For those of you who aren’t fantasy baseball degenerates like I am, you’re probably right in the middle of your main drafting season. I, on the other hand, am finishing up 6 months of drafting… The first step is acknowledging I have a problem. I’m hopeful my obsession at least can benefit Razzball readers. All […]
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Middle Infield
Howdy again folks. After a week off for Mother’s Day and to hit a little reset, I’m back again with more of that sweet, up the middle goodness. I figure we’ve had enough time pass to do an early season retrospective on some of my rankings made back in Spring Training to take a peek […]
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One third of the season is in the books and things are going exactly as planned across the league! With such a predictable season, it should be little surprise that our Middle Infielder Rankings are stable…right? That could not be further from the truth. At this point, we are enjoying our first glance at the first place Marlins, the Cardinals have played a mere 5 games and the Astros look like a hot mess.
With so much change and outside influence, it should be no surprise that our rest of season rankings are going through a shakeup from top to bottom. With that movement comes a new #1 for our list: Trevor Story. Let us take a quick look at his hot start and why it is not just a hot start but the beginning of a bigger breakout and a chance to lay claim to the top spot the rest of the season.
When Story first entered the league, he was carrying a lofty 30+ K%. Through the first 18 games of the season, he has walked (10) nearly as often as he has struck out (11) resulting in a minuscule 13% K rate. So, are we seeing real improvement in his approach at the plate? Let us dig a little deeper
Please, blog, may I have some more?We are now just over a week into the season and all bets are off. In most years, we should be taking a longer view of these rankings and accounting for the ebb and flow of the season. In this uncertain environment we do not have time to wait to see if a guy is just having a slow start to the season. To win in what may be a ‘coin flip’ at the end of the season we must play the hot hands and cut bait on the sleepers that aren’t showing the promise we projected. Sure, there will be mistakes along the way, but the bigger mistake is being left behind.
A few things to focus on this week:
- If you are playing for the Phillies, Marlins, Blue Jays or Yankees you are dropping in the rankings. There are rumblings of playing 7 inning doubleheaders to catch up on the season and anybody on those teams will take a hit. If playing for the Marlins was not penalty enough…
- Who is off to a hot start or cold start? We can’t really base anything off of one-week, but as I mentioned in the intro I would much rather move on too early than wake up and realize the season is over because I didn’t want to bench or drop that high draft pick.
- Finally, we need to look at opportunities again. We have just hit the point where any call ups will have an extra year of time control. Nothing like the roar of the crowd (or silence of cardboard cut outs) to get somebody off to a hot start to their career.
3 Up!
Dansby Swanson – Dansby Swanson broke out last year in a big way. With shortstop (and middle infield) being so deep this year, he was getting sleeper love but is still owned in less than 70% of Yahoo leagues. I will be honest and admit I was not fully buying the breakout leading up to the season. On the other hand, he did increase his Barrel %, Launch Angle and Hart Hit % in 2019 and has not slowed down this year. I get it is early, but he is top 5% in the league in Barrels and xSLG. If he is available, grab him now and ask questions later.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Welcome to my inaugural post for the top 50 Middle Infielder rankings for the rest of the 2020 fantasy baseball season. Throughout the year, I will be updating my rankings and calling out those movers and shakers. For those of you here looking to gather some insights, welcome. For those of you looking to steal my rankings and use them against me, I am not afraid!
Let’s take a quick look at the landscape up the middle of the diamond. Middle infield is deep this year, more specifically shortstop is stacked. This isn’t Jason Bartlett’s shortstop class of 10 years ago. The top four all have an argument for being first round picks. After that, there are all-stars abound with blemishes (Can Altuve hit without a buzzer? How often will Gleyber play against Baltimore? Will Tatis regress or grow?). Once we get past the top 20-25, there is a steep cliff that will leave you wishing you had invested earlier.
Now let’s get into a few key guys standing out from the pack in the rankings.
Please, blog, may I have some more?