[hitter_list list_id=”22908″ include_stats=”1″ season=”2018″]
Welcome back to Hitter List. Every Wednesday during the regular season, I’ll rank the current value of the top 150 hitters for the remainder of the year. Use these rankings to help get a sense of both a player’s expected performance and his trade value in your fantasy leagues moving forward. They’re constructed with 12-teamer, H2H, 5×5 leagues in mind; adjust as needed for your specific setup. Position eligibility does factor in to a degree.
We’re at just about the halfway mark for the 2018 season, which means that adjustments to the List will likely be more aggressive than they’ve been previously. Rest assured that any rankings you vehemently disagree with were explicitly an attempt to insult you and/or your favorite player(s) personally. Seriously, before you work yourself into a rage in the comment section, understand that this is only one person’s opinion. I’m wrong a lot! Comes with the territory of doing this sort of thing.
On to the highlights!
- Happy America’s birthday! The way things are going lately, might be the last one…so make sure you grill meat, drink beer, and blow stuff up as the Framers intended.
- Injury roundup: A mercifully quiet week for hitters on the health front. Leonys Martin is on the shelf with hamstring problems once again. Otherwise, we’re just waiting for a bunch of high-profile bats to heal up. A.J. Pollock has already returned to action, and Paul DeJong is expected to do so today as well. It also sounds like both Kris Bryant and Carlos Correa will both be back this week, and Lorenzo Cain shouldn’t be too far behind. On the flip side, both Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Donaldson’s recoveries continue to be slow going. Also, while he’s yet to be placed on the DL, Christian Yelich has missed five straight games with a balky back.
- New to or back on the List this week: Gerardo Parra, Jose Peraza, Enrique Hernandez, and Rougned Odor. Parra shook off a rough April and has hit .346/.372/.488 over the past two months. Peraza’s hot hitting in June has him pacing toward 100 runs and 30 steals with a respectable .272 average, and he’s also already tied his career high in home runs. Speaking of home runs, Hernandez has seven of them in the last three weeks and has recently done much a better job of avoiding whiffs. Lastly, it took an excruciatingly long time, but Odor has finally shown signs of life. In the last couple of weeks, he’s pushed his average up to .241, hit three homers, and stolen three bags.
- Honorable Mentions: Gorkys Hernandez, Eric Thames, Randal Grichuk, Jesse Winker, and Manuel Margot.
Thoughts on the DH Version of Ohtani going forward? Will he eventually make the list if he starts to play everyday?
Most likely, yes.
At the risk of getting a ‘look at the rankings’ response, who do you like between Bryant and Harper, now and long term? Bryant’s shoulder injury seems to have sapped his power, and who knows what’s happening with Harper!
Still Harper for me.
I’ll take Bryant. People seem to be just now noticing Harper’s struggles, but he spends at least half of every season doing this except for one. Compare them year over year – Bryant usually wins. Only way Bryce wins is if bb have value or if time on the dl is worth points. I don’t expect that Harper will age well – his peak looks like his 22 y/o season. I can’t imagine what Harper will do after he gets paid…
S.Castro, Semien or Conforto? To keep! 1 of the 3!
What’s the deal with Asdrubal still being in the 130’s? We’re halfway through the season, he’s hitting 3rd in the order, smacks HR (15) without killing your AVG (.283), and is flexible at scarce positions (2B/3B/SS). It seems like he’s overdue for a big jump. I think he belongs in the high 80’s or 90’s – I’d rather have him than the glut of OF you have between 88-98.
Drub hitting .254/.298/.434 since the end of April, even with recent mini-surge.
Where does Souza stand in the list? Getting frustrated with Shaw and his second half swoon is looming to boot.