[hitter_list list_id=”24905″ 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.
With so little time left in the season, adjustments to the List can and will be aggressive. In particular, injuries will take on added importance as even a minor health issue may cost a player a decent chunk of their remaining games. 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!
- Any movement in the single digits probably isn’t worth paying much attention to. With so many large drops this week, somebody has to move up the List.
- Injury roundup: The saga of Lieutenant Danaldson (formerly known as Josh Donaldson) continues. Shortly after trading for him, Cleveland placed Donaldson back on the disabled list. He did hit a grand slam in the first game of his rehab assignment, but after three months of rehab, fantasy owners may be foolish to expect much from him ROS. Elsewhere, Eddie Rosario (quad) and Justin Upton (concussion) could return later this week. The respective statuses of Salvador Perez (thumb), Marwin Gonzalez (oblique), and Maikel Franco (wrist) are less clear. September’s expanded rosters obviate the need for DL stints, which makes the already tricky business of predicting injury recovery times even more difficult. Godspeed, gentlemen.
- New to or back on the List this week: Amed Rosario, Joey Wendle, Franmil Reyes, Adam Frazier, Ramon Laureano, and Stephen Piscotty. Rosario has been running a lot, and scoring lots of runs, atop the Mets’ lineup. Wendle has also found himself installed as his team’s leadoff man in recent days, and is taking a bit more liberty on the base paths than earlier in the year. Reyes has gone deep six times in his last 10 games and is hitting over .300 since his return to the majors a month ago. Frazier is hitting for average like usual, but has added some power to complement it. Lastly, the Athletics’ push for the AL West crown has been boosted by the late-season surges from the veteran Piscotty and the rookie Laureano. Piscotty is contributing everywhere except in steals, while Laureano’s blend of power and speed has helped him emerge as Oakland’s preferred center field option.
2 words: Billy McKinney
The guy who had like a .220 average and .780 OPS at Triple-A this year before his promotion? I’m aware of his work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqU8EQ6G1i0
No Tyler White or David Dahl? Where do you think they’d rank if the list went to 200?
I’m still not completely sold on White being more than a Quad-A bat and Dahl, before homering in his past two games, had just been okay since his recall a month ago (.250, 3 HR/3 SB, middling run production). But they’re on the periphery.
Any particular reason Todd Frazier jumped up 58 spots? I need a 3B for the playoffs but I’m hesitant.
He’s been one of the most valuable hitters in 5×5 over the last month, legitimate five-cat contribution.
Cano hasn’t been bad. He should be going up. I would rather have him than most people in the list.