Fantasy Baseball 2017: Rest of Season Rankings

Welcome back! Another week, another Top 250 update. Let’s jump right into it.

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

• Mike Trout… the biggest blow to fantasy baseball, and real baseball, this year. It will probably be the worst of the season. Trout, as you know by now, suffered a torn UCL in his left thumb over the past weekend. He has already undergone surgery and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks. This puts him out until after the All-Star break and potentially into early August. I know people have cited his teammate Andrelton Simmons had the same procedure, performed by the same doctor, and only missed 5 weeks. This seems like a reach of optimism. I don’t see the Angels pushing Trout to return early. That being said, Trout was the #1 player in fantasy at the time of his injury. He’s irreplaceable. For those reasons, he’s still a top 100 player in my top 250. A replacement, plus 2 months of Mike Trout, should give you top 100 production. OF is a very deep position this year. Pick up the hot hand and mix and match until Trout returns. You’re going to make it through this, and you’re going to have an unprecedented boost on your fantasy roster come August.
• With Trout falling out of #1, most of the remaining top 50 moves up a spot. Trout was the only player to drop out of the top 50 this week. Buster Posey replaces him at #50. The battle for the new #1 has several candidates. Kris Bryant moves up 1 spot to claim #1 for me. Paul Goldschmidt, the current #1 player in fantasy, seems an obvious choice. Bryce Harper fits the bill, but injury and lack of SB leaves him at #2. Even Charlie Blackmon, who jumped to #5, deserves a look as the #1 overall player. So why is Kris Bryant #1? He’s actually doing the worst of any of these choices. To me, there’s your answer. If bad Kris Bryant is .278 34 R 11 HR 23 RBI 4 SB. Imagine what he’ll do when he gets hot?!? Bryant has a ceiling that is unreachable to pretty much everyone but him. Once he , and his team which is also not playing its best, reaches his full potential, Bryant will skyrocket up the rankings and I believe that will take him straight to the top. You can’t go wrong with any of these players, and I didn’t even mention Mookie Betts or Clayton Kershaw. I just believe Kris Bryant has the highest ceiling.
• Elvis has left the building! In the case of baseballs, Elvis Andrus is doing just that to them. Andrus never hit more than 6 HR his first 6 seasons. Then he hit 7 in 2015, topped that with 8 in 2016, and now he has 7 this year and it’s only June 2! He’s been a consistent top 10 SS year after year due to his 20+ SB with .275ish AVG and just consistent PAs. Now he’s on pace for over 20 HR. He’s stealing more bases than his recent seasons. Normally I would cry small sample, but again it’s JUNE 2! He’s on pace for 22 HR 37 SB with a .297 AVG. This is top 20 production. Which comes as no surprise considering he is currently the #17 overall player in fantasy. Maybe the HR total will cool down to only 10-15, but we need to start taking Elvis Andrus more seriously. Fun fact, he’s still just 28!
• Jose Quintana and Masahiro Tanaka. I don’t understand! Fantasy yo-yos.

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:

• Maikel Franco (the Phillies are even losing faith here)
• Jerad Eickhoff (last year, consistently good. this year, consistently bad)
• Odubel Herrera (I swear I don’t hate the Phillies)

Hello, Goodbye

The following players are new additions to the top 250:

• Jameson Taillon (WELCOME BACK!)
• Koda Glover (the closer for a division leader, for now)
• Robbie Ray (hard to ignore his recent success)
• Justin Smoak (his either)
• Domingo Santana (overlooked, to be honest)

The following players are no longer in my top 250:

• Danny Salazar (move to bullpen hurts a lot)
• Randal Grichuk (optioned to High A minors!)
• Joc Pederson (fooled me twice, not again)
• Julio Urias
• Kendall Graveman

See you next week!