Yasmani Grandal, Top 100 Hitters, 2017 Fantasy Baseball

Over the past few weeks, Yasmani Grandal has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball. Despite being a pinch-hitter who sometimes wears the wrong helmet, he has been hitting .345 with a .392 wOBA over his last 30 days. Part of that has to do with an unsustainable .409 BABIP during that span, but most of it has to do with Grandal being locked in and being more aggressive at the plate. While he has a history of being frustrating to fantasy owners who aren’t utilizing him in OPS or OBP leagues, Hot Yasmani has been very different this season.

Regular Yasmani is a patient hitter who posts OBPs 100 points higher than a mediocre AVG, who walks 15% of the time and strikes out 25% of the time. He can hit home runs but hurts AVG in standard leagues. Last season, he rewarded fantasy owners with 27 home runs, which is great, especially at the catcher position. But, again, he hit just .228, struck out 25.4% of the time, and recorded just 86 hits. That means a third of his hits went for home runs. With 116 strikeouts and 62 walks, it also means that he either struck out or walked 50% of the time. Other than the home runs (which, again, are great to get at the catcher spot), those numbers are fine for OBP/OPS leagues but are not ideal for your standard leagues.

Hot Yasmani, 2017 Yasmani, is a different story. Hot Yasmani has no time for patience at the plate. He wants to eat. HY’s BB% over the last 30 days is less than 6%, and it’s below 10% on the year. He already has 42 hits and is on pace for well over 100 for the first time in his career. He his hitting around .300 after hitting below .235 the last four seasons. The home runs are down, for now, but he is making up for it with career marks in nearly every other offensive category (except walks, of course). I included HY in this week’s Top 100 because he is no longer just posting good numbers for a catcher; he’s one of the hottest hitters not named Charles Cobb Blackmon (full name, look it up) right now.

Now, for a few guys who are not so hot right now…

Cesar Hernandez – Hernandez’s regression to the mean is upon us. While he has been hitting better the last few days after a slump, that slump dropped his batting average 30 points. He’s hitting .212 with a .255 wOBA the last two weeks, and while he will chip in 15-20 steals this season, he doesn’t have much power to offer. If it’s me, I’m selling Hernandez before his value drops any further.
Odubel Herrera – If you want to look for someone dropping faster than Hernandez, you don’t have to leave Philadelphia. He is batting .148 over the past two weeks, and he whipped out the rarely seen Platinum Sombrero last week. Herrera has been solid in his two seasons with the Phillies and was a possible 20/20 candidate heading into the season, but he looks lost at the plate right now. Here is one potential reason:

Odubel Herrera used to swing at more balls out of the zone than the average hitter.

He's doing it even more now. His offense is suffering. pic.twitter.com/FFdQAPZWVQ

— Ben Harris (@byBenHarris) May 28, 2017

Jay Bruce – As he is wont to do, Bruce has gone cold. While he has 12 home runs on the year, he is batting .158 over the last two weeks. Part of that has to do with a .148 BABIP, but he is also back to striking out 25% of the time. He has 30+ home run power but is always going to go through hot and cold streaks. If you want the counting stats, you’ll have to accept that he is going to hurt your percentages most of the time.

Note: These rankings are considered ROS Trade Value

Mike Maher’s Top ? Hitters

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

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

The Honorable Mentions (Next Five In…)

Rank	Name	Pos	Team
101	Carlos Santana	CLE	1B
102	Justin Bour	MIA	1B
103	Adrian Beltre	TEX	3B
104	Devon Travis	TOR	2B
105	Travis Shaw	MIL	1B/3B

Dropped from the rankings: Aaron Hicks (98), Stephen Piscotty (104), Yasmany Tomas (105)

As was always the case during the M@ era of the Top 100…don’t agree with something?

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