Trea Turner was arguably the number one pick going into drafts this spring.  Although Ronald Acuna Jr. was close behind, there was every expectation that Turner would anchor fantasy lineups with 30/30/100 production.  Fantasy writers alike agreed and much of our position seemed validated by Turner’s performance in the World Baseball Classic where he belted five home runs.  Alas, with a poor start to the season, Turner was hitting .238 with five homers and seven steals entering June.  In another lesson to trust the talent, he has warmed up in the last two weeks hitting .315 with five steals and a few bombs.  Hopefully you did not sell low and trusted your draft plans as he is still a top five hitter the rest of the season.  Sometimes we have to remain confident in the talent and prior performance especially with the top hitters in the league.   Let’s see where he and the rest of our stars fall in this week’s edition of the Top 100 Hitters for the rest of the 2023 fantasy baseball season.

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Sun 8/3
ARI | ATH | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | ATL | CIN | OAK

Graduated from Prospect News: Stash List Volume 5: Our New Number OneLuis Matos, Emmet Sheehan, Bo Naylor, Dairon Blanco.

 

1. Guardians RHP Gavin Williams | 23 | AAA 

Touki Toussaint tooky the first start in place of the injured Triston McKenzie. I suspect Williams will cover the next one, but Cleveland has shown uncanny resilience to fielding their best players. The release of Mike Zunino and promotion of Bo Naylor could signal a temporary sea change, which just so happens to coincide with the certain passing of the floating super two date.

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We’re on a roll right now! We’ve had two big weeks in a row and can’t wait to keep it going here. What’s weird about this week is the scheduling. We have numerous teams playing just five games, which can be infuriating from a fantasy perspective. Picking streamers is also more challenging in these circumstances, […]

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On Aug. 2 last year, the Washington Nationals sent Juan Soto and Josh Bell to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Luke Voit and a host of prospects in MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, Robert Hassell, Jarlin Susana and James Wood.

Voit is no longer with the Nationals and was never considered a key part of the trade. The last three players listed are still in the minors. Hassell entered the season ranked as the 57th best prospect by Baseball America, 35th by MLB.com and 66th by Baseball Prospectus while Wood is ranked 11th, 17th and 3rd, respectively. Susana is only 19 years old, so it will be a while to see if he ever makes it to the Nationals. much less as a top 100 prospect.

Key Piece

Gore and Abrams are currently playing for the Nationals and were key parts of the deal. I like Abrams, and for deep dynasty leagues, he is a keeper. But I like Gore a whole lot more.

Selected as the third overall pick in the 2017 draft out of Whiteville High School in Whiteville, North Carolina, Gore was already a top 100 prospect in 2018, ranking 26th (BA), 19th (MLB) and 29th (BP). By the end of 2021 Gore was a top 10 prospect.

Now in his second season in the majors, has Gore lived up to the lofty prospect rankings? Not really. In ESPN and Yahoo leagues, many players don’t consider Gore worthy of a roster spot as he is rostered in 21% of ESPN leagues and 48% of Yahoo leagues.

Does that mean he is not a solid dynasty keeper?

Those roster percentages don’t take into account dynasty leagues. In Fantrax leagues, Gore is rostered by 94% of teams, a number that about right as I think Gore is only scratching the surface of what he can do.

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Howdy, Razzball Brethren! Pete Fairbanks has visited the IL a few times this season, but have you seen his most recent, season-threatening injury? While this is a family-friendly column, I agree it is important to dunk on kids, even if it means sustaining a black eye. They must meet the long-arm of the law sometime. […]

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“Okay, I’m going to fall slowly back now, are you ready to catch me?”
“Go for it…”
“Okay, are you sure you’re ready? You sound like you’re 40 to 50 feet behind me and not right under me.”
“I’m…right…behind…you.”
“Okay, you sound like you’ve moved even further away. I know part of the exercise is just fall backwards and you’re going to catch me, but I can barely hear you.”
“Sorry, what did you say?”
“Damn it, I can hear you moving further away from me! This trust fall is not going to work, is it?” I turn around to find Bud Black is a football field away from me. “You weren’t going to catch me!”
Bud Black screams, “I had you!”

That’s Bud Black and every fantasy baseballer (<–my mom’s term!). You cannot trust Bud Black. He’s untrustworthy! I wouldn’t trust him to suddenly play Nolan Jones forever. I’m going one game at a time here with Jones. At some point, Curtis Jackson Cron will return and it’ll be two tears in a bucket and Jones will be told to eff off. For now, Jones is a guy who has nearly 20/10/.330 between Triple-A and the majors in less than 60 games. Will it continue? Well, the power is real, the steals are real, but he is likely closer to a .260 hitter. Still very valuable. Just don’t get on a chair and fall backwards into his expected production. Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:

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Instead of marking the end of all my relationships, we can now use it as a pun! Plus, it was either that or going to be the “who’s the greatest rapper of all time” bit, which is always a classic, but what is a joke if it’s not self-deprecating? Not to mention, while I wouldn’t […]

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Shohei Ohtani (1-for-2, 2 RBIs, hitting .301) hit his 22nd homer to tie for the MLB lead, and he tossed 6 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.29, vs. the Rangers in Texas, one MLB’s best teams, and the Win. Are there enough superlatives for Ohtani? Let’s try, he’s the best baseball player ever. Good place to start. It’s unfair to compare different eras, because things were different 100 years ago when Babe played. Things were different 20 years ago when Bonds was in his heyday. Speaking of which, besides those two, there was Say Hey, there was Hammerin’, there was–Rickey knows you’re not forgetting Rickey–There was Rickey! None needed their full name mentioned. You knew who I meant. None pitched as well as Ohtani is pitching. Babe’s the only one to even give that a go, and we know when he was an elite hitter, he wasn’t also a pitcher. Ohtani sent a ball 443 feet the opposite way last night with ease, has hit six homers in seven games, and has 105 Ks in 82 IP, which is third in strikeouts. Absurd. There are no superlatives. He is the superlative. Superlative Ohtani. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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