2018 Fantasy Baseball Top 300 Rankings With Projections

There are many changes I made to my rankings this year. First, instead of using a player rater that takes the averages and standard deviations of all major league players, I came up with a player rater that would rate just players who will accumulate stats for the teams in the league. To do this, I took the best possible outcome for each team and used those averages and standard deviations to give better value to each player's worth. I did this because it doesn't matter how Mike Trout ranks against Alex Gordon when Gordon won't be a starter on anyone's fantasy team. To do this, I had to decide how many teams and roster spots would be available.

For these rankings, I based it on a 12-team league with a standard roster setting. We often look at the player rater as the end all be all to decide a player's fantasy worth, but it actually has a lot to do with league size. For instance, since there are a lot more home runs being hit in the past two seasons, if you play in a shallow league you will want to make sure to consistently drafting power to keep up with the other teams in not just home runs, but runs and runs batted in as well. On the other side, if you play in a larger league then stolen bases become a lot more valuable. The lack of stolen bases could make Dee Gordon worth a second-round pick in a twenty team league since there are that many stolen base threats to go around.

It's also worth noting that a home run is still worth more valuable than a stolen base in regards to the player rater. Although steals are down, they only increase the chance of scoring by 20%, while a home run on average gives you 1.0 runs, 1.5 runs batted in and also adds to your team’s overall batting average. By using these averages and projections for next season, a stolen base would give a player 0.11 points while a home run would give 0.43 points in regards to the player rater. Remember this player rater is based on a 12 team league with basic roster settings so those numbers will change depending on league size and roster.

Another thing I took a look at this season was the loss of innings around the league. Because of this, a guy like Kenley Jansen gets some sneaky upside. With a lack of innings, Jansen's ERA and WHIP will count more now than it has in years prior. Due to these circumstances, I will be targeting Jansen around the third or fourth round in my drafts.

I also ranked 49 relief pitchers in my Top 300 this season. This season I plan to only draft four or five starting pitchers and fill the rest of my spots with quality relief arms. With this strategy, I will have to look towards the waiver wire to add streamers throughout the year to make sure my wins and strikeouts are up to the league's standards. With a lot of help coming from the bullpen, I should have a good ERA and WHIP to back me up.

The way I view rankings is a draft guide to see who you would want to take first, but as the draft changes so does your strategy. For example, if half the saves or stolen bases are taken off the board by Round 5, you will need to rearrange your rankings to account for these changes. The one thing I would like everyone to take away from this is to compare players by league size, not by the universal player rater.