I wanna flap my gums about Monte Harrison all day, e’eryday. To me, he screams a guy who is much better for fantasy than he is in real life. I love those guys. Not coincidentally, I hate guys who are great in real life but terrible in fantasy. That’s nearly every catcher, which doesn’t help them. I’ve hated Buster Posey for nearly a decade thanks to the love he garners in real life. It’s so hard for me to not be contrarian that I almost immediately begin to dislike a guy when others start liking them. On the X-axis is my love and on the Y-axis is everyone’s love, and you can see when they overlap for just about everyone. Last year, around April, Gerrit Cole crossed streams. The top hitters run pretty much parallel along the Y-axis with my love and everyone else’s. Okay, legit way off course here, and veering back to Monte Harrison. These dart throws won’t exactly line up to their projections in my 2020 fantasy baseball rankings. Some of them aren’t even in my rankings; Monte is. He’s in the top 100 outfielders for 2020 fantasy baseball (barely), and he’s number 60 on Prospect Itch’s top 200 prospects for 2020 fantasy baseball. With these darts, I’m aiming for the ceiling. (Good for fantasy baseball, not great for actual darts.) If you want this in more plain English, I like these guys more than my rankings might show as last round sleepers in any league. Also, if we hear soon that baseball is returning for only 82 games vs. 100 games (as it is in my projections and rankings), I will make the necessary adjustments. My ear is to the ground, and baseball sounds like it’s getting close. What’s that, the ground has The Rona? How do I clean my ear now?! So, about Monte Harrison for 2020 fantasy baseball and what makes him a great dart throw?
Last year in Triple-A, Monte Harrison hit nine homers and stole 20 bags in 22 attempts while slashing .274/.357/.451. Guess in how many at-bats. What did you say, 400? Nope, way lower. No, not five at-bats! He hit nine homers! He did it in 56 games and 215 ABs. Zoinks! That’s roughly a 25/50 pace across a full season. Yo, you Hanley Ramirez? Actually, no he’s not. He might not even be Byron Buxton. Harrison’s strikeout rate is ugly as sin. 29.9% in Triple-A, needing a .373 BABIP to produce a decent average. He is fast, so the BABIP might be inflated, but .335-.350 BABIP feels generous, which means an average closer to .240. He is fast though, a 60-grade burner, which is also a Nokia flip phone for Bodie on The Wire. Hilariously appropriate, Monte’s daddy, Lewis Brinson, is in front of him on the depth charts, i.e., another guy who was previously a can’t miss prospect with five tools, but he’s only five tools now if he wears pants like a glove, and I wouldn’t project Brinson for five dongs. As mentioned with my Wander Franco fantasy, the minor leagues are gonna be nil and void this year, so Monte Harrison should be with the major league club, and, with Brinson burning out big time all his chances, even with the Marlins, Harrison could be the starting center fielder when this cluster gets un-fudged. Right now Monte Harrison has a five-homer, seven-steal line in about 25 games. If he gets 80 to 100 games? He’s basically Starling Marte with a crap average, and an excellent…*swinging by on a Bud Light pool table lamp*…DART THROW!
