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Fantasy Baseball 2017: Top 250 (Update)

A new update to my top 250 focuses on recent injury news and where to draft players like Desmond, Price, Kipnis, and Gray

Ouch! Ian Desmond fractured his hand recently and will likely miss two months of action. Where does he fall in my top 250?
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Check out other stuff I write:
AL Sleepers
NL Sleepers
AL Busts
NL Busts

Updated 3/23/17

The regular season is just over a week away! With that, the 2017 Fantasy Baseball season is getting closer and closer! Check out my top 250 and get ready for the drafts that mean the most to you!

A quick reminder that these rankings are for 5x5 standard rotisserie leagues, but can be used as a great foundation for most formats. I will update this post throughout spring training. Be sure to check back for updates. Here we go:

Top 250

Rank ECR Avg Rank ECR Diff Player Team Position(s) Pos Rank Age PR League
Rank ECR Avg Rank ECR Diff Player Team Position(s) Pos Rank Age PR League
1 1 1.00 0 Mike Trout LAA OF OF1 25 3 AL
2 6 4.00 4 Kris Bryant CHC 3B/OF 3B1/OF2 25 19 NL
3 2 2.50 -1 Mookie Betts BOS OF OF3 24 1 AL
4 5 4.50 1 Paul Goldschmidt ARI 1B 1B1 29 8 NL
5 3 4.00 -2 Jose Altuve HOU 2B 2B1 26 2 AL
6 4 5.00 -2 Nolan Arenado COL 3B 3B2 25 16 NL
7 9 8.00 2 Bryce Harper WAS OF OF4 24 93 NL
8 12 10.00 4 Miguel Cabrera DET 1B 1B2 33 27 AL
9 11 10.00 2 Anthony Rizzo CHC 1B 1B3 27 51 NL
10 10 10.00 0 Josh Donaldson TOR 3B 3B3 31 29 AL
11 8 9.50 -3 Manny Machado BAL 3B/SS 3B4/SS1 24 45 AL
12 7 9.50 -5 Clayton Kershaw LAD SP SP1 29 7 NL
13 13 13.00 0 Charlie Blackmon COL OF OF5 30 12 NL
14 16 15.00 2 Trea Turner WAS OF/2B OF6/2B2 23 59 NL
15 14 14.50 -1 Max Scherzer WAS SP SP2 32 4 NL
16 17 16.50 1 Madison Bumgarner SF SP SP3 27 10 NL
17 20 18.50 3 Corey Seager LAD SS SS2 22 58 NL
18 18 18.00 0 Joey Votto CIN 1B 1B4 33 22 NL
19 19 19.00 0 Starling Marte PIT OF OF7 28 25 NL
20 25 22.50 5 Corey Kluber CLE SP SP4 30 18 AL
21 21 21.00 0 Noah Syndergaard NYM SP SP5 24 40 NL
22 30 26.00 8 Xander Bogaerts BOS SS SS3 24 41 AL
23 41 32.00 18 Daniel Murphy WAS 2B/1B 2B3/1B5 32 23 NL
24 22 23.00 -2 Edwin Encarnacion CLE 1B 1B6 34 50 AL
25 26 25.50 1 Robinson Cano SEA 2B 2B4 34 31 AL
26 27 26.50 1 Francisco Lindor CLE SS SS4 23 46 AL
27 15 21.00 -12 Carlos Correa HOU SS SS5 22 90 AL
28 39 33.50 11 Jake Arrieta CHC SP SP6 31 32 NL
29 23 26.00 -6 Chris Sale BOS SP SP7 28 20 AL
30 29 29.50 -1 Ryan Braun MIL OF OF8 33 33 NL
31 35 33.00 4 Carlos Gonzalez COL OF OF9 31 69 NL
32 31 31.50 -1 George Springer HOU OF OF10 27 78 AL
33 28 30.50 -5 Nelson Cruz SEA OF OF11 36 42 AL
34 36 35.00 2 Jonathan Villar MIL SS/3B SS6/3B5 25 5 NL
35 40 37.50 5 Jon Lester CHC SP SP8 33 9 NL
36 38 37.00 2 Trevor Story COL SS SS7 24 140 NL
37 24 30.50 -13 Freddie Freeman ATL 1B 1B7 27 36 NL
38 33 35.50 -5 Brian Dozier MIN 2B 2B5 29 24 AL
39 47 43.00 8 Justin Verlander DET SP SP9 34 11 AL
40 44 42.00 4 Johnny Cueto SF SP SP10 31 21 NL
41 53 47.00 12 Gregory Polanco PIT OF OF12 25 99 NL
42 57 49.50 15 Jacob deGrom NYM SP SP11 28 157 NL
43 34 38.50 -9 Giancarlo Stanton MIA OF OF13 27 280 NL
44 56 50.00 12 Adrian Beltre TEX 3B 3B6 37 54 AL
45 49 47.00 4 Kyle Seager SEA 3B 3B7 29 80 AL
46 50 48.00 4 Yoenis Cespedes NYM OF OF14 31 105 NL
47 32 39.50 -15 A.J. Pollock ARI OF OF15 29 1001 NL
48 51 49.50 3 Stephen Strasburg WAS SP SP12 28 77 NL
49 62 55.50 13 Ian Kinsler DET 2B 2B5 34 34 AL
50 70 60.00 20 Kyle Hendricks CHC SP SP13 27 15 NL
51 59 55.00 8 Chris Archer TB SP SP14 28 137 AL
52 46 49.00 -6 Wil Myers SD 1B 1B8 26 35 NL
53 58 55.50 5 Hanley Ramirez BOS 1B 1B9 33 53 AL
54 48 51.00 -6 Christian Yelich MIA OF OF16 25 63 NL
55 45 50.00 -10 Yu Darvish TEX SP SP15 30 192 AL
56 85 70.50 29 Eric Hosmer KC 1B 1B10 27 108 AL
57 63 60.00 6 Dee Gordon MIA 2B 2B6 28 252 NL
58 74 66.00 16 Kenley Jansen LAD RP RP1 29 13 NL
59 66 62.50 7 Jean Segura SEA 2B/SS 2B8/SS8 27 6 AL
60 52 56.00 -8 Andrew McCutchen PIT OF OF17 30 159 NL
61 42 51.50 -19 Jose Abreu CWS 1B 1B11 30 96 AL
62 54 58.00 -8 Buster Posey SF C C1 30 131 NL
63 78 70.50 15 Carlos Martinez STL SP SP16 25 65 NL
64 84 74.00 20 DJ LeMahieu COL 2B 2B9 28 38 NL
65 60 62.50 -5 Carlos Carrasco CLE SP SP17 30 117 AL
66 79 72.50 13 Jonathan Lucroy TEX C C2 30 115 AL
67 87 77.00 20 Carlos Santana CLE 1B 1B12 30 100 AL
68 112 90.00 44 Julio Teheran ATL SP SP18 26 86 NL
69 83 76.00 14 Masahiro Tanaka NYY SP SP19 28 52 AL
70 43 56.50 -27 Rougned Odor TEX 2B 2B10 23 57 AL
71 81 76.00 10 Evan Longoria TB 3B 3B8 31 88 AL
72 69 70.50 -3 Todd Frazier CWS 3B 3B9 31 89 AL
73 108 90.50 35 Stephen Piscotty STL OF OF18 26 111 NL
74 82 78.00 8 Billy Hamilton CIN OF OF19 26 64 NL
75 75 75.00 0 Adam Jones BAL OF OF20 31 130 AL
76 71 73.50 -5 Mark Trumbo BAL OF OF21 31 60 AL
77 55 66.00 -22 Justin Upton DET OF OF22 29 125 AL
78 98 88.00 20 Jackie Bradley Jr. BOS OF OF23 26 91 AL
79 64 71.50 -15 Kyle Schwarber CHC OF OF24 24 1262 NL
80 73 76.50 -7 Aroldis Chapman NYY RP RP2 29 44 AL
81 77 79.00 -4 Zach Britton BAL RP RP3 29 17 AL
82 76 79.00 -6 Matt Kemp ATL OF OF25 32 82 NL
83 96 89.50 13 Seung Hwan Oh STL RP RP4 34 61 NL
84 97 90.50 13 Edwin Diaz SEA RP RP5 23 226 AL
85 91 88.00 6 Jose Quintana CWS SP SP20 28 68 AL
86 114 100.00 28 Andrew Benintendi BOS OF OF26 22 823 AL
87 93 90.00 6 Kenta Maeda LAD SP SP21 28 67 NL
88 115 101.50 27 Aaron Sanchez TOR SP SP22 24 62 AL
89 90 89.50 1 Gerrit Cole PIT SP SP23 26 399 NL
90 68 79.00 -22 Matt Carpenter STL 3B/2B/1B 3B10/2B11/1B13 31 196 NL
91 88 89.50 -3 Alex Bregman HOU 3B 3B11 23 560 AL
92 65 78.50 -27 Gary Sanchez NYY C C3 24 326 AL
93 102 97.50 9 Mark Melancon SF RP RP6 32 28 NL
94 100 97.00 6 Roberto Osuna TOR RP RP7 22 55 AL
95 109 102.00 14 Wade Davis CHC RP RP8 31 153 NL
96 118 107.00 22 Ken Giles HOU RP RP9 26 273 AL
97 126 111.50 29 Kelvin Herrera KC RP RP10 27 169 AL
98 129 113.50 31 Andrew Miller CLE RP RP11 31 39 AL
99 89 94.00 -10 Cole Hamels TEX SP SP24 33 92 AL
100 101 100.50 1 Danny Duffy KC SP/RP SP25/RP12 28 84 AL
101 72 86.50 -29 Anthony Rendon WAS 3B 3B12 26 94 NL
102 106 104.00 4 Jason Kipnis CLE 2B 2B12 29 71 AL
103 103 103.00 0 Zack Greinke ARI SP SP26 33 225 NL
104 116 110.00 12 Dustin Pedroia BOS 2B 2B13 33 56 AL
105 111 108.00 6 Danny Salazar CLE SP SP27 27 211 AL
106 67 86.50 -39 Khris Davis OAK OF OF27 29 102 AL
107 121 114.00 14 Willson Contreras CHC C/OF C4/OF28 24 439 NL
108 180 144.00 72 Michael Brantley CLE OF OF29 29 1137 AL
109 117 113.00 8 Jose Ramirez CLE 3B/OF 3B13/OF30 24 47 AL
110 107 108.50 -3 Justin Turner LAD 3B 3B14 32 106 NL
111 37 74.00 -74 J.D. Martinez DET OF OF31 29 134 AL
112 99 105.50 -13 Adam Eaton WAS OF OF32 28 103 NL
113 137 125.00 24 John Lackey CHC SP SP28 38 66 NL
114 80 97.00 -34 David Price BOS SP SP29 31 70 AL
115 110 112.50 -5 Rick Porcello BOS SP SP30 28 14 AL
116 124 120.00 8 Aledmys Diaz STL SS SS9 26 156 NL
117 61 89.00 -56 Chris Davis BAL 1B 1B14 31 184 AL
118 104 111.00 -14 Odubel Herrera PHI OF OF33 25 75 NL
119 160 139.50 41 Tanner Roark WAS SP SP31 30 48 NL
120 122 121.00 2 Michael Fulmer DET SP SP32 24 101 AL
121 134 127.50 13 Felix Hernandez SEA SP SP33 30 238 AL
122 140 131.00 18 Kevin Gausman BAL SP SP34 26 168 AL
123 151 137.00 28 Victor Martinez DET DH DH1 38 121 AL
124 125 124.50 1 Addison Russell CHC SS SS10 23 230 NL
125 132 128.50 7 Jake Lamb ARI 3B 3B15 26 139 NL
126 133 129.50 7 Adam Duvall CIN OF OF34 28 120 NL
127 149 138.00 22 J.T. Realmuto MIA C C5 26 147 NL
128 157 142.50 29 Alex Colome TB RP RP13 28 73 AL
129 128 128.50 -1 Cody Allen CLE RP RP14 28 76 AL
130 130 130.00 0 Dallas Keuchel HOU SP SP35 29 283 AL
131 179 155.00 48 Matt Shoemaker LAA SP SP36 30 197 AL
132 187 159.50 55 Mike Napoli TEX 1B 1B15 35 119 AL
133 105 119.00 -28 Craig Kimbrel BOS RP RP15 28 126 AL
134 142 138.00 8 Brandon Belt SF 1B 1B16 28 186 NL
135 123 129.00 -12 Maikel Franco PHI 3B 3B16 24 201 NL
136 94 115.00 -42 Albert Pujols LAA 1B 1B17 37 85 AL
137 127 132.00 -10 Adrian Gonzalez LAD 1B 1B18 34 151 NL
138 131 134.50 -7 Kole Calhoun LAA OF OF35 29 165 AL
139 86 112.50 -53 Jose Bautista TOR OF OF36 36 290 AL
140 95 117.50 -45 Lorenzo Cain KC OF OF37 30 190 AL
141 145 143.00 4 Steven Matz NYM SP SP37 25 185 NL
142 150 146.00 8 Dexter Fowler STL OF OF38 31 163 NL
143 189 166.00 46 Jake Odorizzi TB SP SP38 27 136 AL
144 159 151.50 15 Joc Pederson LAD OF OF40 24 223 NL
145 138 141.50 -7 Troy Tulowitzki TOR SS SS11 32 246 AL
146 176 161.00 30 Jay Bruce NYM OF OF41 29 129 NL
147 177 162.00 30 Jeff Samardzija SF SP SP39 32 124 NL
148 202 175.00 54 Dansby Swanson ATL SS SS12 23 662 NL
149 164 156.50 15 Elvis Andrus TEX SS SS13 28 72 AL
150 147 148.50 -3 Marcell Ozuna MIA OF OF41 26 193 NL
151 185 168.00 34 Carlos Beltran HOU OF OF42 39 83 AL
152 192 172.00 40 Javier Baez CHC 3B/2B/SS 3B17/2B14/SS14 24 214 NL
153 158 155.50 5 Eduardo Nunez SF 3B/SS 3B18/SS15 29 30 NL
154 155 154.50 1 Ben Zobrist CHC 2B/OF 2B15/OF43 35 138 NL
155 188 171.50 33 Logan Forsythe LAD 2B 2B16 30 212 NL
156 135 145.50 -21 Marcus Stroman TOR SP SP40 25 244 AL
157 119 138.00 -38 Rich Hill LAD SP SP41 37 74 NL
158 143 150.50 -15 Aaron Nola PHI SP SP42 23 397 NL
159 203 181.00 44 Marco Estrada TOR SP SP43 33 113 AL
160 191 175.50 31 J.A. Happ TOR SP SP44 34 49 AL
161 226 193.50 65 Starlin Castro NYY 2B 2B17 27 191 AL
162 92 127.00 -70 Ian Desmond COL OF OF44 31 37 NL
163 200 181.50 37 Ender Inciarte ATL OF OF45 26 181 NL
164 210 187.00 46 Curtis Granderson NYM OF OF46 36 216 NL
165 178 171.50 13 Randal Grichuk STL OF OF47 25 248 NL
166 171 168.50 5 Dellin Betances NYY RP RP16 29 173 AL
167 141 154.00 -26 Jeurys Familia NYM RP RP17 27 43 NL
168 154 161.00 -14 David Robertson CWS RP RP18 31 112 AL
169 198 183.50 29 Tony Watson PIT RP RP19 31 215 NL
170 219 194.50 49 Brandon Crawford SF SS SS16 30 178 NL
171 206 188.50 35 Drew Smyly SEA SP SP45 27 316 AL
172 207 189.50 35 Melky Cabrera CWS OF OF48 32 135 AL
173 220 196.50 47 Rajai Davis OAK OF OF49 36 79 AL
174 120 147.00 -54 Miguel Sano MIN 3B/OF 3B19/OF50 23 313 AL
175 146 160.50 -29 Matt Harvey NYM SP SP46 28 654 NL
176 167 171.50 -9 Jon Gray COL SP SP47 25 227 NL
177 166 171.50 -11 Jonathan Schoop BAL 2B 2B18 25 149 AL
178 144 161.00 -34 Hunter Pence SF OF OF51 33 263 NL
179 136 157.50 -43 Kendrys Morales TOR DH DH2 33 152 AL
180 184 182.00 4 Brian McCann HOU C C6 33 355 AL
181 225 203.00 44 Matt Moore SF SP SP48 27 164 NL
182 156 169.00 -26 Evan Gattis HOU C C7 30 206 AL
183 148 165.50 -35 Salvador Perez KC C C8 26 323 AL
184 153 168.50 -31 Yasmani Grandal LAD C C9 28 321 NL
185 170 177.50 -15 Francisco Rodriguez DET RP RP20 35 81 AL
186 218 202.00 32 Raisel Iglesias CIN RP/SP RP21/SP49 27 232 NL
187 195 191.00 8 Sam Dyson TEX RP RP22 28 87 AL
188 254 221.00 66 Yulieski Gurriel HOU 3B 3B20 32 929 AL
189 168 178.50 -21 Brad Miller TB SS/1B SS17/1B19 27 174 AL
190 232 211.00 42 Jung Ho Kang PIT 3B 3B21 29 293 NL
191 181 186.00 -10 Ryon Healy OAK 3B 3B22 25 365 AL
192 287 239.50 95 Josh Harrison PIT 2B 2B19 29 177 NL
193 175 184.00 -18 Nomar Mazara TEX OF OF52 21 264 AL
194 152 173.00 -42 Jameson Taillon PIT SP SP50 25 257 NL
195 231 213.00 36 Max Kepler MIN OF OF53 24 340 AL
196 139 167.50 -57 Lance McCullers HOU SP SP51 23 390 AL
197 113 155.00 -84 David Dahl COL OF OF54 23 374 NL
198 205 201.50 7 Yasiel Puig LAD OF OF55 26 373 NL
199 208 203.50 9 Joe Ross WAS SP SP52 23 292 NL
200 196 198.00 -4 Drew Pomeranz BOS SP SP53 28 97 AL
201 197 199.00 -4 Marcus Semien OAK SS SS18 26 187 AL
202 182 192.00 -20 A.J. Ramos MIA RP RP23 30 114 NL
203 165 184.00 -38 Yasmany Tomas ARI OF OF56 26 127 NL
204 162 183.00 -42 Byron Buxton MIN OF OF57 23 470 AL
205 222 213.50 17 Adam Wainwright STL SP SP54 35 289 NL
206 190 198.00 -16 Carlos Rodon CWS SP SP55 24 265 AL
207 173 190.00 -34 Vince Velasquez PHI SP SP56 24 269 NL
208 213 210.50 5 Nick Castellanos DET 3B 3B23 25 245 AL
209 163 186.00 -46 Jose Peraza CIN SS/OF SS19/OF58 22 255 NL
210 183 196.50 -27 Keon Broxton MIL OF OF59 26 348 NL
211 174 192.50 -37 Carlos Gomez TEX OF OF60 31 297 AL
212 212 212.00 0 Neil Walker NYM 2B 2B20 31 209 NL
213 186 199.50 -27 Devon Travis TOR 2B 2B21 26 241 AL
214 229 221.50 15 David Peralta ARI OF OF61 29 815 NL
215 240 227.50 25 Gio Gonzalez WAS SP SP57 31 262 NL
216 253 234.50 37 Eugenio Suarez CIN 3B 3B24 25 183 NL
217 214 215.50 -3 Mike Moustakas KC 3B 3B25 28 953 AL
218 305 261.50 87 Zach Davies MIL SP SP58 24 200 NL
219 172 195.50 -47 Sean Manaea OAK SP SP59 25 234 AL
220 278 249.00 58 Jedd Gyorko STL 2B/3B/SS 2B22/3B26/SS20 28 278 NL
221 243 232.00 22 Michael Conforto NYM OF OF62 24 616 NL
222 221 221.50 -1 Jacoby Ellsbury NYY OF OF63 33 170 AL
223 237 230.00 14 Brett Gardner NYY OF OF64 33 231 AL
224 215 219.50 -9 Jerad Eickhoff PHI SP SP60 26 109 NL
225 264 244.50 39 Hernan Perez MIL 3B/OF 3B27/OF65 26 95 NL
226 217 221.50 -9 Taijuan Walker ARI SP SP61 24 271 NL
227 201 214.00 -26 Eric Thames MIL OF OF66 30 N/A NL
228 249 238.50 21 Collin McHugh HOU SP SP62 29 243 AL
229 284 256.50 55 Brandon Phillips ATL 2B 2B23 35 122 NL
230 209 219.50 -21 Kevin Kiermaier TB OF OF67 26 247 AL
231 227 229.00 -4 Welington Castillo BAL C C10 29 327 AL
232 216 224.00 -16 Garrett Richards LAA SP SP63 28 550 AL
233 276 254.50 43 Jeremy Hellickson PHI SP SP64 29 116 NL
234 228 231.00 -6 C.J. Cron LAA 1B 1B20 27 250 AL
235 313 274.00 78 Brandon Drury ARI 3B/OF 3B28/OF68 24 258 NL
236 224 230.00 -12 Hisashi Iwakuma SEA SP SP65 35 179 AL
237 398 317.50 161 Chris Owings ARI SS/OF SS21/OF69 25 200 NL
238 290 264.00 52 Cameron Maybin LAA OF OF70 29 171 AL
239 266 252.50 27 Kevin Pillar TOR OF OF71 28 242 AL
240 238 239.00 -2 Domingo Santana MIL OF OF72 24 538 NL
241 461 351.00 220 Aaron Altherr PHI OF OF73 26 854 NL
242 261 251.50 19 Jorge Soler KC OF OF74 24 615 AL
243 204 223.50 -39 Tommy Joseph PHI 1B 1B21 25 346 NL
244 230 237.00 -14 Greg Bird NYY 1B 1B22 23 N/A AL
245 334 289.50 89 Addison Reed NYM RP RP24 28 172 NL
246 257 251.50 11 Josh Reddick HOU OF OF75 30 287 AL
247 233 240.00 -14 Sonny Gray OAK SP SP66 27 846 AL
248 246 247.00 -2 Cam Bedrosian LAA RP RP25 24 342 AL
249 242 245.50 -7 Yadier Molina STL C C11 34 203 NL
250 239 244.50 -11 Jason Heyward CHC OF OF76 27 435 NL

*ECR is Expert Consensus Rankings
*PR stands for 'Player Rater' which is a measure of how good a player was in a standard 5x5 roto league.

Let’s talk about some players whose value has changed drastically since my last update. The theme will definitely be injuries:

Ian Desmond drops 113 spots in my ranking to OF44 and overall player #162. Desmond will undergo surgery on his fractured left hand. The timetable currently out there would put the Rockies projected first baseman out 6-8 weeks. This puts him out until late April. Keep in mind, the timetable for his return is for baseball activities. It could take an additional couple of weeks for Desmond to rejoin the big league roster. This is all without factoring in any setbacks. Even if this works out, the nature of this injury could hinder Desmond’s power and hitting abilities. I’m avoiding this injury unless the discount on Desmond drops him into the 2nd half of drafts.

Sonny Gray has been shut down due to a ‘moderate’ lat strain. He will begin the season on the DL and be reevaluated in 3 weeks. As an avid supporter of Gray, this news is a big blow to his 2017 potential bounce back campaign. He drops 109 spots in my rankings to SP66 and overall player #247. I am only taking him as a last round flier. A pitcher starting the season injured is never a good investment to make. The A’s could push Gray back sooner to enhance his potential trade value, but this may not be in the best interest of Gray and his fantasy owners.

Anthony DeSclafani falls outside of my top 250 after news broke of his injury. That injury is a UCL sprain that will force DeSclafani to the DL to open the year. He will be reevaluated in 4 weeks. The optimistic outlook would bring the Reds pitcher back in mid-May. That being said, the Reds have no motivation to hurry their best young pitcher back to the mound. As of now, the best news Reds fans can hope for is that DeSclafani avoids Tommy John surgery. Fantasy owners should avoid DeSclafani in drafts unless you have multiple DL spots.

Jason Kipnis drops to #102 and David Price drops to #114 in my rankings following their respective injury concerns. Kipnis has been battling a shoulder injury during Spring Training and will likely miss the start of the 2017 season. I was high on Kipnis before this news and am now moving him closer to his ECR. I still believe Kipnis can contribute to your fantasy teams in 2017, but now only as a borderline starting 2B. I was already low on David Price before news of his elbow injury broke. The Red Sox ace is now likely to begin 2017 on the DL. I currently have him at SP20 but I’m afraid he could fall even more in the coming weeks. Price is now SP29.

Let’s look at some positive news now. The relief pitcher position as a whole moves up quite a bit in this update of my top 250. After several mock drafts, it is clear the top tier of RP is highly valued in the fantasy community. This is why I now have 10 RP ranked between #80-#98. This range of the draft is where I’m looking to pick up 1 or 2 RP who I believe can finish the season inside the top 5 at the position. I certainly don’t want to miss on this group all together, and neither should you. Just outside this top tier of RP is Craig Kimbrel. After a disappointing 2016, the Red Sox closer has had trouble this spring as well. He falls in this update and lands at RP16 behind Alex Colome and Cody Allen. I’ll just leave this fun quote from Bryan Joiner of Over the Monster:

“The good news from yesterday’s 6-5 loss to the Phillies was that Pablo Sandoval hit a home run, continuing his hot sport. Skadoosh. The bad news was that Craig Kimbrel got knocked the fugg out. For all our worries about David Price, I’m far more worried about Kimbrel, who strikes me as less theoretically replaceable than Price. My solution: He should give up fewer runs. Nailed it.”

Brandon Crawford, up 21 spots, and Brad Miller, down 19 spots, swap positions in my rankings. Crawford finished 2016 as the #178 overall player in fantasy. I think he’s a safe bet to at least achieve this position in 2017 with potential for improvement. His glove will keep him in the lineup daily and his consistent offensive production seems to be underrated by ECR. Miller is coming off a career season with 30 HR. Even with that, he finished the year as only the #174 overall player. I don’t see him improving his numbers and, in fact, believe his power numbers to regress back down to his career totals. This would give him around 15 HR while his slash numbers would remain an unimpressive .246/.310/.423.

That is it for me this week. Now get out there and use these ranking to win some fantasy leagues! Feel free to sound off in the comment section about how right or wrong I am. You can also ask player specific questions if you wish and I will do my best to reply ASAP. I wish best of luck to all readers who are drafting soon. I am spreading my fantasy mojo on all of you.

As always, thanks for the read and see you next time!