[brid autoplay=”true” video=”508691″ player=”10951″ title=”RZBL 2020 Draft Kit 3rdBase 010720″ duration=”149″ description=”” uploaddate=”2020-01-10 23:58:49″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/thumb/508691_t_1578700749.png” contentUrl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/508691.mp4″”]
Excuse the exposition and this clunky intro into aforementioned exposition, but here’s the catchers to target, 1st basemen to target, 2nd basemen to target, shortstops to target and something to stick to your dartboards to target. These 3rd basemen to target are being drafted after 200 overall. Keep in mind, nephew (and five niece readers), your Uncle Grey likes to have a corner man drafted by the time these guys appear, so you’re looking at potential utility men more than anything. As for the coronavirus aka Covid-19 aka “The Disease That Apparently Hates Baseball,” I’m not pretending it’s not going on, but some people still have drafts, and if I liked these guys before the virus started karaoke’ing to Public Enemy’s Shut ‘Em Down, I still like them. So, I’m getting these “To Target” posts out in case people are still drafting. There are upcoming RCL drafts, and I plan on doing another NFBC league for s’s and g’s to pass time until the National Pastime returns. Is there more interest from you in another NFBC draft vs. me vs. youse? Let me know in the comments. Now, this is a (legal-in-all-countries-except-Indonesia) supplement to the top 20 3rd basemen for 2020 fantasy baseball. (All 2020 fantasy baseball rankings have been updated to 100 games played, but I am still going into the positional rankings and moving guys who were injured who now have a better “corona timeline.”) Click on the player’s name where applicable to read more and see their 2020 projections. Anyway, here’s some 3rd basemen to target for 2020 fantasy baseball:
Gio Urshela (NFBC 241, ESPN 270, Yahoo 252) I get the concerns. I have those same concerns. Will Urshela play every day? My gut says no, but my gut also has IBS and I wouldn’t have thought Urshela’s previous year was possible, either. At his current ADP, the risk is baked into the price. Steamer hitter projections say Urshela is a .267 hitter, but I’m seeing a bit closer to .300 (he hit .314 last year, what a pi-head). People have the ShiTs (Shiny new Toy Syndrome), and Urshela feels very last year, but teams, like the Yanks, never get the ShiTs. They actually get ThOTS (The Old Toy Syndrome). If they can use something that worked in the past for them (Urshela), they’re more inclined to continue to roll ThOTs outs there. Bud Black is the King of ThOTS.
Brian Anderson (NFBC 242, ESPN 204, Yahoo 284) Anderson upped his fly ball a bit last year, but he was still about league average on fly balls and on the high side for ground balls, paradoxically. That he tweaked his Launch Angle last year and went in the right direction at 26 years of age, well, Anderson could break out, and I nearly went head over heels for him in my rankings. I was thisclose. That’s right, no space between this and close. What really stopped me more is things out of his control: Marlins. They did bring in the fences, but it sounds negligible. Oh, million dollar idea! HELLO SHARKS, I’m offering you 10% of my negligee company called Negligiblees. It is exactly like all negligees but the name makes it punny.
J.D. Davis (ESPN 261, Yahoo 224) This guy is a little in the need a DH slot, for sure. However, Just Dong II feels like a guy who will get major helium when we get to the end of June, and playing games, and the Mets are like, “Seriously, he’s our starting left fielder. No foolsies.” At least I hope the Mets say that shizz. This is a bug or a feature or I don’t know the difference between bugs and features or I don’t even what that saying means, but if Davis has a starting job, and he does right now, he should be ranked around 150th overall, which he is by me. Maybe bake in some risk into him losing his job and he goes around 175th overall (which is where he’s being drafted in NFBC leagues). Ranking him after 250th overall makes no sense, especially when you consider this shizz is ever-evolving. ESPN and Yahoo update their ranks regularly, so if the Mets say Davis doesn’t have a starting job, they could move him down. So the assumption has to be they think Davis isn’t worth a higher pick with everyday at-bats. That’s just flat-out wrong. Going to put a screenshot in after this blurb, which is Davis’s batted ball peripherals. You don’t need to know anything, except “red” is good, and, for those of you color blind, I’ve circled the red. If you’re circle-blind and only see squares, I can’t help you. For further reading: my J.D. Davis sleeper.
Ian Happ (NFBC 364, ESPN unranked, Yahoo 336) His 2017 season when he went 24/8/.253 stands out to me, but should it? Let’s see, he had 364 ABs that year. Last year, he had 140 ABs and went 11/2/.264. Give him 400 ABs last year and he is blowing away that 24/8/.253 line. Give him 300+ ABs this year (fingers crossed!) and *makes Jackie Gleason bang-zoom-to-moon reaction*. I guess the risk is on the at-bats. Could the Cubs actually give Happ 300+ ABs (what a high season of at-bats will look like in 2020)? Let’s go through the Cubs’ offseason: Nothing for three months, signs Kipnis. In short, yeah, Happ could get 300+ ABs.
Travis Shaw (NFBC 367, ESPN unranked, Yahoo 379) Former NL MVP (in my mind), greatest hitter of any generation (barring any generation that played baseball, so, like, a generation in the 1780s, definitely and a baby’s generation that was born in 2020) and all-around money draft pick, Travis Shaw! (Did I say money? I meant “lose money.”) Okay, so everything went sideways last year for Shaw, except his bat, which sat on his shoulder. Something got tweaked with his swing, and he busted bad. There’s no telling if he’s fixed, but if he is, his price is dirt-cheap, and he could get back to the 20-homer, 5-steal guy in a partial year as he was as recently as 2018.
Hanser Alberto (NFBC 404, ESPN unranked, Yahoo 371) Do you read his name to the tune of, “Hands up, baby, hands up! Gimme your heart, gimme, gimme your heart?” No? Okay, it’s just me. Hanser is Luis Arraez with a leadoff spot, and without playing time concerns. Actually, that might be selling Alberto short. He has at least 10/4 possibility and Arraez is closer to 3/3. Oh, and Arraez is going about 200 spots before him in drafts. Definite steal at his price, and should be ranked much higher. Hanser up, baby, Hanser up! Gimme your Alberto, gimme, gimme your Alberto. Still no, huh?
