My Spanish is more than rusty, so I apologize if I failed to offend you with my title. Actually I don’t apologize. Now have I offended you? Who cares. I realize it should have been “Aquí Viene Ramos”, but my way sounds much better. More Dr. Seuss if you will. I feel like it’s time for some points league rankings. Who doesn’t love rankings? The best part about writing this column is that if I feel like it’s time for a rankings post, I write a rankings post. Who’s gonna stop me. I guess Grey could, but if I fly in under the greydar, then I should be ok. Today’s rankings are based 70 percent on year-to-date performance, 30 percent on rest of season projections and 10 percent on experimental formulas. Yes, I realize that adds up to 110 percent, but that’s part of what makes it experimental.
Catchers
I really wanted to see Wilson Ramos come out ahead of Buster Posey here, but he fell just a bit short. Just a few bolivars. For the last two years I have been touting Posey as a mathematical first rounder. The primary reason for such a bold declaration was due to the fact that there were no other catchers in his neighborhood. Owning Posey would give you a clear advantage at the catcher position over every team in your league. Hey Buster, it looks like you have a new neighbor. Just because Wilson Ramos has a name that sounds like he going to be on the wrong side of the wall if Donald Trump becomes president is no reason to overlook the fact that he has been the top catcher so far this season. And besides, he’s from Venezuela. If these ranking were based solely on 2016 performances, Ramos would on top. He’s tied for the lead in homers (12) with Salvador Perez and has the highest points per plate appearance (0.764). Based on the numbers, it would be interesting to see where Chris Herrmann might land on this list if he had the full-time gig.
Buster Posey, 122.7
Wilson Ramos, 119.6
Jonathan Lucroy, 110.7
Salvador Perez, 83.8
Brian McCann, 67.3
Yadier Molina, 61.7
Matt Weiters, 56.8
J.T. Realmuto, 55.0
Stephen Vogt, 48.6
1B
The title of best first baseman in points leagues is Anthony Rizzo‘s to lose. His PPPA is 0.831 which is third best of all hitters behind David Ortiz (0.934) and Jose Altuve (0.855). However, he does have three powerhouse contenders ready to take his belt. Any of Edwin Encarnacion, Miguel Cabrera and Paul Goldschmidt could easily finish the season in the top spot. Carlos Santana is on pace for a career year, at least as far as fantasy points are concerned. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s the only thing that matters. Has Brandon Belt emerged as the next Eric Hosmer? You know, a guy you can draft in later rounds, after all the big name 1B have come off the board, and still get about 85% of the production at 65% of the cost. Having named just about every 1B stud, I still have yet to mention the 1B with the most home runs. That would be Mark Trumbo. Who would have thunk it.
Anthony Rizzo, 195.1
Edwin Encarnacion, 171.2
Miguel Cabrera, 160.3
Paul Goldschmidt, 148.1
Carlos Santana, 131.3
Brandon Belt, 124.4
Buster Posey, 122.7
Eric Hosmer, 118.9
Mark Trumbo, 114.0
Albert Pujols, 110.2
Joey Votto, 94.3
2B
If the season were to end today, Jose Altuve would be the MVP hitter for points leagues. A small case could be made for Ortiz, but I’m going with the little guy over the big guy. He’s on pace for 25 and 40, with a .340 batting average. That’s straight gangsta sh!t right there. Even though I couldn’t be happier about Robinson Cano‘s production thus far considering he was my pick for comeback player of the year, I think he’s a solid sell high candidate. And by “sell high” that doesn’t mean hang out with Tim Lincecum and Alex Reyes for an hour and then trade Cano. I’m actually trying to move him for DJ LeMahieu so I can upgrade elsewhere. Pump up the music DJ! Schoop there he is!
Jose Altuve, 223.9
Robinson Cano, 181.8
Daniel Murphy, 172.3
Ian Kinsler, 154.3
Ben Zobrist, 149.8
Dustin Pedroia, 117.8
DJ LeMahieu, 113.0
Joe Panik, 111.7
Rougned Odor, 103.6
Jonathan Schoop, 91.6
3B
If it weren’t for Altuve, Nolan Arenado would be the MVP. Twenty-one home runs and 60 RBIs and we’re not even at the All-Star break. That speaks volumes. Josh Donaldson and Manny Machado are not far behind him. I don’t think they catch him, but they will keep it interesting. I’d like to point out that my preseason rankings had Matt Carpenter ahead of both Kris Bryant and Todd Frazier despite many other experts’ opinions. The only guy I didn’t have in my preseason top ten was Jake Lamb. I guess he’s the sacrificial lamb. I didn’t have Jang Ho Kang either, but that was due to injury. Here’s something I’d like to point out. Arenado has hit a home run every 14.8 plate appearances. Kang has hit a home run every 13.6 plate appearances. Do you like Korean BBQ? Do you like Korean BBQ? Well I got his number. How do you like that Korean BBQ!
Nolan Arenado, 220.3
Josh Donaldson, 194.8
Manny Machado, 168.9
Matt Carpenter, 161.9
Kyle Seager, 144.4
Kris Bryant, 137.6
Jang Ho Kang, 124.1 (this value was manually adjusted because of his missed time due to injury)
Adrian Beltre, 123.3
Todd Frazier, 109.1
Jake Lamb, 108.1
Evan Longoria, 107.6
SS
Xander Bogaerts is our top shortstop. What you expected it to be Carlos Correa?! I did too, about three months. Bogaerts barely edges out Manny Machado, and I expect that to change by season’s end. Machado with SS eligibility is about as good as it gets. Despite 70 strikeouts in 282 at bats Ian Desmond finds himself in the top five. Rounding out that group is Francisco Lindor and Corey Seager. Correa is the only name missing from said top five. He’s coming, but it might not be this season. I just don’t know. The talent is certainly there, and the Astros are finally over 500. With A.J. Reed on his way up and hopefully Alex Bregman to follow, Houston should be on the rise. If there is any chance of being able to buy low on Correa, do it. And run like you stole something.
Xander Bogaerts, 169.1
Manny Machado, 168.9
Francisco Lindor, 133.1
Ian Desmond, 127.8
Corey Seager, 124.5
Aledmys Diaz, 123.7
Zack Cozart, 105.2
Carlos Correa, 96.0
Eduardo Nunez, 95.9
Jose Ramirez, 94.1
OF
And finally, the outfield. Would you have bet on Mookie Betts being ahead of Mike Trout preseason? Me neither. I had him at number four behind Trout, Bryce Harper and Jose Bautista. Speaking of Bautista, he actually would have make this list, but given his DL status, I have excluded him. I wonder how many first place teams have both Jay Bruce and Jackie Bradley Jr? Jay Bruce is well overdue for sh!t ton of strikeouts. Right? But in the meantime, he might be the most valuable OF based on ADP. I love what I’ve gotten out of Gregory Polanco, but I’m selling him now too. Will Myers end the season in the top ten? See what I did there? Only Adam Duvall and Mark Trumbo have more home runs than Carlos Beltran. Or is this the ghost of Carlos Beltran?
Mookie Betts, 195.0
Mike Trout, 174.0
Bryce Harper, 155.4
Jay Bruce, 152.9
Jackie Bradley Jr, 138.7
Gregory Polanco, 136.6
Wil Myers, 132.5
Carlos Beltran, 131.9
Marcell Ozuna, 131.2
Yoenis Cespedes, 124.9
Charlie Blackmon, 121.3
Carlos Gonzalez, 119.1
Ryan Braun, 118.1
Mark Trumbo, 114.0
Nelson Cruz, 112.6
Top 20 Overall
Jose Altuve
David Ortiz
Nolan Arenado
Anthony Rizzo
Mookie Betts
Josh Donaldson
Robinson Cano
Mike Trout
Daniel Murphy
Edwin Encarnacion
Xander Bogaerts
Manny Machado
Matt Carpenter
Miguel Cabrera
Bryce Harper
Ian Kinsler
Jay Bruce
Ben Zobrist
Paul Goldschmidt
Kyle Seager
I’ve attached the spreadsheet. If you update the “Scoring System” tab to match your league, you then need to re-sort the “Score” column in descending order to re-rank the players. Like I said in the intro, this is partially experimental. You can also update the percentages for how much YTD and ROS account for the players current ranking by changing the “YTD” and “ROS” values on the “Scoring System” tab under the points section. Make sure that the two numbers add up to 100. Enjoy. Pitchers next week…
