Points Leagues: April Infield Rankings

Draft season is full of hopes and dreams and imagining best-case scenarios. Then the games start, and reality smacks you in the face. Alas.

It’s too early to have any drastic changes to the rankings, as the sample size is just way too small. It doesn’t mean that feelings about particular players doesn’t change at all, though. So, with that in mind, here’s how I see the infield landscape after the first week and a half of the season.

Catchers

• Cal Raleigh is off to a slow start. He’s not going to hit 60 homers again. He’s still the top ranked catcher for me. I understand being frustrated, but don’t do anything silly.
• Herrera still isn’t catcher-eligible for everyone. If you play with 5-game in-season eligibility, he needs two more appearances. So by this time next week, you might be good to go. If you need 10 games, it’s going to be a few more weeks. But you knew that when you drafted.
• As someone who has him on a couple important teams, my heart wants to put Baldwin all the way up at the top spot. For now, cooler heads are prevailing, and he just moves up one. We’ll see if he keeps forcing the issue, but it’s definitely nice to see him following up winning Rookie of the Year with such a hot start.
• Speaking of hot starts, Alvarez already has 3 long balls to go along with a .292 average. If he can keep that up he’ll shoot up both these ranks, and even more significantly for your purposes, the Mets batting order.
• I am not by any means out on the young Orioles backstop. He just hasn’t produced as much as some others so far. He’ll be ok.

First Base

• Early season overreactions on Olson and Kurtz? Maybe. However, Olson has been the top 1B in the league before. As far as Kurtz goes, there were people who weren’t as excited about him as the consensus for a reason. I’m confident he’ll figure it out, and he did show some signs of life on Sunday. He still drops a few spots for now.
• I’d like to believe Yandy will keep the increased launch angle all season long. Though, the last time it was this high in 2022, he only hit 9 HR. But remember, in points leagues, that doesn’t matter as much. He’ll likely fall down a few spots as the season goes, but history says he’ll be a must-start option regardless.
• I have very real regrets about not taking Sal Stewart anywhere this draft season. It’s a testament to how strong this position is that he’s still only where he is.
• Not cracking the list here are guys like Christian Walker, Miguel Vargas, and Nolan Schanuel, who have all had very nice starts to the season. If you have a bench spot open and any of them are still available, I’d be interested in taking a flier and seeing what happens. Walker, in particular, was a fixture in lineups in the recent past.
• Where is Munetaka Murakami? Fair question. Well, in ESPN leagues, he’s not eligible here yet. Even so, the fact is that even with his 4 HR he’s only hitting .226 and has struck out 13 times. That’s not great. He does have 6 walks, and other than the whiff% and K%, his Savant page is currently very red, and that’s good. So if you have him, keep riding him, for sure. Hopefully, the contact issues don’t make it too bumpy.

Second Base

• Wetherholt has already cooled down a bit from his blazing start, but it’s hard to not be excited about what he could do this season.
• I still love Polanco’s opportunity in that Mets lineup, but his body isn’t cooperating. A sore Achilles is not the sort of thing you want to see accompanying any of your players. Here’s hoping it doesn’t become something more serious.
• One name not here but who I’m keeping a very close eye on (and have added in at least one league) is Andres Gimenez. Last year, he started out hot and then was very, very bad. This year, he has also started out hot. And he has been good in the past. I’m intrigued, but cautious.

Third Base

• I was really hoping that Riley would come out of the gates quickly and show he was back to being the guy he used to be. That, um, hasn’t happened. Ten games is way too soon to draw any definitive conclusions about anything, but it would be nice if he could start doing anything.
• Know who has done something? Kevin McGonigle. The last couple years have burned me on reaching for the hyped rookies. Turns out, fading them this year was a big mistake. This year’s class looks legit, and McGonigle is right at the head of the class. If you don’t mind, I’ll be over here ruing my life choices.
• Noelvi Marte fell entirely out of these rankings. Is the talent there to get back? I, and many others, believe so. But the Reds apparently feel differently, as he currently has fewer plate appearances than Will Benson and Dane Myers. If he can’t get on the field, he can’t score points.
• I really wanted to get Miguel Vargas onto here, and I suppose I could have, since the number of names per list is entirely up to me. It just felt like it would be a bit of a homer pick at this point. But part of the reason he’s the top scoring 3B so far is because he already has 3 SB. Seeing as he had 6 all of last season, that’s not something I’d count on continuing. The 5 BBs to 7 Ks is nice, though, and is the sort of thing you like to see in this format. Keep an eye on the South Side.

Shortstop

• Mookie is on the IL with an oblique strain. That’s not good. I’m still figuring out how I want to handle dealing with guys at his level when they go on the IL. Obviously, you can’t currently use them, and I can’t recommend trying to go acquire them. But they do still exist and will have value when they return. So, for now at least, Mookie stays here.
• You don’t really need me to tell you anything about Konnor Griffin that other people haven’t already said, do you? He’s super young, but super exciting.