Ender’s Game… And The Top 100 Hitters, Week 19

The English major in me is just teeming with excitement for the title of Week 19’s edition. Any of you ever read Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game out there? (And damn it, I know I’m geeking out right now. Whatevs.) The quick premise of the book is that there’s a special boy who has a greater ability than anyone else to defeat an enemy in what is posed as a simulated game. I won’t spoil the rest, but suffice it to say, he’s special because he wins. All the freaking time he wins. Even though he’s not the most imposing character he wins. And it’s just like his fantasy baseball namesake:

• Ender Inciarte, OF (15.6% owned) – Ya got that right, Ender. It is fun. A lot of fun. And thanks to you for not only helping the Braves actually win a game or two in the second half, while somehow posting an almost .300 avg as a team the past three weeks, but also contributing to the fantasy world. Finally. Listen, he doesn’t have the protagonist ways of always winning like Charlie Sheen “Ender” in the book, but if you look closely he’s bringing a ton of value to the game. In the past 30 days only Jose Altuve and Shmelky Shmabrera (he doesn’t deserve that hyperlink) have more hits than Inciarte (34). Through his 34 hits he’s carrying a .370 AVG with 18 runs and 3 SB. Is he taking the NL by storm? Um, no. But at this stage of the game his consistent ability to rack up hits and get on base drives up his chances at the counting stats. Atop the vaunted Braves lineup he won’t drive in many runs (4 in the past month), but the runs, AVG and SB are enough to really help you now that we’re in August. Look at your standings. Is there a large gap between you and two-to-three spots ahead of you in a category? Meanwhile, are there only a few R or SB between you and 5 points? Well, Ender’s your man. Point is…grab the guys that help your team based on standings. Period. Disregard the trade value of these rankings or anyone else’s opinion. Need speed and crushing in power? Awesome. Someone like Ender is perfect. And he’s creepin’ big time recently: 13/24 in the past 7 days!

Now, enough creepin’…let’s get to the Top 100 Hitters Rankings for Week 19!

Note: These rankings are considered ROS trade value.

RED = Falling
GREEN = Rising
BLUE = New to the 100

Dropped from Rankings: Yoenis Cespedes (23), Trevor Story (45), Aledmys Diaz (79), Melvin Upton Jr. (90), Willson Contreras (97), Hanley Ramirez (99), Kevin Keirmaier (100)

• The Bryce Harper Watch has officially ENDED. Seriously, he plummets in this week’s rankings, and it may be about a month too late. He’s been dreadful, hitting over .100 points lower than 2015. M-V-What? Next year he still has to be a first round pick, but for the rest of 2016 it’s time to cut bait.
• I love Joey Votto. And never stopped. To all you who jumped off the bandwagon. Ha. Well…he’s hitting .405 over the past month. Booyaakashah!
• Brad Miller may finally be the player to break the curse. I didn’t mention it above, though I was tempted to, but I haven’t had the best of luck in guessing future value for the Creeper of the Week. Run through the gauntlet of players I’ve highlighted and it’s as sad an assortment of players as any team going against the U.S. Men’s National Basketball Team. However, in Miller we have hope. He continues to mash, even after lifting him up in Week 18. And remember, take that sub .200 April out of the equation and he’s a top 10 SS. This may be remembered as the year of the MI by the time we’re done with everything. It’s crazy how deep the pool is now.

Good luck in Week 19! Only a few more left in H2H leagues, and a little over 7 weeks for the roto side of Razz! DROP THOSE COMMENTS, pick up Ender, and climb those standings!