Trea Turner, Top-100 Hitters, 2017 Fantasy Baseball

First Mike Trout and now our beloved Trea Turner (and a bunch in between, but we’ll focus on baseball’s young heartthrobs for the time being). The baseball Gods are clearly punishing us all for the use of juiced baseballs this season. Major League Baseball has denied any kind of change in the balls despite some mounting evidence, but I bet it is something that gets looked at and adjusted in the offseason. Which leads me to wonder whether this will be something we will be talking about come March…

https://twitter.com/mikeMaher/status/880897289186930688

I’m putting a pin in this so I can focus on it in Spring Training next season. You heard it here first: the most annoying topic come March 2018 will be whether or not certain players will be able to repeat their 2016 success because of a difference in the baseballs. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Okay, nonsequitur time. Have to change the subject before you get angrier than David Price after a Hall Of Fame pitcher provides insightful post-game analysis. This is, after all, a Top 100 Hitters post and not my weekly conspiracy theorist meetup. The big news for this week is, of course, Trea Turner going down with a broken right wrist.

I have removed Turner from the rankings for now because he doesn’t have a timetable for a return. Once his return becomes clearer, we can add him back if he is going to be able to come back and play this season. Not only is Turner one of the most exciting young players in all of baseball, but he was also the highest ranked player over the last few weeks. Losing him stings for anyone who loves baseball. The good news for all of you is that this opens up another spot in the Top 100 for your beloved David Peralta to claim. Let’s see if he makes the cut this week!

The good news is that perhaps just to soften the blow, we are able to welcome Ian Happ back to our exclusive fraternity of Top 100 Hitters. After a hot start followed by a slump, Happ has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball. He has a PR15 of 8.62 right now and just hit two home runs and stole another base yesterday.

Happ’s K% is still a bit ludicrous (LUDA, 31.1%), but so is everyone’s at this point. In the middle of June, he has hitting .207. Now, he is hitting .264. In his last seven games, he has a wOBA of .407 with 10 home runs. The dude is raking and hitting in the heart of a Cubs lineup that should only get better.

Razzball’s own Son focused on Happ a few days ago, BEFORE he launched two more ding dongs and swiped another base-bag on Sunday! That’s grade A+ level analysis, yo. Son called him Treasure and told you to grab him. Did you listen to him? Do you really need both of us to tell you to grab him? For bonus points, Son also included TWO Britney Spears music videos in his post. If that doesn’t get you giddy about picking up Happ, I don’t know if there is any hope for you.

Some other notes…

Marcell Ozuna – I haven’t read Grey’s post yet, so I don’t know if he mentioned it already, but did you see what Ozuna did on Sunday? He homered earlier in the game, and then later they disqualified not one but two of Ozuna’s bats, and the bat boy had to go fetch someone else’s bat. Ozuna was given one of Giancarlo Stanton’s bats, and he promptly hit a bomb to left field. #Boss

Brewers complained Ozuna had too much pine tar on bat. Umps agreed. So he borrowed one of Stantons and hit 455 foot HR.

— clarkspencer (@clarkspencer) July 2, 2017

Tommy Pham – Pham has quietly been one of the better fantasy contributors over the past few weeks. Between my six leagues, I have added and dropped Pham probably 75 times this season. His PR15 right now is 7.77, and he is producing above-average power, speed, and average. Wait, can you have above-average average? My head hurts.
Jackie Bradley Jr. – JBJ is an enigma. He goes from one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball who looks like he has it all figured out to a guy who looks like he belongs in A-Ball and back again. And he has done it multiple times. Is he ever going to settle in somewhere in the middle? I had to drop him earlier this season because he was batting .171 and absolutely killing me. That is not a typo. One, seven, tee, won. Now, he is hitting .284 with power. Also not a typo. I’m not adding him back to the Top 100 until he keeps hitting after the All-Star Break, partly because he confuses me, partly because I wonder if the time off will cause him to forget how to hit once again, and partly out of pure spite.

Now, for the Week 14 Top 100 rankings.

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 100.)

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

The Honorable Mentions (Next Five In…)

Rank	Name	Team	Pos
101	Cameron Maybin	LAA	OF
102	Travis Shaw	MIL	1B/3B
103	David Peralta	ARI	OF
104	Josh Harrison	PIT	2B/3B
105	Kendrys Morales	TOR	DH

Dropped from the rankings: Nomar Mazara, Trea Turner, Gregory Polanco

As always, disagree with anything here? Have any questions or comments? Want to tell Mike how great he is or how much you agree with him? Want relationship or investment advice?

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If you want to talk fantasy baseball or football or have players you want Mike to feature, hit him up on Twitter at @mikeMaher or post a comment below!

Mike Maher’s Top 100 Hitters

The Honorable Mentions (Next Five In…)

**Mike Maher’s Top ¹⁰⁰ Hitters**