I’ve decided to give the rankings a week off. This will allow me to work out some flaws in the matrix as I think I’ve got a good idea on how I’d like to proceed. The hardest part is calculating performance and expectations for players that have missed time as I use percentage of time played as a key variable. So I’m giving myself another week to dig in. I was actually going to take the week off completely, but then Grey cracked the whip and I was quickly reminded not to think such foolish thoughts. For those that actually read that and believe that Grey has a whip, well he probably does, but he doesn’t use it on his points league writers. At least not this one. As I contemplated skipping this post I realized that I would be disappointing my 14 readers. That’s right, you read that correctly. Based on my analytics, I am up to a career high fourteen readers. I could hardly believe the numbers myself, but as they say, the numbers don’t lie. Or was it the hips? In case you were wondering Mark Twain has often been credited with the phrase “numbers don’t lie” based on when he said “figures don’t lie, but liars figure“. Apparently the belief that this was Twain’s brainchild is not unanimous. Here’s what I say… “who cares“.
The following are the top players in point leagues at each position. In order to qualify for this list the player must have at least 150 plate appearances (100 for catcher) and not currently be on the IL. This list was ultimately decided by points per plate appearance (PPPA).
Catcher
Buster Posey – Is in 2012 or something or is Posey bust(er)-ing out for the second time in his career in his age 34 season? He’s on pace for a career high in homers having already hit ten. His PPPA is 0.83, which is 0.12 points higher than the next catcher (Carson Kelly). How nice must it be for those that drafted Posey in the 18th round. Yasmani Grandal (0.54) who? He currently owns a .135 batting average. Although as I proved with Freddie Freeman last week, you can still rack up points with a mediocre BA. Grandal’s BA is not mediocre, it’s abysmal. I’d probably buy low on Grandal should the opportunity present itself and I needed help behind the plate. Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be a Buster? The Giants are in the thick of things in the NL West so I would continue to ride the Posey parade. Perhaps Juan Soto should have taken off the 2020 season.
First Base
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – This should come as no surprise to any of you fourteen given my post last week and what he’s done between now and then. For those that weren’t paying attention, that would be three home runs, five RBIs and a walk for 23 points in just four games. His PPPA now sits at 0.96 which is a hair greater than it was last week. Consistently awesome. Go Vlad Go.
Second Base
Max Muncy – While Muncy’s primary position is 1B, he has played 17 game at 2B which is more than enough to qualify him at 2B and since VGJ has a stronghold on 1B, MM will slot in at 2B. With a PPPA of 0.77 Muncy is playing to the max. And I am not referring to the local campus hangout for students at Bayside High. With an approximate ADP of 99.91 he was barely inside the top 100 on draft day.
Third Base
Jose Ramirez – Technically Muncy as more points than Ramirez and having played 16 games at 3B last season qualifies at 3B. However, Ramirez has the better PPPA (0.83) which I indicated would be used to determine the leaders. Jose could be flirting with a 30/20 season if he keeps up his current pace, but more importantly he is looking at his most point productive season since 2018 when he finished third behind Mookie Betts and Mike Trout for AL MVP.
Shortstop
Fernando Tatis Jr. – Even though he’s played in several less games and has quite a bit less plate appearances than any other shortstop, FTJ has more fantasy points than them all. And his PPPA of 1.12 is best in the game. Does that make him the best in the game? Hitter at least? He’s certainly in the conversation. It seems he does commit a ton of errors as he leads the league with 14. Considering he’s only played in 36 games, that’s quote the ratio of errors to games. He’s approaching Jo Adell games to strikeouts!
Outfield
Ronald Acuña Jr. – The only thing I really have to say here is that I believe he has fallen behind Tatis and Guerrero in both the battle of the juniors and points league rankings. Was “Battle of the Juniors” an episode in Game of Thrones? Or was the “bastards”? The Guerrero surpassing Acuña part might be a bit premature, but I don’t feel dirty suggesting it.
Nick Castellanos/Jesse Winker – Castellanos and Winker are not far behind Acuña. They are both sporting a 0.82 PPPA and are hitting in the .350 range. I’ve lumped them together not only because they are teammates on the Reds, but because their offensive stats are extremely similar. Also because it was one less paragraph I had to write. Nick has a few more doubles than Jesse, but Jesse has one more ding dong. Add Tyler Naquin into the mix and Cincinnati has quite the outfield.
Designated Hitter
J.D. Martinez – J.D. is “j”ust “d”oing what J.D. does.
There are a lot of names that came close to make this list, but here are few lesser expected names that I’d like to mention.
Shohei Ohtani – Ohtani the hitter fell .01 behind Martinez for the DH spot with a 0.79 PPPA.
Starling Marte – While he only has 77 plate appearances, his PPPA is at 0.75 and is guy that could definitely make a difference.
Yuli Gurriel – He’s the top points league player on the Astros roster. That’s pretty impressive.
Adolis Garcia – Yo Adolis! Wasn’t he one of Rocky’s opponents or do I have the wrong guy? Adolis is currently tied for the MLB lead with 16 home runs. Bet none of you had him in your home run pool. Adolis didn’t make my first two hitter rankings. He was 101 out of 99 last week. This was mostly he didn’t play in ten of Texas’s games and quite frankly my preseason projections were very unimpressive. You are going to see him jump up the rankings big time. I find it kinda neat that there is both an Adolis and an Adonis Garcia in the major leagues. I wonder how many people have picked up the wrong player.
Brandon Crawford – I’m pretty sure “BC” stands for “Before Crawford”. The only shortstops that appear before Crawford are Tatis (obviously) and Xander Bogaerts. Considering the depth of the position, that’s an impressive accomplishment. And guess what? I’m buying British Columbia. In a redraft league I’d be trading away a bigger name like Francisco Lindor or Bo Bichette if I also owned Crawford. In fact I am trying to move Lindor as we speak in a deal that would bring back Jose Ramirez.
Here are two more guys that should probably be owned. Joey Wendle and Tyler O’Neill.
Follow malamoney on Twitter at @malamoney
