Mid-Season Top 100 Prospects for 2016 Fantasy Baseball

Tell me this isn’t the most American thing you’ve ever heard. I sit mere miles from Cooperstown, NY, sipping an American made brew, working away on the final stretches of my Mid-Season Top 100 Prospects for Fantasy Baseball, while fireworks crackle overhead. The smell of beer and lawn clippings fill the air, and I just cooked some bacon on the barrel of my rifle. The last sentence was complete bullshizz, but the part before it is fairly accurate. I mean I’m not enough of a tool that I would sit in the yard with my laptop writing. But I am enough of a tool that I was formulating what I would type, once the pack of wild animals I affectionately call my children decide to finally retire to their beds for the evening. Well, the time has come and here I am writing to you, and you alone. Without anymore rambling incoherent non-sense, allow me to introduce the Top 100 Prospects Fantasy Baseball. This list is built with an eye to the future, in other words my goal is for this list to be more reflective of a pre-season 2017 list than the pre-season 2016 lists. I went bold, and I avoided the boring. Meaning I have no use for your Julio Urias’, your Lucas Giolito’s, A.J. Reed’s, Cody Reed’s and the like. You know those guys, they’re playing in the bigs, at this point they’re A. owned in your dynasty or B. owned in your redraft league so C. they’re owned. You thought I was going to say there’s no C right? What do I look like Grey? Nope I’m much taller and my facial hair is more Don Johnson than John Oates.

The list below is the product of much debate and deliberation amongst myself, and a few of my trusted Razz-universe colleagues, Yes Cheese and J-FOH to be exact. Both are in a couple of dynasty leagues with me and bring unique perspective to the table. So I’d be remiss to not employ such solid dynasty minds to advise me on my mid-season magnum opus. They pushed me over the edge on a few highly ranked players, dropped me down on others, and slapped me upside the head with those I neglected to include. Keep in mind, though proximity might give a player a bump, it’s not everything. I like hitting over pitching, power over speed, and if you have both power and speed you too get a bump. (I feel like Prospector Oprah, EVERRRYYYONNNNEEE GETS A BUMP!!!) Pitching is starting slanted, and K/9 focused, so the Tyler Beede’s of the world gotta sit on the sidelines. I’m not going to give you wordy descriptions of all these guys, because who’s got time for that, and I’ve already written about all of them. If you have questions, concerns, comments, or nude pictures of your’s or someone else’s girlfriend feel free to share.

Strong Opinions Shared

• Let’s begin with the elephant in the room and then move onto the bigger elephant. First Alex Bregman is the total package he hits for average, power, gets on base, and could end up with dual SS/3B eligibility. I don’t know about you but that’s dream scenario stuff. He’s also hitting a cool .800 6 plate appearances into his AAA career. he won’t be there long.
• Now for the biggest elephant in the room. Orlando Arcia and J.P. Crawford are overrated. They kept dropping and dropping and dropping with each draft of this list. Should I rate them higher for being shortstops? Go look at those slashlines (Arcia is even Colorado aided) and then tell me I’m wrong.
• Please notice number 72 Chris Paddack, the Marlins just traded him to the Padres for Fernando Rodney. The Marlins are not very smart.
• I know Benintendi is 5 I’m such a Sox homer right? He’s my guy I’ll go down with the ship or rise to the top of the prospector heap.
• Lots of players made serious jumps for me Willie Calhoun, Tyler O’Neil, Willy Adames, Derek Fisher, and Ian Happ to name a few. The power, or power speed potential is there with all of them.
• The Pirates AAA club is really good, in fact if they could get back Jameson Taillon and Chad Kuhl even they might sweep the Pirates. Glasnow, Meadows, and Bell all need to be up sooner rather than later.
• I didn’t do an honorable mention but here it goes Donnie Dewees, Josh Naylor, Lucias Fox, Roman Quinn, Carlos Asuaje, Scott Kingery, Jordan Patterson, Andy Ibanez, Jorge Polanco, Daniel Palka, Wuilmer Becerra, Ryan O’Hearn, Ronald Guzman, Dylan Cease, Stephen Gonsalves, Yohander Mendez, Eddy Martinez, Isan Diaz, Leodys Tavares, Michael Gettys, Kevin Newman, and there’s others but how much do you want to read?

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