FanPost

Top Fantasy Players by Team: June Edition



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Another month has gone by in the 2016 baseball season. Last month I looked at the top fantasy players by team. Now three months into the season, I thought I'd see how much that research has changed. I have listed the top performer by team and their overall rank this year. The * next to the players are additional players on that team who ranked higher than the worst 'best' player.

Here are the results (rankings are through June 30th):

Hou Jose Altuve (1)**
LAA Mike Trout (4)
Oak Rich Hill (80)
Sea Robinson Cano (30)**
Tex Ian Desmond (3)**

Cle Francisco Lindor (25)***
CWS Chris Sale (8)
Det Ian Kinsler (19)*
KC Eric Hosmer (60)
Min Eduardo Nunez (17)

Bal Manny Machado (22)***
Bos Mookie Betts (5)****
NYY Andrew Miller (54)*
TB Evan Longoria (85)
Tor Josh Donaldson (18)***

Ari Paul Goldschmidt (26)***
Col Carlos Gonzalez (20)****
LAD Clayton Kershaw (2)***
SD Wil Myers (13)**
SF Madison Bumgarner (12)*

CHC Jake Arrieta (7)*******
Cin Jay Bruce (49)*
Mil Jonathan Villar (11)*
Pit Starling Marte (10)*
Stl Matt Carpenter (69)**

Atl Julio Teheran (40)
Mia Jose Fernandez (9)**
NYM Noah Syndergaard (33)**
Phi Odubel Herrera (62)*
Wsh Max Scherzer (14)****

Interesting Findings

Last month, the Atlanta Braves had the worst 'best' player. This month, that award goes to Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays who comes in at #85 overall. Atlanta's Julio Teheran ranked 40th, though he was the only Braves player in top 85.

In addition to the Rays and Braves, the Angels (Mike Trout), Athletics (Rich Hill), Twins (Eduardo Nunez), White Sox (Chris Sale), and Royals (Eric Hosmer) all only had one player inside the top 85. Last month, this was only an issue for three teams. Those three teams (Braves, Rays, and Twins) all remain in this group.

The Tigers (Ian Kinsler & Miguel Cabrera), Yankees (Andrew Miller & Carlos Beltran), Giants (Madison Bumgarner & Johnny Cueto), Reds (Jay Bruce & Adam Duvall), Brewers (Jonathan Villar & Ryan Braun), Pirates (Starling Marte & Gregory Polanco), and Phillies (Odubel Herrera & Jeanmar Gomez) all had only 2 players inside the top 85.
Last month, a total of 5 teams had 2 or fewer players better than the worst 'best' player. This month, a total of 14 teams end up in this category. The large increase could be contributed to the worst 'best' player being ranked #85 overall when last month that player was #131.

The Red Sox, Rockies, and Nationals all had 5 players inside the top 85.

The top team for June belongs to the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs, led by Jake Arrieta, had 8 players ranking higher than Longeria. Those players were: Arrieta, Kris Bryant, Jon Lester, Anthony Rizzo, John Lackey, Kyle Hendricks, Ben Zobrist, and Jason Hammel.

For the second month, the Cubs ENTIRE ROTATION is ranked higher than the worst 'best' player.

Last month, this was the part of the column where I posted the teams with the best records despite having 3 or fewer top fantasy players... Seeing that almost half of the league now has 2 or fewer top players, let's take a look at the best teams of that group. The San Francisco Giants easily have the best record of this group. Only 4 of the 14 teams with 2 or fewer top players have winning records.

The National League (49) beat out the American League (36) in total players ranked in the top 131.

Please leave comments if you have any further questions and feel free to let me know what you found most interesting in this research. Thanks for the read!