Hunter Renfroe has 13 home runs, but his 118 points and 0.527 points per plate appearance is not roster material. He did have 31 homers last year and 33 in 2019, so the power is real. Hopefully, it returns soon. Unrelated but now related because I’m writing it, Wade Boggs surprisingly had only a 0.677 PPPA. I would have expected it to be higher.
Is it me or does the name Michael Harris not sound like the name of a Major League baseball player? Sounds more like an actor. Who knows. Meanwhile, he does play ball and he’s got a 0.742 PPPA. That’s better than Wade Boggs. I think I might use Boggs as my baseline for comparisons moving forward. Better Than Boggs (BTB). Harris has a 160 game pace of 28 homers, 96 RBIs, 112 runs, 24 stolen bases, and most importantly, 460 points. That would have been good enough to be the third ranked OF last year, behind Juan Soto and Bryce Harper. I realize that 160 games is not realistic, but even at 140 or so games, he’d still be a highly ranked OF.
How bout this Alejandro Kirk? Has anyone called him Captain Kirk yet? Would Derek Jeter be annoyed? I talked about Kirk a few weeks ago. At that point he was second in points among catchers. He has since surpassed Willson Contreras to take the top spot. Man, Salvador Perez owners have got to be kicking themselves. While we are discussing catchers, I’m a big fan of what Travis d’Arnaud has done this season. With 144 points, he’s a top six catcher with a 0.597 PPPA. Not quite better than Boggs.
It’s really hard to ignore what Brandon Drury has done this season. Eighteen homers and 50 RBIs and it’s not quite the All-Star break yet. His 21o points put him in the top 35 hitters. He’s a top five 2B, a top ten 3B and a top twenty OF. The versatility can only be matched by perhaps Luis Arraez. Keeping with the theme, Drury’s PPPA of 0.677 is exactly equal to Boggs. Let’s go, Brandon!
Over the last 21 days no hitter has scored more points than Julio Rodriguez. His 79 points put him just ahead of Jose Altuve (77), Freddie Freeman (71), and Shohei Ohtani (71). In case a few of you roto players got lost and ended up reading this post, those 79 points translate into 7 dingers, 13 ribbies, 20 runs, and 3 bag swipes. He’s gold in any format.
Any of you remember earlier in the season when I was hoping for Marcus Semien to choke on a chicken nugget? Of course, you don’t. The stats I have show that readers don’t stick with me for more than three posts. Well since then he has shown fairly decent signs of life, and is now on pace for nearly a 25/25 season. He’s not going to touch his 45 home run total from a season ago, but I am buying him in the second half. Well since I own him, I’m keeping him.
Prior to this week, Andrew McCutchen has averaged just over 20 points a week over the last four weeks. Do with that info as you will.
I have a good feeling about Clayton Kershaw being an SP you are going to want on your fantasy team for the rest of this season.
Trade question. Would you trade away Walker Buehler and Bobby Witt Jr. for Ronald Acuña Jr. in a keep-forever points league? I would, and just did. I think right now is the best opportunity you are ever going to have to make a reasonable trade for Acuña. I’m not saying it’s a buy low kind of market, I don’t think that will ever exist for Acuña.
I am working on my rest of season rankings and hope to have that for you next week.
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