clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Updated NL-only position rankings: Hitters

Ray Guilfoyle updates his NL-only position rankings to get you ready for your drafts this weekend.

Mike Ehrmann

Some of you, including one of my buddies in my big money NL-only league asked for updated NL-only rankings, as the ones I previously posted were done before spring training. I was planning on doing it, so here are my updated NL-only position rankings. But, in the interest of time, there will be no dialogue with the exception of a few glaring changes, mainly due to spring training injuries.

With that said, here are my updated NL-only position rankings for 2013:

Catcher

There were no real changes here, with the exception of moving Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal several spots, and moving Wellington Castillo up a few spots. Posey still heads the catcher rankings, and for good reason. He's a top 15-20 pick in mixed leagues. That says it all.

Rank

Player

Tm

1

Buster Posey

SFG

2

Yadier Molina

STL

3

Miguel Montero

ARI

4

Wilin Rosario

COL

5

Jonathan Lucroy

MIL

6

Brian McCann

ATL

7

Carlos Ruiz

PHI

8

A.J. Ellis

LAD

9

Rob Brantly

MIA

10

Wilson Ramos

WSN

11

Russell Martin

NYY

12

Wellington Castillo

CHC

13

Ryan Hanigan

CIN

14

Kurt Suzuki

WAS

15

John Buck

NYM

16

Yasmani Grandal

SDP

17

Devin Mesoraco

CIN

18

Hector Sanchez

SFG

19

Nick Hundley

SDP

20

Michael McKenry

PIT

First Base

The only changes here occurred in the bottom five of the rankings where I moved up Matt Carpenter and Daniel Murphy a few slots. Votto still leads the NL first base ranking, and I pondered flip-flopping Allen Craig and Adrian Gonzalez, as well as Ike Davis and my 2013 man-crush Ryan Howard. But, I decided to stick with my original rankings for those guys.

Rank

Player

Tm

1

Joey Votto

CIN

2

Allen Craig

STL

3

Adrian Gonzalez

LAD

4

Buster Posey

SFG

5

Paul Goldschmidt

ARI

6

Ike Davis

NYM

7

Ryan Howard

PHI

8

Anthony Rizzo

CHC

9

Freddie Freeman

ATL

10

Adam LaRoche

WSN

11

Michael Cuddyer

COL

12

Todd Frazier

CIN

13

Corey Hart

MIL

14

Yonder Alonso

SDP

15

Brandon Belt

SFG

16

Garrett Jones

PIT

17

Logan Morrison

MIA

18

Tyler Colvin

COL

19

Matt Carpenter

STL

20

Daniel Murphy

NYM

Second Base

The only changes here were moving Dan Uggla down a spot, adding Jedd Gyorko where I ranked him at #10, and removing Ryan Theriot from the rankings and replacing him with Jerry Hairston, Jr. I thought about flip-flopping Brandon Phillips and Aaron Hill, and would not argue either way. Moving Chase Utley up a spot was enticing as well.

Rank

Player

Tm

1

Brandon Phillips

CIN

2

Aaron Hill

ARI

3

Neil Walker

PIT

4

Chase Utley

PHI

5

Rickie Weeks

MIL

6

Danny Espinosa

WSN

7

Dan Uggla

ATL

8

Josh Rutledge

COL

9

Marco Scutaro

COL

10

Jedd Gyorko

SD

11

Chris Nelson

COL

12

Daniel Murphy

NYM

13

Logan Forsythe

SDP

14

Darwin Barney

CHC

15

Mark Ellis

LAD

16

Cliff Pennington

ARI

17

Daniel Descalso

STL

18

Adeiny Hechavarria

MIA

19

Jerry Hairston, Jr.

LAD

20

Donovan Solano

MIA

Shortstop

The big change here was moving Hanley Ramirez down to #8 in my rankings, as there is a possibility he will miss the first two months of the season. If we discover that he will miss less time, I would move him back into the 2-3 range.

Rank

Player

Tm

1

Troy Tulowitzki

COL

2

Starlin Castro

CHC

3

Jimmy Rollins

PHI

4

Ian Desmond

WSN

5

Danny Espinosa

WSN

6

Josh Rutledge

COL

7

Jean Segura

MIL

8

Hanley Ramirez

LAD

9

Marco Scutaro

COL

10

Zack Cozart

CIN

11

Andrelton Simmons

ATL

12

Everth Cabrera

SDP

13

Yunel Escobar

MIA

14

Ruben Tejada

NYM

15

Adeiny Hechavarria

MIA

16

Brandon Crawford

SFG

17

Cliff Pennington

ARI

18

Dee Gordon

LAD

19

Peter Kozma

STL

20

Clint Barmes

PIT

Third Base

Third base is a MASH unit this season, with several of the top third baseman battling injuries, including Hanley Ramirez, who I dropped to #10, David Wright, Pablo Sandoval, Chase Headley and Aramis Ramirez. I am probably higher on Ryan Zimmerman than most, but I could see a career year from him in 2013. I did not move Chase Headley down in my rankings, as I am wondering if his particular thumb injury (tip of thumb), isn't as severe as other thumb injuries.

Rank

Player

Tm

1

Ryan Zimmerman

WSN

2

Aramis Ramirez

MIL

3

David Wright

NYM

4

Pablo Sandoval

SFG

5

Chase Headley

SDP

6

Pedro Alvarez

PIT

7

Todd Frazier

CIN

8

David Freese

STL

9

Martin Prado

ARI

10

Hanley Ramirez

LAD

11

Chris Johnson

ATL

12

Michael Young

PHI

13

Juan Francisco

ATL

14

Nolan Arenado

COL

15

Matt Carpenter

STL

16

Placido Polanco

PHI

17

Luis Cruz

LAD

18

Chris Nelson

COL

19

Jordan Pacheco

COL

20

Ian Stewart

CHC

Outfielders

The big change here was moving Bryce Harper from #12 to #7 in my rankings. I also move the following outfielders up a few spots: B.J. Upton, Jay Bruce, Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier, Carlos Gomez, Dexter Fowler,Jayson Werth, Norichika Aoki, Adam Eaton, Juan Pierre, Domonic Brown, along with a few others.

Rank

Player

Tm

1

Ryan Braun

MIL

2

Matt Kemp

LAD

3

Andrew McCutchen

PIT

4

Giancarlo Stanton

MIA

5

Justin Upton

ATL

6

Carlos Gonzalez

COL

7

Bryce Harper

WAS

8

Jason Heyward

ATL

9

Jay Bruce

CIN

10

Matt Holliday

STL

11

B.J. Upton

ATL

12

Allen Craig

STL

13

Shin-Soo Choo

CIN

14

Carl Crawford

LAD

15

Andre Ethier

LAD

16

Carlos Beltran

STL

17

Martin Prado

ARI

18

Alfonso Soriano

CHC

19

Carlos Gomez

MIL

20

Jayson Werth

WAS

21

Dexter Fowler

COL

22

Jason Kubel

ARI

23

Hunter Pence

SFG

24

Adam Eaton

ARI

25

Norichika Aoki

MIL

26

Ben Revere

PHI

27

Michael Cuddyer

COL

28

Denard Span

WAS

29

Angel Pagan

SFG

30

Corey Hart

MIL

31

Cameron Maybin

SDP

32

Domonic Brown

PHI

33

Cody Ross

ARI

34

Jon Jay

STL

35

Carlos Quentin

SDP

36

Juan Pierre

MIA

37

Ryan Ludwick

CIN

38

Garrett Jones

PIT

39

Logan Morrison

MIA

40

Chris Heisey

CIN

41

Starling Marte

PIT

42

Justin Ruggiano

MIA

43

Tyler Colvin

COL

44

Will Venable

SDP

45

Gerardo Parra

ARI

46

Lucas Duda

NYM

47

Eric Young, Jr.

COL

48

Jose Tabata

PIT

49

David DeJesus

CHC

50

Darin Ruf

PHI

I will post my updated NL-only starting pitcher and reliever rankings in a separate post on Friday morning.

Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball supports SBNation and fantasy league families everywhere. Get better experts, better tools, and better stats with the #1 free fantasy baseball game. This season also features a brand new iPad app, so sign up now. Get ready for opening day with better play on Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball.