Last week (or so) I put out my early first base rankings. I completely intended to follow that up with a post for each position, but if I’m being honest, I’m running out of time. With drafts already starting to happen, it’s time I got to it and worked on my official rankings. With that said, I am knee deep in projections, rankings and spreadsheets. I know many of you are patiently waiting for my customizable spreadsheet, but that’s still a couple days away. In the meantime, I have gotten far enough to share my rankings.
Please keep in mind that these rankings are based on a specific scoring system. When my spreadsheet is released it will allow you to enter your league specific scoring system and will generate custom rankings. Because as I’ve said many times before, “all leagues are not created equal”.
RUN (+1), RBI (+1), 1B (+1), 2B (+2), 3B (+3), HR (+4), BB (+1), KO (-1), SB (+1), CS (-1)
WIN (+5), LOSS (-5), IP (+3), K (+1), BB (-1), SAVE (+7), BLOWN SAVE (-3), ER (-1), HIT (-1), HBP (-1), WP (-1)
Catcher
After several years of seeing Buster Posey in the top spot, he’s still there. For those of you expecting to see Gary Sanchez as my number one, well you’re going to have to wait at least another year. He’s going to have to cut down on the strikeouts to move past Buster. In a league that penalized less than a full point for strikeouts, Sanchez would be in front of Buster.
Buster Posey
Gary Sanchez
Willson Contreras
J.T. Realmuto
Salvador Perez
Yadier Molina
Evan Gattis
Brian McCann
Jonathan Lucroy
Wilson Ramos
Mike Zuzino
Austin Barnes
First Base
I really wanted to give it to Paul Goldschmidt, but Joey Votto just cannot be ignored. He was last year’s top scoring hitter and comes into 2018 as the top 1B. Yes, I know I said Goldschmidt was my top 1B just last week, but now that I’ve run the numbers, it just doesn’t play out that way. I do expect Goldschmidt and Freddie Freeman to be nipping at his heels. The value picks here seem to be Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Abreu and Carlos Santana.
Joey Votto
Paul Goldschmidt
Freddie Freeman
Anthony Rizzo
Edwin Encarnacion
Jose Abreu
Carlos Santana
Cody Bellinger
Rhys Hoskins
Eric Hosmer
Wil Myers
Josh Bell
Miguel Cabrera
Matt Carpenter
Justin Smoak
Second Base
Jose. Jose. Sounds like a list Donald Trump might be making. Jonathan Schoop seems to be everyone’s shiny new penny this season. I’m just hoping boring old Robinson Cano falls to me in a decent round.
Jose Altuve
Jose Ramirez
Brian Dozier
Robinson Cano
Daniel Murphy
DJ LeMahieu
Jonathan Schoop
Whit Merrifield
Dee Gordon
Matt Carpenter
Rougned Odor
Ozzie Albies
Third Base
Nolan Arenado is a no brainer here. I’m way done with Josh Donaldson. He will not be on any of my teams this year. I’d rather have Travis Shaw several rounds later. I just got Shaw for $12 in an “experts” H2H points league auction while Donaldson went for $29. You do the math.
Nolan Arenado
Jose Ramirez
Freddie Freeman
Kris Bryant
Manny Machado
Josh Donaldson
Alex Bregman
Anthony Rendon
Kyle Seager
Justin Turner
Evan Longoria
Travis Shaw
Jake Lamb
Shortstop
Am I the only one with Francisco Lindor leading the pack at shortstop? Don’t sleep on Xander Bogaerts, Didi Gregorius or Jean Segura. They are going to offer good value. No Trea Turner for me.
Francisco Lindor
Carlos Correa
Alex Bregman
Corey Seager
Trea Turner
Elvis Andrus
Xander Bogaerts
Didi Gregorious
Jean Segura
Andrelton Simmons
Chris Taylor
Zack Cozart
Outfield
Mike Trout blah blah blah. If he plays a full season he will be the top outfielder in points leagues. Notice I didn’t say top hitter as he has never finished the season with the most points amongst all hitters. Giancarlo Stanton needs to stay healthy to be a top five OF. Same with Bryce Harper. Both are legitimate forces when on the field. I’m a big fan of George Springer and Christian Yelich this year.
Mike Trout
Mookie Betts
Bryce Harper
Giancarlo Stanton
Charlie Blackmon
George Springer
Aaron Judge
Cody Bellinger
J.D. Martinez
Rhys Hoskins
Christian Yelich
Andrew Benintendi
Nelson Cruz
Marcell Ozuna
Andrew McCutchen
Khris Davis
Justin Upton
A.J. Pollack
Yoenis Cespedes
Lorenzo Cain
Ender Inciarte
Tommy Pham
Nick Castellanos
Nomar Mazara
Yasiel Puig
Starting Pitcher
Mad Max Scherzer is a must own. It will be interesting to see where he falls in my overall rankings. Will he land ahead of Trout? We’ll find out next week. In order to own one of the top four you are going to have to use a first round pick. Perhaps an early second round pick. Either way, I have not quite determined if the trade off of not getting a hitter with those picks is worth it as opposed to waiting until the third or forth round to grab a guy like Carlos Martinez or Madison Bumgarner. I still need to look at some solid ADP figures before I can make a definitive decision. I will be sure to do that in the next few days.
Max Scherzer
Chris Sale
Corey Kluber
Clayton Kershaw
Justin Verlander
Stephen Strasburg
Luis Severino
Carlos Carrasco
Jacob deGrom
Carlos Martinez
Zack Greinke
Chris Archer
Jose Quintana
Madison Bumgarner
Yu Darvish
Noah Syndergaard
Robbie Ray
Masahiro Tanaka
Aaron Nola
Gerrit Cole
Relief Pitchers
Who cares.
The spreadsheet is coming. I promise. Just give me a few more days to make some final tweaks and adjustments.
For those of you that have yet to sign up for an RCL, there is still room in my league. We draft on Friday March 16th at 9pm EST. If you win the league I will make you a custom spreadsheet next year. There’s a $20 buy-in to keep it interesting. Click here to join. And if you’re interesting in joining a head-to-head points league unlike any others you’ve played before let me know. I started a league with some fellow commenters two years ago and we have an opening.
