With another month down in the 2016 Fantasy Baseball season, it’s time to look back at the top performers in July. I will look at the best hitters, power and speed wise, the best starters, from strikeout artists to ERA & WHIP leaders, and the best closers, with emphasis on saves. I will also talk about what stood out to me in this past month’s sample of stats. Let’s get to it!

Top 10 Overall Hitters of July

What a story this kid is having! Just when owners were thinking Trevor Story might be cooling off from his HOT start to the season, he puts up a July that rivals his April numbers. He broke the NL Rookie SS record for most homeruns in a season (beating out Troy Tulowitzki of all people). Now sitting at 27 HR, Story needs just 4 more to break the record for a Rookie SS. He should easily do that, the more interesting question is if he can get to 39, which would break the NL Rookie HR record.

Jose Altuve and Josh Donaldson are the only 2 hitters to remain in the top 10 from last month. Altuve's consistency in both power and speed has made him a front runner for AL MVP as well as the top player in Fantasy Baseball this season. The regaining MVP, Donaldson, has done nothing wrong, but even in a .330AVG and 6 HR month, he is only the 4th best hitter of July. His owners won't be too upset though, especially since The Bringer of Rain has been so consistent.

Just your monthly reminder of Mookie Betts insane pace: 132R 35HR 112RBI 27SB .306BA

Top Power Hitters of July

Ryan Schimpf? Ryan Schimpf! The 28 year old made his MLB debut in mid-June, but he didn't even hit his first homerun until July 1st. Since that date Schimpf has hit 8 more and led all hitters with 9 July HR. Will the clock strike midnight on Schimpf and his owners in August?

Story joins Max Kepler, new member of the Mets Jay Bruce, Mike Napoli, and Yasmani Grandal as the only hitters with at least 8 July homeruns. David Ortiz and Justin Turner were the only with 7 HR for the month. Albert Puljos dominated the pack in RBI for July with 31. Second best was Kepler and Daniel Murphy with 23 RBI.

Top Speedsters of July

Just as June was the month of power, July could be considered the month of speed! 10 players stole at least 7 bases which is on par with last month (9). The difference is at the top of the list. In June, only 1 player had double digit SB. July not only had four 10 SB players, it also had two players, Billy Hamilton and Starling Marte, who stole 16 and 15 bases respectively!

The current leader in SB for the season, Jonathan Villar, places 3rd in July with 12 swipes. Unsurprisingly, Marte and Hamilton round out the top 3 in SB so far this season. All have at least 35 SB! Fellow Brewers player, Hernan Perez, fell just short of 10 SB for the month, but he did have 3 mutli SB games in July... over the span of 8 days! Perez also contributed the most power (4HR 17RBI) of any speedster this past month.

Top 10 Overall Pitchers of July

Last month, despite the uptick in homeruns, the combined Player Rater value of the top 10 pitchers was 84.6 or an 8.46 average. This month, pitching has declined. The top 10 pitchers combine for only 73.2 points of value or a 7.32 average. Max Scherzer and Madison Bumgarner are the only pitchers to remain in the top 10 from June. Bumgarner accomplishes this despite only 1 July W on his record.

Justin Verlander is July's top pitcher. He led all pitchers in July with 48 strikeouts, his 1.69ERA was good for 6th, and his 0.89WHIP ties him for 7th best of the month. Hector Santiago, now a member of the Twins, impressed by winning all 6 of his July starts. His 1.78ERA helped to accomplish that, but be aware of his 5.35 BB/9 in July, including 6 walks in his most recent outing.

Top Strikeout Pitchers of July

As stated before, Verlander led the way with 48K. Jose Fernandez and Robbie Ray both had over 43 K despite posting ERAs above 4.00. Lance McCullers had great July numbers, 44K 3W 2.08ERA, but his 4.45 BB/9 needs to improve if he wants to keep his ERA around 2 again in August.

Top ERA and WHIP of July

Last month, 14 starters posted either a sub 2.00 ERA or a sub 1.00 WHIP. This month, 23 pitchers accomplished this. 9 pitchers (Scherzer, Verlander, Bumgarner, J.A. Happ, Aaron Sanchez, Zach Davies, James Shields, Ervin Santana, and Jose Quintana) did both, up from only 6 last month. Scherzer is the only pitcher to do it both months. Kyle Hendricks owned the lowest ERA in July at 1.07. Only Kendricks, Scherzer, and Happ posted ERAs under 1.50. Stephen Strasburg, who just missed out on a sub 2.00 ERA, had the best WHIP in July at 0.78.

Top Closers of July

June saw 9 closers nail down at least 8 saves. Only 5 closers did this in July, but there were 11 who recorded at least 7 saves. Jeurys Familia led the way with 10 saves in July. He led the way with that same number in June as well. His 3.97ERA and 1.68WHIP are eye opening though! (See more on that here)

Maybe a few of Familia's 37 saves have been undeserving, the same cannot be said about Zach Britton. Britton recorded 9 saves in July without surrendering a run. In fact, Britton has the lowest ERA (0.60 for the season) of any pitcher that has at least 1 save this season. He is even making some noise as a potential AL Cy Young candidate. He would be the first reliever to win the award since 2003 when Eric Gagne posted 137K, 55SV, and a 14.98K/9. He would also be the first to win in the AL since 1992 when Dennis Eckersley not only won the Cy Young but also the AL MVP! Those achievements may be a reach for the Orioles closer , but they do showcase how impactful a season he is having.

That's it for the top performing players of July. Let's do it all over again in August! 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!