Top 100 Hitters

Thomas Howland

Top 100 Hitters For 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Week 9: Last Gasp

September 20, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 5 Comments

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So much of 2020 baseball has me dazed and confused. One injury pops up and “poof”, there goes the season. One 10 day hot stretch begets a 10 day cold stretch, and players pop up and go away like so many prairie dogs on the windswept empty plains of stadiums with no fans to be seen except in cardboard. Those who have hovered away include, in no particular order, Jonathan Schoop, Robinson Cano, Kyle Schwarber, Willy Adames, Alex Dickerson, Austin Meadows, Jorge Polanco, Shohei Ohtani, Jesse Winker, Yuli Gurriel, Mitch Moreland, Pedro Severino and Max Kepler. Some of that is poor performance. Some of it is as simple as paternity leave at an inopportune time. Much of this unlucky 13 is gone simply because others have outperformed them. Now the good news.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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Thomas Howland

Top 100 Hitters For 2020 Fantasy Baseball: Week 8 The End Is Near

September 13, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 9 Comments

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The time is getting close. The possibility of a season ending that was barely a possibility in June is upon us. Fall is peaking around the corner and pumpkin spice (I SAID PUMPKIN SPICE) is everywhere! I mean, the NFL is back, not all of football but at least the NFL. So it’s the home stretch and Fantasy Baseball championships can still be won and lost in the last two weeks. Additions to the list of players like #90 Jeimer Candelario, who has 5 homers and a .417 batting average the past two weeks, can boost you in multiple categories. Someone like D.J. Stewart can too, but his 6 homers and .455 batting average were done in bulk the last 7 days so he’ll take a bit more to get on the list. His teammate #91 Ryan Mountcastle, however, has won a spot thanks to his 4 homer .367 last two week mark and slightly higher pedigree. Other additions include the practically homering in every game #98 Bobby Dalbec (sure, it was close with Stewart, but Dalbec set a Red Sox rookie record for homers so…), welcome back #92 Michael Brantley  and #96 Isiah Kiner-Falefa (a lone Ranger highlight). Of course, we can’t forget that sultan of swat, that bountiful Brave, #70 Adam Duvall. Are you serious with a 9 home run barrage, including hitting in the .290’s over the last 15?

Please, blog, may I have some more?
 
Thomas Howland

Top 100 Hitters For 2020 Fantasy Baseball: Week 7 2020 Keeps Churning

September 6, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 7 Comments

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Here we are again with nine more changes to the Top 100. In general a drop happens either through flash in the pans that hopped on or season long slumps for highly touted guys or injuries. A hot two weeks can get someone on the list, but if there is no history it takes more time than if there isn’t. First the good news. The six newcomers are San Francisco treats #97 Brandon Belt and #96 Alex Dickerson, (welcome back) #84 Andrew McCutchen, #78 Willy Adames propping up Tampa, #77 Robinson Cano (the old man has ramped it up big time),  the San Diego boys #71 Jake Cronenworth (proving me wrong) and #70 Eric Hosmer, (welcome back) #68 Rhys Hoskins and #67 Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Those leaving are Aaron Judge and his injuries, Gary Sanchez, David Peralta, Edwin Encarnacion, Hanser Alberto and Christian Vazquez all batting around or under .200 with little power or slumping, and IL trips for Justin Turner and David Fletcher. The biggest blow is Anthony Santander. An oblique is probably the end of his season. It was tempting to move Trout back up to Number 1, but Tatis’ slump is too small to knock him off. #6 Trea Turner is hot as a pistol but couldn’t crack the Top 5 (Soto’s MRI came back clean), and #19 Charlie Blackmon all of a sudden isn’t squaring everything up. You can find last week’s list here. Now on to some of the other movers this week.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
 
Thomas Howland

Top 100 Hitters For 2020 Fantasy Baseball: Week 6 Continuing Evolution

August 30, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 15 Comments

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As the 2020 season turns there’s plenty of ongoing changes in the Top 100. Things are very very good for some players, and bad and getting worse for others. Six players have left the list which means six have jumped on. #80 Jonathan Schoop, #85 Pedro Severino, #89 Austin Nola, #90 Renato Nunez, welcome back #92 Eugenio Suarez and #99 Kyle Tucker. These guys are obviously killing it in various degrees of goodness. In particular perhaps it’s time to take Baltimore seriously. With all those Yankee injuries, and all the great performances by various Orioles, it’s no wonder the Rays are looking to be active in the trade market. Those dropping off include Mike Moustakas, Ramon Laureano, Eduardo Escobar, Gleyber Torres and unfortunately Josh Bell. I have defended several of these players recently but their struggles, and the good play by so many others, have made these moves inevitable. As Suarez shows, a week or two of good play can make all the difference. You can find last week’s list here. Now on to the details for some of the movers this week.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
 
Thomas Howland

Top 100 Hitters For 2020 Fantasy Baseball: Week 5 Sea of Change

August 23, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 32 Comments

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There are times in life when one is right, and times when one is wrong. I realized over the past week that this list has been much more 162 than 60. We have passed a third of the season and one thing has become apparent above all: The changes implemented by MLB and teams have not affected everyone equally. Some have thrived, others have wilted. A big part of this list was the theory that a short season would help the older players. For the most part, this has not happened. So gentle readers, the electronic tones of LCD Soundsystem to you. I can change.

There is so much change in this list from last time we’re more or less starting over. There are no previous rankings or plus or minus this week because 15% of the list changed in one week. Pour one out for the 15 who are gone. We’re looking to the future, and a new Number 1.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
 
Thomas Howland

Top 100 Hitters For 2020 Fantasy Baseball: Week 4

August 16, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 61 Comments

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Death, taxes and Mike Trout destroying the competition. It’s comforting to know that even in the chaos of 2020 some things haven’t changed. He’s right back in the Top 3 of the two week running ISO power index. I was thinking Mike Trout was given Compound V by the Vought corporation as a baby, but it turns out he’s more like the male version of Captain Marvel, no discernible weaknesses. Uh oh, my geekness is showing, sorry about that!

So what’s very cool is that it appears the virus threw what it could at the sport and baseball has survived for another week. Love it! So we have comebacks, step ups, step backs and the Red Sox playing like the Pirates. Some Yankees are injured again, another sign that things are getting back to normal. This is a hitter listing. but have you seen Dustin May pitching this year? Unreal. Anyway, you can find last week’s list here.

Here are some of the movers for this week, followed by the list:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
 
Thomas Howland

Top 100 Hitters For 2020 Fantasy Baseball: Week 3

August 8, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 15 Comments

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I would say the fact you are reading a 2020 Fantasy Baseball Week 3 anything is a win. Multiple times a day it seems like nothing makes sense, and that’s just in the world of baseball. Will St. Louis ever play a full schedule during the week, or is it just going to be seven inning double headers from here on out? Yelich hit a home run but it was the inside the park variety? Cardboard cutouts of fans come to life on Fox? So in spite of Covid we may not have school in school but we definitely still have baseball. You can find last week’s list here.

Here are some of the movers for this week, followed by the list:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
 
Thomas Howland

Top 100 Hitters for 2020 Fantasy Baseball: Week 2

August 2, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 16 Comments

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The season is teetering on the edge. I mean the absolute razor’s edge. The commissioner is rattling his sabers about canceling the season in light of the challenge of Covid-19. But as of now baseball is still being played all over the county, even with some games getting postponed. There will be 7 inning makeup games and more and more chaos everywhere. There are players coming and going from the IL, players treating a positive test as if it’s nothing and others going out on paternity leave. On the positive side there will be playoff chases galore for the whole season with more than half the league going! With all that said we do have a Top 100.

You can find last week’s list here. Here are some of the movers for this week, followed by the list:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
 
Thomas Howland

Top 100 Hitters For 2020 Fantasy Baseball Week 1

July 27, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 16 Comments

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On the one hand, it’s unbelievable that Opening Week happened at all. On the other, it’s a mad mad mad mad world Sid Caesar would love. Juan Soto, you’re out! Clayton Kershaw, you’re out! Anthony Rendon, you’re out, but Mike Trout is back in! We’ve got masked players sometime, then other times standing next to each other chatting and laughing at first base. We’ve got players spitting, as if that wasn’t going to happen. We’ve got Angel Hernadez strike zones when we were hoping beyond hope that he would be one that would opt out, instead of one of the few we would depend on. As will likely be the case all season there will be big shifts in this week’s rankings. On top of all the above info the Yankees look healthy (for now), and the Blue Jays are settling Buffalo. What?! I’m bumping the Jays just because they’ll feel a little better now actually having a home. Even more because most of the team had a great time in Buffalo in the not too distant past. Also because, I mean, I love Duff’s, beef on weck, the Anchor Bar and tailgating at Bills games, but there’s much less of a chance of catching Covid in the quiet nightlife of Buffalo.

With an expanded playoffs you would think all the players who have half a chance would stop messing around and get to work, but you never can tell. You can find last week’s controversial list here. Here are some of the movers for this week, followed by the list:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
 
Thomas Howland

Top 100 Hitters For 2020 Fantasy Baseball: Summer Camp Week 3

July 18, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 26 Comments

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At this point I feel a little like a repeating Kevin McCallister, screaming over and over again as I splash the stinging liquid of not stop Covid-19 news against my fantasy baseball face. How are we supposed to keep up? By the time this work is published three more Top 100 players could be struck down, throwing their 60 game season into question. And since all these players are in their home areas for summer camp, when the virus is spiking in that area, particularly Houston, it can throw camp completely out of whack.

As you can probably guess, Yordan Alvarez coming down with the virus and Houston’s cases spiking has slipped Astros batters down. Other individual cases have an effect here and there, and Freddy Freeman is finally having an effect on Braves batters despite coming back. There was also a trade on Thursday that has the smallest effect here. Also, Yasiel Puig doesn’t quite make it. Yup, the virus got him too.

If you are wondering about the particulars of the list a big change was made last week. That includes some park effect fine tuning, and in particular why I have Mike Trout ranked so low. You can find last week’s list here. All that being said, let’s look at some of this week’s movers:

Please, blog, may I have some more?