It’s almost hard to believe that the season is wrapping up but here we are. Since there’s no next week to pick up players for it’s time to look back on the season. We’ll get into position groups later but here are some guys who outperformed their draft position going into the season. You won’t find guys like Juan Soto here. Yes, he was great after a sluggish start but he was a top five pick. We want the league winners, the draft day values. So here are some guys who stood out to me.
Shohei Ohtani – If you play in a league with daily roster moves there was no better pick than Shohei. Drafted in the 90s at the earliest he will finish the 2021 season as the highest scoring player and it’s not even close. He was a human cheat code, giving you not one but two All Star players while occupying a single spot on your roster. The value was simply incredible for where you could get him in drafts. He was everything you could want from a fantasy player., If the Angels deploy him as both a hitter and a pitcher next year he should hands down be the number one overall pick. Shohei is the real deal and should be both the fantasy and real life MVP.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr – A distant second to Shohei, Vladito had himself one heck of a season. Challenging for a triple crown leads to a boatload of fantasy points. With an ADP in the 40s, he has handsomely anyone who was able to snag him. This season was a glimpse of what he’s capable of and at only 22 years old this may not even be his final form. I wager his ADP will be significantly higher next season and I would be happy taking him as top 10 or potentially even a top 5 pick.
Marcus Semien – Oh boy the Jays are loaded this season. Semien has crushed 44 bombs this season, the most ever by a second baseman. Not too shabby for a guy taken outside the top 100. He’s been a monster this season on the one year deal he signed with the Jays and I’d say they got their money’s worth. It remains to be seen which team he will be suiting up next year and what his supporting cast will look like. He’s shown power before but I wouldn’t count on him repeating his totals from this season. He’s tough to rank given that we don’t know where he’ll be playing next season but I suspect the market will over correct for what he did in 2021 and his ADP will be too rich for my blood.
Cedric Mullins – Ok, this one came out of nowhere, so much so that Mullins likely went undrafted in all but the deepest of leagues. If you did draft him, I’d like to see the crystal ball you used. He may go down as one of the best wavier pickups I’ve ever seen. I’ll be honest I really don’t know where I’ll have him ranked next year coming off of a 30/30 season. He’s flashed speed previously in the minors but the power is something new. He will be going into his age 27 season so it’s not out of the question the power bat is legit even if he doesn’t make it back to the 3o homer plateau. The steals are nice but if the power regresses he’ll lose a lot of his fantasy value.
Bryan Reynolds – Here’s another guy who went from to being taken at the tail end of drafts of scooped off the wire to the front page. Reynolds smacked some homers, but he racked up doubles sits one back of the lead in triples. Unfortunately, he’s tied to the Pirates next season and unless they pull off a major turnaround, his supporting cast will be lacking. He should still be a very valuable piece of your roster and I’m hoping his ADP won’t go crazy.
Austin Riley – He enjoyed a nice breakout this season and should have been a fixture in your lineup. Riley was a real difference-maker who was drafted around 200. If he can maintain his batting average he’ll be a stud next season. His average dipped in June but other than that he was a very consistent producer. He has good power and the speed to turn singles into doubles even if he isn’t a threat to steal. He’s still only 24 so he can definitely continue to grow. I’m very interested to see what his ADP looks like come draft season.
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