Fantasy Baseball 2017: Rest of Season Rankings

Welcome back! Posting these rankings weekly sometimes results in weeks where there isn’t much change. Every so often I’m gifted more free time to take a closer look and update them more thoroughly. This was 1 of those weeks. Let’s dive right in to this week’s HUGE Top 250 update.

Quick reminder, these rankings are for standard 5x5 rotisserie. I’ll do my best to explain any large rankings changes and feel free to ask player specific questions in the comments. This is your weekly forum to sound off with any fantasy questions you have. I’m here to help you!

Quick Hits

• Paul Goldschmidt takes over the top spot in the top 250. This is more of a praise of Goldschmidt than a knock on former #1 Kris Bryant. Goldschmidt is on pace for a 30-30 season with over 125 RBI and 125 runs scored with a .320 average. This lines up almost perfectly with Mookie Betts stats from last season. Betts was the #1 overall player last season with those numbers.
• The #2 player in fantasy makes a big jump into the top 50 in this update. In addition to that, Aaron Judge is now a top 10 OF. Speaking of on pace numbers, Judge is on pace to hit more than 50 bombs this year. He also steals enough bases to keep him from being a 2013 Chris Davis clone. The strikeout rate is the glaring issue, but, like Miguel Sano, Judge has bucked this trend by having an unprecedented hard contact rate. Even if he falls to a batting average of .300 or lower, 50 HR are still very much on the table for the Yankees breakout superstar.
• Carlos Gonzalez and Justin Verlander each fall 30 spots in this week’s update. We’ve been here before with both of these players. Most fantasy owners expect them to turn it around eventually. When they do, we know how great both of them can be. Gonzalez has been in a season long slump, most recently going 0 for 24. The positives for Gonzalez are he still plays half of his games in the most hitter friendly ballpark in baseball and he also has a great team around him for counting stats. Verlander has been slightly less disappointing but still much worse than fantasy owners hoped for when they drafted him. Last year Verlander started slow and then turned into the best pitcher in the AL. I’m not sure he can return to that level, but the current pitching landscape still keeps him top 20.
• Aroldis Chapman is set to return this weekend. With that, he regains his status as a top 3 RP. Dellin Betances drops just outside the top 20, but still remains an arm that should be owned in all leagues. The lack of saves makes it difficult, but the elite strikeout numbers and ratios make him worth it. He is also just 1 injury away from being a top 10 RP again. We see a similar situation with the Orioles top 2 bullpen options. Brad Brach has been great as a fill in closer but Zach Britton is set to throw in a rehab appearance on Monday. Brach is a great reliever but without saves it will be tough for fantasy owners to hold on to him. If Britton is healthy going forward, Brach will soon be heading towards the back end of the top 250.
• We have 11 new names in this top 250 update. I think that’s a record for the season. Among them are SP who have been good long enough to deserve a top 250 spot like Lance Lynn and Chase Anderson. Also closers who, I admit, probably should have been top 250 a few weeks ago, looking at Jim Johnson and Brandon Kintzler. A few other notable names are a couple of Angels. Cameron Maybin and Andrelton Simmons. Both of them have been Top 10 fantasy players over the past 30 days! A lot of their value can be attributed to the recent trend of the Angels giving the green light to their base stealers. Maybin is the slightly more intriguing option, ranked the highest of the 11 newcomers. Maybin, who was activated from the DL just this past Friday, stole 4 bases in his return game. He now has 20 on the season and is a legit threat to steal 40+ bases with enough playing time. Health is the big question mark for him, but I think he’s must own in any roto league. Simmons stole his 10th base in a 2 steal effort on Tuesday. This matches a career high for him in SB. Simmons stole 54 bases in just 237 games in his minor league career before being called up by the Braves. Simmons was hyped as a solid contact player with 20+ SB potential. Maybe he finally has the right situation to allow it. The power has been there for Simmons this season as well, making him a sneaky 20-20 candidate. To top off all this, both players have excellent BB/K rates, meaning they are making the most of every AB. We have reason to believe this won’t continue, Maybin (health) Simmons (track record), but if it does, they are just scratching the surface.

Losing Faith

Here are a few players who dropped in my rankings and, if their poor performances continue, could soon be outside my top 250:

• John Lackey (6.75 ERA in last 5 starts)
• Aaron Sanchez (remember him?)
• Aledmys Diaz (one hit wonder?)

Hello, Goodbye

The following players are new additions to the top 250:

• Cameron Maybin (see above)
• Lance Lynn
• Chase Anderson
• Andrelton Simmons (see above)
• Jim Johnson
• Brandon Kintzler
• Felipe Rivero
• Marwin Gonzalez
• Logan Morrison
• David Peralta
• Yangervis Solarte

The following players are no longer in my top 250:

• Chris Davis (injuries suck)
• Kevin Kiermaier (see Davis)
• Neil Walker (see Kiermaier)
• Mike Napoli
• Andrew Triggs (see Walker)
• Matt Andriese (see Triggs)
• Justin Wilson
• Devon Travis (see Andriese)
• Welington Castillo
• Matt Harvey (see.. sorry no excuses for this one)

See you next week!