I really wish Rhys Hoskins pronounced his name “Riz” so that I could use a “Nobody Beats The Rhys” headline, but it is apparently pronounced “Reese.” Who do I talk to about making that change? Does anyone have the phone number for his parents or, better yet, his grandparents? This is important stuff here.
Anyway, added Rhys to our beloved 100 because chicks dig the long ball. While you probably haven’t had to search hard to find home runs in 2017, neither has anyone else, so it’s always good to have some more. Hoskins has big boy power, which he displayed in the minors the last few years (where he was stuck for way too long thanks to the Phillies). After hitting 38 home runs in 135 games in hitter-friendly confines in Double-A in 2016, he backed that up with 29 home runs in 115 games in Triple-A this season.
But his game isn’t all power. As a somewhat older prospect, Hoskins actually has a pretty nice approach at the plate. In Triple-A in 2017, he posted a 13.5 BB% against a 15.8 K% while slashing .284 / .385 / .581. Through his first two weeks in the show, his average is down, but everything else looks about the same. And a .154 BABIP helps explain the .237 average he woke up with on Monday morning.
So, the real bonus with Hoskins is that the power numbers come with some above-average peripherals. He might not hit .280+ the rest of the way in the bigs, but would it surprise anyone if he did? If you are in OBP or OPS leagues, even better, since he has shown that he is not afraid to take a walk. Plus, that power…
And Rhys Hoskins hits another home run. That's his fifth in 11 games.
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) August 20, 2017
- Keon Broxton – Don’t look now, but Broxton is on another hot streak. Over the last five days, he has four home runs and three multiple-hit games. He’s going to strike out a ton, and he is probably always going to be streaky, but his hot streaks are fun to watch and the steals and homers are valuable whenever you can cash in on them.
- Joey Gallo – Day-to-day with a nasal fracture. The King of Fangraphs has been hot, despite what his batting average says, so hopefully, he can avoid a trip to the disabled list, but he is also in the concussion protocol right now.
- Giancarlo Stanton – Has hit roughly 65 home runs in the last three weeks. I have to double-check my math, but that sounds right.
- Nelson Cruz – This week’s king of the PR15, with a 13.67. Seven home runs will usually put you pretty high up on the PR15 list.
- Eddie Rosario – Coming in at fourth on the PR15 list this week is Eddie Rosario with an 11.46. In addition to his grand slam on Sunday, he has six multiple-hit games in his last eight and is now hitting over .300 on the season. He is still somehow only owned in 55% of ESPN leagues, but that is up 30%. Grab him while you still can and ride the wave.
Note: These rankings are considered ROS Trade Value
Mike Maher’s Top 100 Hitters
(Rankings based on 12-team Roto. GREEN = player rising. RED = player dropping. BLUE = new to the Top 100 or Honorable Mentions.)
The Honorable Mentions (Next Five In…)
| 101 | DJ LeMahieu | COL | 2B |
| 102 | Gerardo Parra | COL | 1B/OF |
| 103 | Eugenio Suarez | CIN | 3B |
| 104 | Cesar Hernandez | PHI | 2B |
| 105 | Manuel Margot | SD | OF |
Dropped from the rankings: Michael Brantley, Jedd Gyorko
As always, disagree with anything here? Have any questions or comments? Want to tell Mike how great he is or how much you agree with him? Want relationship or investment advice?
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If you want to talk fantasy baseball or football or have players you want Mike to feature, hit him up on Twitter at @mikeMaher or post a comment below!
Looking into cutting Pollock, he sort of just does nothing but ice my OBP.. have KB,Gallo,Benintendi,NickW,Dickerson,Pollock and want to cut one of the last three for Rosario.. potential means nothing right now if you’re not performing and Pollock has worst avg and is the only one who doesn’t have HR ability
This is ROS right? How is Judge at 14 and Devers at 69?? I picked up Judge as a FA early in the season and then traded him for Scherzer at the All Star break. I’m pretty sure he’s hitting sub .200 since then… I grabbed Devers and never looked back. You can’t honestly tell me that you think Judge has that much more value ROS…
@Ryan Wheeler:
I love Devers as much as anyone other than maybe Ralph, but I also understand he is 20 and is also going to sit against a lot of lefties. Judge is slumping hard but is still getting on base and hitting home runs. 93 runs scored already and has sprinkled in 7 stolen bases, too. I don’t think Judge is as good as he was or as bad as he is. If he levels out, he is still tremendous value.
I love me some rhys in my tikka masala, but there’s no way he should be ranked above devers considering everything he’s done so far. He hasn’t even been pulling the ball!
@Mazel Tov:
I love his approach at the plate and think he’ll hit for more power rest of the way. Six home runs already!
How is josh bell no where near this list? Or am I missing him?
@Cheese:
I’ve been debating adding him for a couple weeks
Enjoy your write ups and rankings. Somewhat disturbed to see LoMo and Thames still hanging around. I cut Thames three weeks ago as he was hot garbage and playing time was reduced. Just let LoMo go yesterday since he has been horrible past 40 days. And looks like his first half was a mirage. In a 12 teamer with ten hitting cats , did I make mistakes by replacing those guys with hot bats, speed (Calhoun and Bux)?
Second question: playoff spot secured, so aiming for Sept 4th. My squad and wire guys listed below. Suggestions welcomed!
Best of wire: LoMo, Happ, Schwarber, Gallo, Bour, Howie, Markakis, Schebler, Semien, Mahtook
Gausman, Wacha, Cobb, Ryu, Vargas, Berrios, Strailey, Castillo, Lamet, Chacin,
McHugh, Familia,
C- Realmuto
CI – Freeman, Lamb, Rizzo
MI – Dee, Simmons, Marwin
OF – Conforto, Melky, Dyson, Bux, Souza, Calhoun (must play 5)
Util – Mazara
SP – Kershaw, Verlander, Severino, Morton, Corbin, Lackey
DL – Noah (fingers crossed)
RP – Holland (ugh), Treinen, Viz, Melancon (until they figure it out anyway)
@Grey Matter:
1. They’re dropping, but they had produced for so long that I have been waiting out the slumps. Getting close to dropping time, though. And for the second half of that question, I don’t think you can second guess yourself for going with hot hands down the stretch. Time is running out, so you have to go with who is producing even if that means streaming.
2. Gallo, Wacha, Ryu, Berrios would be my targets. I don’t love the low average for Gallo, and hopefully his DL stint is a short one, but his power and walk rates make for nice bonuses.
@mikeMaher: thank you
No way, Hoskins is making a splash, but Devers is money. I’d rank him above Rhys, and higher still. Also Jay Bruce seems low, he’s really been solid.
I have two of my better base-stealers on the bench in Myers and Pollock….do these guys torn it around? Playoffs coming up, will need better than .095 avg. …
Thanks, great job!
One more thing, can’t keep the above mentioned duo and Rosario as well as Pham. Would you hold or drop one for Pham, who is still doing well, but slowed down a bit.
Thanks!
@Greg: I understand Devers is on the big offense and has come out hot, but Hoskins is a guy that hit 38 HRs in the minors last year and was on pace for more this year. He’s also only K’d 7 times in 47 PAs where Devers is at 21 in 89. He’s also draws far more walks than Devers.
Oh there’s one more kicker Devers has floated between the 5 and 7 spots in the order. Rhys is hitting 3 or 4 for Philly.
The rest of this season, Rhys could get about 20-30 more ABs than Devers in that position.
There’s a lot to like about Rhys, but I wouldn’t get too angry about them being neck and neck on a list like this one.
They are both fantastic players to own, I’m happy to have both.
@Greg:
Agree with Timmah re: Rhys/Devers. I would love to have both and think Devers has the better career long term, but I think Rhys has a bit of a more experienced approach at the plate right now and has a high walk rate without striking out a ton. I think Rosario is more of a short term fix than anything else, but as the season gets closer to the end, that short term becomes more and more important.
Why Mookie at #6? Hasnt stolen a base in a month, 2 HRs since the ASB, Less than 700 OPS since ASB. Did I miss something? Could I have been absent that day?
@Chucky: I asked basically the same question last week. These are ROS rankings so he is saying that this week going forward Mookie will be the 6th best hitter in all of baseball.
But I agree with you that he should probably be around 30 or so right now. Guys like Bregman have been way hotter and nothing in Mookie’s periph show that he is all of a sudden going to be a .300 30/30 guy the rest of the way.
@Chucky:
I think people are too low on Mookie’s value just because he isn’t doing what he did last year. He is still going to hit 20+/20+, score 100+ runs, and drive in 100+ runs, especially now that he is hitting 2/3 in the lineup instead of leadoff. And if he gets hot or the average creeps back up closer to where it was in the past two season, those numbers could go up. Even in what you can consider a down here, he is still one of the more valuable contributors in fantasy.
The Razzball player rater has him at #4 ROS, fwiw, so it is even higher on Betts than I am.
You’re being far too generous to guys like Dickerson, Thames, and Alonso for their hot first two months. All three have been useless for the past two plus months.
@JB: I’ve been hanging onto Dickerson in a 5 OF league hoping he breaks out of the funk, but at this point, he’s going to get dropped for schmotatoes when the playoffs start.
Agree though, way too highly ranked at this point either way.
@CMUTimmah:
CMUTimmah – that’s my same strategy with Dickerson. I’ve owned him since May, but will likely drop him in next week or 2 if doesn’t show sings of life.
@JB: Add Kyle Seager to that, who’s been useless for 4.5 months
@JB: Agreed – Thames is just a platoon vs. RHP
@JB: agreed; I dropped Dickerson a long, long time ago. Souza also slumping lately, but he’s been far better of late.
@Mike in Busan: than Dickerson, I mean.
@JB:
Dickerson looked like he might be heating back up a week or so ago, but then fell off again, so it is probably time for him to start dropping. Thames heated back up in July but then faded again in August. Alonso I actually like on the Mariners, and he is hitting over. 300 in August.
@mikeMaher: I am on the other side of the coin because I didn’t have to sweat 2 months of nothing with Dickerson.. I just took a flyer on him low risk to see if he can string some ABs and confidence together
Thanks for the list, as always!
What are your thoughts on Buxton? How much more do you/we need to see to become believers?
@ctrengove:
Thanks. I think we need to see him sustain the success for a little while, for starters. Hard to really buy into a guy who struggled last season and then hit below .200 for two months this season. He has been great in the second half, though.
Baez gets no love?! Great write up.
@Josh-NYC:
Thanks. And he probably should, at this point in the season. I tend to always discount him for being streaky and for never getting on base, which hurts his other categories.