Remember when Bryce Harper was the bee’s knees. The cat’s pajamas. The top dog. A lot can happen in two weeks. As a matter of fact, Harper’s not even in the top five. With 122 points he finds himself ranked 6th, tied with David Ortiz and Daniel Murphy. Both Ortiz and Murphy are sporting a slightly higher points per plate appearance (PPPA). However, Harper’s current PPPA (0.84) is more in line with what I’d expect out of him than Ortiz and Murphy, both of whom are due to regress.
So if Harper is no longer the king, who is? Ignoring Felix Hernandez for a moment, we have to turn our attention to all 5 foot 5 of Jose Altuve and his 156 points (0.98). The vertically challenged second baseman is tearing it up. If he was in The Hunger Games, he’d be “the middle infielder on fire”. He might need to sit on a phone or two to drive and he might not be able to ride all the rides at the carnival, but Jose is scoring fantasy points like it’s his job. After Altuve comes Nolan Arenado. With 149 points he actually has a higher PPPA (0.99). At this point I like Nolan’s chances of ending the season as the hitter with the most points. An honor that Mike Trout has yet to capture. Speaking of Trout, he currently has the 39th most points among hitters. Something smells fishy in Anaheim.
Next up is Anthony Rizzo with 143 points. That’s nearly 40 more points than the next 1B (Brandon Belt). My preseason favorite, Paul Goldschmidt, has only 94 points. Are we looking at fools gold? Of course not. Goldschmidt will see his numbers rise sooner than later. Mark it down!
The next three are Manny Machado (132), Robinson Cano (130) and Josh Donaldson (125). I expected muchado points out of Manny. I picked Cano as my comeback player of the year. And Donaldson is Donaldson. Three 3B in the top six. It just so happens that there are two 2B and one 1B making up the top six. Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think.
Rounding out the top ten is Ben Zobrist. Zobrist (0.84) has 118 points and a spot in one of the most productive offenses in Major League Baseball.
Here are the top five players at each position (15 for OF) according to me. These rankings take into account year to date and expected rest of season performances. The numbers in parentheses after each player represent their total points, current PPPA and their projected PPPA for the rest of the season.
Catcher
Buster Posey (74, 0.57, 0.63)
Yadier Molina (79, 0.52, 0.56)
Wellington Castillo (76, 0.66, 0.55)
Wilson Ramos (63, 0.67, 0.58)
Jonathan Lucroy (73, 0.59, 0.58)
1B
Anthony Rizzo (143, 0.95, 0.75)
Paul Goldschmidt (94, 0.59, 0.71)
Miguel Cabrera (73, 0.53, 0.67)
Edwin Encarnacion (81, 0.53, 0.64)
Mark Trumbo (102, 0.74, 0.60)
2B
Jose Altuve (156, 0.98, 0.75)
Robinson Cano (130, 0.86, 0.71)
Daniel Murphy (122, 0.90, 0.7)
Ben Zobrist (118, 0.84, 0.7)
Rougned Odor (109, 0.74, 0.67)
3B
Nolan Arenado (149, 0.99, 0.79)
Manny Machado (132, 0.92, 0.76)
Josh Donaldson (125, 0.78, 0.72)
Daniel Murphy (122, 0.90, 0.7)
Todd Frazier (109, 0.72, 0.66)
SS
Xander Bogaerts (98, 0.65, 0.68)
Carlos Correa (86, 0.58, 0.66)
Jean Segura (100, 0.66, 0.59)
Trevor Story (98, 0.64, 0.58)
Francisco Lindor (73, 0.53, 0.58)
OF
Bryce Harper (122, 0.84, 0.79)
Mike Trout (91, 0.65, 0.71)
Mookie Betts (101, 0.62, 0.68)
Giancarlo Stanton (85, 0.65, 0.67)
Ryan Braun (117, 0.87, 0.68)
Ben Zobrist (118, 0.84, 0.7)
Joey Bautista (96, 0.61, 0.68)
Andrew McCutchen (83, 0.55, 0.67)
Yoenis Cespedes (112, 0.92, 0.66)
Dexter Fowler (107, 0.75, 0.63)
Hunter Pence (100, 0.65, 0.63)
Gregory Polanco (94, 0.65, 0.62)
Cristian Yelich (98, 0.71, 0.62)
Stephen Piscotty (98, 0.68, 0.61)
Mark Trumbo (102, 0.74, 0.60)
The most notable items above are the fact that Rizzo has passed Goldschmidt and Bogaerts has passed Correa. Yep, that’s how I see it. You can disagree, but you’d be wrong. Mookie Betts moves into the the number three spot and Ryan Braun is partying like it’s 2012.
Last week some of you asked about some buy low/sell high candidates. You ask and you shall receive.
Buy Low
Justin Upton, Prince Fielder, Kendrys Morales, Troy Tulowitzki, Yasiel Puig, Albert Pujols, Joey Votto, Edwin Encarnacion, Miguel Cabrera, J.D. Martinez, Jose Abreu, Adam Jones and Miguel Sano.
Obviously these are all pretty much high profile names. So while the opportunity to buy low might not necessary exist, these are players that will start producing points at a great level than they are currently doing so.
Sell High
Alemdys Diaz, Jackie Bradley Jr, Ian Desmond, Chris Carter, Travis Shaw and Brandon Belt
I promise that next week’s installment on points leagues will focus one hundred percent on pitching, and about five percent on hitters. You do that math…
