2021 Razzball Fantasy Baseball Staff Picks

Welcome to another season of Razz-matazz Fantasy Baseball! Now with less social distancing! Maybe. Hey hey, you’re too close man, too close! So despite the pandemic, here we are with another year of staff picks. But this season, a return to sorta-normalcy? Normsorta? Sortamalcy? Boy, that one does not look like a word at all. As if spell-check rejected it with dark wizardry and alcoholism. So yeah, what’s the goal with this exercise? Hashtag content, baby. (That’s the technical term. And with no cardio involved, seems like a win-win for someone like me.) There’s another goal though, one of philanthropy some would say. Despite the modern advancement of technology and science, we still have no way to have every writer provide their extended take on every single player in the MLB. We try though! And so we have this quick-and-easy (I regret burning my “yo momma” joke now…) presentation that provides you, the Razzmatazzball community a viewer-friendly and succinct breakdown of how we feel about the upcoming season. The general gist? WEAR YOUR MASK. True MVP’s stay together people.

So without further ado, here are our Official 2021 Razzball Picks! (Be sure to share yours in the comments section!) And be sure to add exclamation marks, we have a quota to fill people!

2021 MLB Staff Picks

“All gas, no breaks. And Bo Bichette sounds kinda like Boba Fett. Plus he’s really good at baseball and primed to take a leap.” – Butters

2021 Fantasy Staff Picks

Break Out Player of The Year (Sleeper)

You might think we’re describing someone who breaks through walls and then falls asleep really fast. Which seems weird. So I wouldn’t really put it past us… To limit the confusion, I’d better point out that these are our potential break out candidates that you should be grabbing long and grabbing hard.

“Aaron Sanchez has always had nasty stuff and this is a great opportunity for him to find a rotation spot in a pitcher-friendly ballpark. Even if he doesn’t find his way into the rotation, he’s got such good stuff that he could find himself closing games at some point too. This dude isn’t getting drafted but he’s worth keeping an eye on.”” – Joey Bart

“Joc Pederson is going to finally have a chance to play everyday in Chicago.  He hit 36 homers in 2019 and for some reason is being treated like bench depth at the draft table.  Did I mention he is ripping the ball this spring?” – Jeremy Brewer

Most Overrated Player of The Year (Bust)

These are the guys being held on a pedestals, who will, in return for all your worship and sacrifice, ruin everything thing you hold dear. See: 2014, Fielder, Prince. Or 2015, Longoria, Evan. Take heed Razzballers, avoid these guys at all costs.

A high-K, high-BB reliever, James Karinchake has 32 total major-league innings, 1 career save, hasn’t been named the closer, and talent behind him. This is the profile of a bottom-half closer, not the #6 RP/8th-round pick. – TheTinDoor

I Think I Love You, So What Am I So Afraid Of? (Infatuation)

Yep, we all have one. Find out which player your Razzball writer has an undying love for, despite any rational reason or purpose.

Come Back Player of The Year (Come Back)

Again, pretty easy to figure out what this one means.

“Here are Bryan Reynold‘s batting averages since his freshman year at Vanderbuilt in 2014: .338, .318, .330, .313, .312, .302, .314, .189. 2020’s awful year is causing Reynolds ADP to plummet all the way to pick 268 in ESPN leagues. In 147 games between AAA and the Pirates in 2019 Reynolds also had 107 runs, 21 HRs, 79 RBI, and 6 SBs. He will easily replicate the batting average and even though he’s on an awful Pirates team — he should still put up at least 150 runs + RBI. Easy buy for me.” – Kerry Klug

Most Valuable Fantasy Pitcher (MVFP)

This is where things get sticky. That’s what she said. Technically, this could be the best pitcher overall… but the key word here is value. You know this because I underlined it. While the vanilla top-5 pitcher pick could still technically be the most valuable pitcher at the end of the year, there’s still enough room in the definition to allow the possibility that Bruce Chen will come out of retirement, have an ERA of 2.50 and get 20 wins. Seeing as his ownership rate historically always stood in the nothing-to-negative digits and top-5 Starting Pitchers are gone by the first half of a draft, a performance like that would be the most valuable in the history of mankind. And probably destroy the universe as we know it.

Most Valuable Fantasy Hitter (MVFH)

Same thing as the Most Valuable Pitcher, but with hitters. CRAZY, I know.

“I nearly picked Christian Yelich for NL MVP, but I think this is the year we see Juan Soto break through and claim that spot. Still, it’s my belief Yelich will perform as a top-five overall player this season — if not higher — which would make him an incredible value for those who drafted shares at the first/second round turn. From 2018-19, Yelich turned in back-to-back top-two NL MVP finishes while ranking inside the top-two on the Razzball player rater both seasons, and his batted ball metrics in 2020 (99th percentile exit velo, 98th percentile hard hit rate) represent one of a handful of reasons why you should expect a return to MVP form from Yelich in 2021.” – Hobbs

What are your picks for the year? Tell us below!

Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell. You can follow him @jaywrong, or read his rarely (like never) updated blog Desultory Thoughts of a Longfellow.