Andrelton Simmons, Top 100 Hitters, 2017 Fantasy Baseball

Player A:

.301 / .353 / .455
11 home runs
16 stolen bases
55 runs scored
49 RBI
2nd Half: .352, two home runs, 14 runs scored, 10 RBI, three stolen bases
PR15: 10.69 (4th in MLB)

Player B:

.273 / .353 / .471
13 home runs
12 stolen bases
58 runs scored
38 RBI
2nd Half: .343, five home runs, 18 runs scored, 11 RBI, four stolen bases
PR15: 9.21 (7th in MLB)

Pretty scary how similar those numbers are, right? A is Andrelton Simmons and B is Alex Bregman. The only big difference when you dive a little deeper is that Simmons has been consistently producing for pretty much the entire season, while Bregman has been a bit more streaky and pretty much disappeared in June.

Now that both are off to scorching starts to the second half, though, they both belong in the realm of the 100. In terms of rising in the ranks and ROS value, they check off some necessary boxes. They are hot right now, are offering some cross-category production and have job stability. About a month ago, I was a little worried about Bregman and his playing time, especially with Marwin Gonzalez raking without a position. But with Correa hurt and Bregman hitting, he’s back, baby.

Despite their recent success, Bregman is owned in less than 75%, and Simmons is owned in less than 80% of ESPN leagues. Those ownership numbers are rising fast, though, especially on Bregman’s side since his July and second half are in such contrast to his June.

Alex Bregman – Hit .329 in July. Hitting .343 with five home runs, 18 runs scored, 11 RBIs, and four stolen bases so far in the second half. Now has SS eligibility in many formats. Does usually hit 7th or 8th in the lineup, but in Houston’s lineup that is sometimes like hitting 4th or 5th. Oh, and a .492 wOBA over the last two weeks that is good for fifth best in baseball. Adding him back to our beloved Top 100.

Andrelton Simmons – Simmons has been more consistent than Bregman throughout the season but has been especially hot since July, a month in which he hit .378. He has always been known for his elite glove but has been hitting all season, so August is not the time to question it. His Hard% is up to 30.9%, significantly above last season’s 23.4% and his career mark of 25.7%. And with an increase in Hard% and FB%, it should be no surprise that his HR/FB jumped from 3.8% in 2016 to 10.3% in 2017.

Chris Owings – News of his injury came out last week shortly after I submitted the Top 100 for the week. He was already dropping, but I liked him as a buy low in the second half, especially with an improved lineup around him. Now that he is injured, at least we can stop talking about him in the comments every week, right?
Salvador Perez – Landed on the disabled list with an intercostal strain. As someone who currently lives on the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale, FL, this injury was initially very confusing for me. No timetable for his return just yet so removing him from the list for now.
Yonder Alonso – Acquired by the Seattle Mariners for Boog Powell on Sunday, which should only increase his value. Goes to a better offense with guys like Segura, Cruz, Seager, et al. in the lineup and gets the heck out of Oakland. Gave him a slight bump.
Eduardo Nunez – Hitting .417 with three home runs, four doubles, 11 RBIs, five runs scored, and three stolen bases in his first eight games with the Red Sox. Yes, I think this change will be pretty, pretty good for his value ROS. God bless you if you spent some FAAB dollars in an AL-Only league to grab Nunez after the trade. A Yankees fan in one of my leagues said the other day that he refuses to believe that Nunez has turned into Babe Ruth overnight since going to Boston, to which I said, “You’re right. Nunez is much faster than Ruth.” Update: He just hit his fourth home run literally while I was typing this blurb.
Ian Desmond – With the news that Desmond won’t return from the disabled list when he is first eligible, I removed him from the list. With only so much time left to make a serious run at things, we can’t justify counting on 1. Desmond to return soon and 2. To produce like he did in 2016 when he does. It feels like he never really got in a groove after missing so much time to begin the season and has battled an assortment of injuries ever since.
DJ LeMahieu – Hitting .375 with 21 runs scored already in the second half. Now slashing .319 / .383 / .406 with 68 runs scored and 49 RBI on the year. I would still love to see either some more power or speed from him, but the average and runs are enough to crack the list.
Justin Smoak – Already has eight home runs in the second half, which is second only to Giancarlo Stanton’s 10 (scratch that. Willson Contreras just hit his ninth while I was writing this). His previous career high for home runs in a season was 20, which he hit in 2013 for the Mariners while batting .238. He hit .217 with 14 home runs in 314 plate appearances in 2016. His ADP is going to be all over the place in 2018 unless of course, we have some kind of revelation about the juiced balls and some kind of change before then.
Willson Contreras – Just hit his ninth home run of the second half, and had a PR15 of 8.02 even before that. Eligible at C and OF in most formats (with an infuriating 24 OF starts in 2016 for those leagues that require 25 the previous season), which is always helpful for catcher playing time in the summer. Hit .321 in July and is already hitting .444 in August. Plus those nine home runs. He’s getting hot at the right time.

Note: These rankings are considered ROS Trade Value

**Mike Maher’s Top ¹⁰⁰ Hitters**

(Rankings based on 12-team Roto. GREEN = player rising. RED = player dropping. BLUE = new to the Top 100 or Honorable Mentions.)

Rank	Name	Team	Pos
1	Mike Trout	LAA	OF
2	Paul Goldschmidt	ARI	1B
3	Bryce Harper	WSH	OF
4	Nolan Arenado	COL	3B
5	Jose Altuve	HOU	2B
6	Daniel Murphy	WSH	1B/2B
7	Mookie Betts	BOS	OF
8	Charlie Blackmon	COL	OF
9	Anthony Rizzo	CHC	1B
10	Giancarlo Stanton	MIA	OF
11	J.D. Martinez	ARI	OF
12	Joey Votto	CIN	1B
13	Cody Bellinger	LAD	1B
14	Freddie Freeman	ATL	1B
15	Aaron Judge	NYY	OF
16	Kris Bryant	CHC	3B/OF
17	George Springer	HOU	OF
18	Corey Seager	LAD	SS
19	Nelson Cruz	SEA	OF
20	Jose Ramirez	CLE	3B/OF
21	Francisco Lindor	CLE	SS
22	Robinson Cano	SEA	2B
23	Marcell Ozuna	MIA	OF
24	Jean Segura	SEA	2B/SS
25	Dee Gordon	MIA	2B
26	Manny Machado	BAL	3B/SS
27	Anthony Rendon	WSH	3B
28	Jake Lamb	ARI	3B
29	Miguel Sano	MIN	3B/OF
30	Edwin Encarnacion	CLE	1B
31	Justin Turner	LAD	3B
32	Billy Hamilton	CIN	OF
33	Kyle Seager	SEA	3B
34	Khris Davis	OAK	OF
35	Brian Dozier	MIN	2B
36	Jose Abreu	CWS	1B
37	Justin Upton	DET	OF
38	Christian Yelich	MIA	OF
39	Travis Shaw	MIL	1B/3B
40	Ryan Braun	MIL	OF
41	Wil Myers	SD	1B/OF
42	Adam Duvall	CIN	OF
43	Josh Donaldson	TOR	3B
44	Rougned Odor	TEX	2B
45	Mike Moustakas	KC	3B
46	Starling Marte	PIT	OF
47	Gary Sanchez	NYY	C
48	Eric Thames	MIL	1B/OF
49	Ryan Zimmerman	WAS	1B
50	Andrew Benintendi	BOS	OF
51	Lorenzo Cain	KC	OF
52	Eric Hosmer	KC	1B
53	Elvis Andrus	TEX	SS
54	Jonathan Schoop	BAL	2B
55	Justin Smoak	TOR	1B
56	Tommy Pham	STL	OF
57	Jay Bruce	NYM	OF
58	A.J. Pollock	ARI	OF
59	Miguel Cabrera	DET	1B
60	Xander Bogaerts	BOS	SS
61	Buster Posey	SF	C/1B
62	Andrew McCutchen	PIT	OF
63	Matt Carpenter	STL	1B/2B/3B
64	Michael Conforto	NYM	OF
65	Adrian Beltre	TEX	3B
66	Domingo Santana	MIL	OF
67	Corey Dickerson	TB	OF
68	Eduardo Nunez	SF	3B/SS/OF
69	Ian Happ	CHC	2B/OF
70	Mark Reynolds	COL	1B
71	Adam Jones	BAL	OF
72	Yonder Alonso	SEA	1B
73	Didi Gregorious	NYY	SS
74	Andrelton Simmons	LAA	SS
75	Michael Brantley	CLE	OF
76	Whit Merrifield	KC	2B/OF
77	Brett Gardner	NYY	OF
78	Logan Morrison	TB	1B
79	Chris Taylor	LAD	3B/2B/OF
80	Rafael Devers	BOS	3B
81	Avisail Garcia	CHW	OF
82	Willson Contreras	CHC	C/OF
83	Marwin Gonzalez	HOU	1B/3B/OF
84	Paul DeJong	STL	3B/SS/2B
85	Jedd Gyorko	STL	2B/3B/SS
86	Yasiel Puig	LAD	OF
87	Steven Souza Jr.	TB	OF
88	Yoenis Cespedes	NYM	OF
89	Evan Longoria	TB	3B
90	Mark Trumbo	BAL	OF
91	Ian Kinsler	DET	2B
92	Carlos Gomez	TEX	OF
93	Hanley Ramirez	BOS	1B
94	Matt Adams	ATL	1B
95	Justin Bour	MIA	1B
96	Alex Bregman	ATL	OF
97	Yoan Moncada	CHW	3B
98	Josh Harrison	PIT	2B/3B
99	Ender Inciarte	ATL	OF
100	Carlos Santana	CLE	1B

The Honorable Mentions (Next Five In…)

Rank	Name	Team	Pos
101	DJ LeMahieu	COL	2B
102	Gerardo Parra	COL	1B/OF
103	Joey Gallo	TEX	3B
104	Gregory Polanco	PIT	OF
105	Eugenio Suarez	CIN	3B

Dropped from the rankings: Chris Owings, Salvador Perez , Ian Desmond, Trevor Story, David Peralta

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Mike Maher’s Top 100 Hitters

The Honorable Mentions (Next Five In…)

**Mike Maher’s Top ¹⁰⁰ Hitters**