Fantasy Baseball 2017: Top 250 (Update)

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:

*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!