Catcher
Willson Contreras leads all catchers with 94 points. Will Smith is right behind him with 91 points in 15 fewer plate appearances. If I’m picking one I’m going with Smith. He’s in the Dodgers lineup, which has scored 55 more runs than the Cubs. Not to mention I had Smith as my preseason #2 catcher behind Salvador Perez. I feel bad for whoever wasted their third round pick on Perez. I will never take a catcher that early. It’s just crazy. Even if he did hit 48 homers the year before. After Contreras and Smith, there are five catchers until we get to J.T. Realmuto. Those five catchers are Sean Murphy (79), Alejandro Kirk (77), Keibert Ruiz (77), Jonah Heim (75), and Tyler Stephenson (73). Realmuto is tied with Stephenson with 73 points. Here’s the worst part regarding Realmuto. He has a fair amount more plate appearances than Stephenson, Heim, Ruiz and Kirk. If we go by points per plate appearance, Willson’s brother William takes the top spot with a 0.85 PPPA, but he only has 65 plate appearances. Jonah Heim has a 0.65 PPPA over 113 plate appearances, followed by Smith at 0.63 PPPA in 144 chances. So from what I’m seeing here, Heim was the biggest steal so far, but if you find yourself with Murphy, Kirk, Stephenson or Ruiz, you’re better of than most of the rest.
For those of you that just read that and are wondering why I didn’t mention Dalton Varsho, well the answer is simple. He was in my OF list. That shouldn’t, and doesn’t, matter. Varsho leads all catchers with 99 fantasy points. However, his 0.56 PPPA sandwiches him between Stephenson and Kirk.
This does bring up an interesting point. Who would you rather have on your team?
Player A – 649 plate appearances, 425 points and a 0.65 PPPA
Player B – 435 plate appearances, 350 points and a 0.80 PPPA
Even though Player B is scoring more points every time he steps into the batter’s box, the correct answer is Player A. He might not be as productive from a “per plate appearance” perspective, but the fact that he ended up with 214 more plate appearances is the reason you want Player A. Over the course of the season, Player A has accumulated 75 additional points than Player B. Those 75 points sure could make a difference somewhere along the way. You always want the player that is going to score more points.
First Base
It wasn’t that long ago that my preseason posts had Paul Goldschmidt right at the top of all hitters. This preseason I had Goldy as the 5th ranked 1B and the 25th hitter overall. He is currently leading all 1B in points with 165 points and is also leading in PPPA with 0.83. Freddie Freeman is only 3 points behind. I’ve been a Goldschmidt fan since the days he terrorized Tim Lincecum and I would love to see him keep this up, but I still think Freeman will eventually jump ahead. My preseason top 1B, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, is 9th amongst 1B with 116 points. Pick it up Vlad! Jurickson Profar is one name I haven’t really discussed this season. He has more points the Vlad Jr. at this juncture. Not many (just 6), but still more. Who would have expected to see Ty France, CJ Cron, Anthony Rizzo and Jurickson Profar also ahead of Vlad Jr? Buy low on Vlad?
Second Base
Ty France is still leading the way at 2B with 153 points. I’ve mentioned France quite a few times this season. He continues to hold steady, as should you if you own him. But I said that a few weeks ago, so I’ve gotta believe you didn’t trade him because you always listen to malamoney. After France is Trea Turner with his dual 2B/SS eligibility and his 139 points. The next two on this list are going to be on a lot of teams that are near the top of the standings. Tommy Edman has 138 points and Jeff McNeil has 127. Both of them have less plate appearances than France and Turner. Considering Edman was a 13th rounder and McNeil was a 19th rounder, I’d say teams that drafted them have hit the proverbial fantasy jackpot. One other name I’d like to mention is Thairo Estrada. He sounds like one of the leads in the Venezuelan spinoff of CHiPs. He has 109 points which puts him firmly in the top ten 2B. The interesting thing is that his ownership is pretty low.
I will get to the rest of the positions next week.
The other day I said Alex Cobb wasn’t worth rostering. I said that you’d be better off with a streaming option. Cobb had two starts last week. He totaled 20 points for a whopping 10 points per start. Like I said, he sucks. Good day!
Perhaps Marcus Semien was afraid of choking on a chicken McNugget as he finally showed some signs of life. He hit his first home run a scored 31 fantasy points last week, nearly doubling his season total. I still hope he chokes on a chicken McNugget.
Keep an eye on Mike Yastrzemski as he’s beginning to heat up a bit. He has 52 points in the last two weeks.
In his last three starts, Tyler Anderson has pitched 21 innings, struck out 21, thrown 3 quality starts and won all three contests. More importantly, he has 79 points over those starts, for an average of 26.3 points per start. Hey Alex Cobb, how do you like them apples?! On the season Anderson is averaging 18.5 points per start.
Now might be the time to see if you can get the Carlos Rodon owner to sell him for less than he’s worth.
Is Spencer Strider Dylan Cease’s twin or am I just seeing things that aren’t really there?
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