Middle Infield Roundup – Humble Pie

Howdy again, folks.

We’re a few weeks into the season, and a handful of rankings I made in the preseason, admittedly, look pretty dumb! There are also some folks who I am adamant I’m still right about.

So, in the spirit of being taken down a peg or two, I wanted to take an opportunity (the first of many this season) to scarf down a heaping helping of humble pie on the middle infielders I think I was wrong about, while also offering a fair warning about one name who still seems too good to be true.

As for now, to all of the folks I’m about to write up, let me quote Shaquille O’Neal:

“I owe you an apology. I wasn’t really familiar with your game.”

Here’s a list of players I undervalued leading into the season, along with their up-to-date Razzball Player Rater dollar values generated and ranking among fellow middle infielders.

Anthony Volpe – $31.4 (4th)

To avoid drinking the Spring Training Results Koolaid, I tempered my expectations for Anthony Volpe by tossing him into the last tier of my shortstop rankings (15th overall), despite solid results. I also talked myself out of accepting a trade offer of Volpe for Hunter Brown in my longest-standing home league, because, and I am quoting myself here, “bUt I nEeD sTrIkEoUtS!” It may be early to say this, but that could be the biggest regret of my 2024 fantasy season.

Volpe kept right on raking, and in the past week has gone from hitting sixth or seventh in the Yankees order to making four straight starts out of the leadoff spot. All the underlying batted-ball and plate discipline data affirms Volpe’s success so far (75th-percentile Hard-Hit%, 80th-percentile Chase%, 97th-percentile Whiff%), and with how well he’s been hitting, I would be shocked if Aaron Boone bumps him down in the batting order to make room for DJ LeMahieu in a week or two.

It’s safe to say he’ll get a substantial bump in my next set of SS rankings.

Brice Turang – $27.3 (5th)

I covered Brice and his fluffy fortifications in an earlier middle infield roundup, and while his pillow thievery hasn’t kept up at the same pace, his bat-to-ball skills have continued to show up. His 97th-percentile whiff rate and 93rd-percentile sprint speed are the only eye-popping things you’ll find on his Statcast page, but his 7 steals are still good for the best in the majors. As long as he can accumulate ample plate appearances—and with his exceptional defense, he will—he should be able to steal 30+ bases with ease this year.

Ryan McMahon – $21.6 (9th)

Okay, I’ve been optimistic up to this point, but I have to be honest, I don’t buy Ryan McMahon’s start. While the zone contact rates are way, way up—85% compared to 73.6% in 2023—McMahon is exhibiting the highest chase rates of his career, while his whiff rates are also sitting near his career norms.

I swear I am not a crazy person, but I did go back and check all of his hits from 2024 so far, and nearly all of them were on pitches in the bottom third or below the strike zone. He’s been more selective than ever at swinging at pitches in the zone by a substantial margin, so maybe he’s just being hyper-vigilant in hunting the low balls? I have a sneaking suspicion the minute pitchers start effectively attacking the upper third of the zone against McMahon, we’ll see him fall back down to earth.

Sell high.

Jordan Westburg – $17.7 (15th)

Okay, don’t lie: Who had Jordan Westburg being more valuable than Gunnar Henderson on their bingo card?

I was watching the Red Sox/Orioles game live on April 10th when Westburg hit an absolute nuke off Chris Martin, and that marks the moment I regretted not rostering him in any leagues. His bat has been a delight for the Orioles fans and fantasy managers this year, with his Hard-Hit% in the 98th percentile in all of baseball, while his K% has been cut by 5.4% to 19.2%. The only unfortunate part is despite his results so far, he’s pinned near the bottom of that batting order—the unfortunate side effect of having talented hitters to put in every lineup spot.

I, like many others, was distracted by the excitement of Jackson Holliday’s impending callup and took Westburg for granted. Never again!

Any other fun names from the Player Rater you hoped I would touch on? Hit me up in the comments and let’s chop it up.