kyle Schwarber	OF	-64
139	Joey Gallo	OF, DH	-47
140	Robbie Grossman	OF	-7
141	Isiah Kiner-Falefa	C, 3B	+UR
142	David Peralta	OF	-20
143	Evan Longoria	3B	+UR
144	Nick Senzel	OF	+UR
145	Andrés Giménez	2B, SS	+UR
146	Austin Riley	3B, OF	-26
147	Victor Robles	OF	-24
148	Robinson Canó	2B	-38
149	Adam Eaton	OF	-18
150	Erik González	3B, SS	-14

 

Well, that does it for this year. Thanks to everyone for reading–I hope it was helpful in some way, and best of luck this season and next.

 

Graphic by JR Caines (@JRCainesDesign on Twitter)