Jose Ramirez, Top 100 Hitters, 2019 Fantasy Baseball

It’s the most glorious weekend of the year — Wrestlemania weekend! You know what that means: wrestling themed blurbs!

On the Double Turn…

Two players in my pre-season top-5 are trending in opposite directions, but I don’t start freaking out too much until tax day. A lot of experts were calling for Jose Ramirez and Christian Yelich to regress from their MVP-caliber seasons last year. Well Yelich came out swinging an angry stick hitting a homerun in four straight games to start the season leaving him ranked third on the Razzball Player Rater so far. He’s reached base successfully in every game so far and is on his way to competing for the MVP again in 2019. Jose Ramirez? Not so much. For some players we like to point out how they’re “continuing their hot hitting from the end of 2018.” Ramirez is doing the opposite. He ended 2018 with a 40 game slump hitting .166 with a .597 OPS. He also only hit .231/.646 in the minors. His BABIP is currently sitting at .150, he only has 3 strikeouts to 2 walks and he’s hitting a higher percentage of fly balls from 2018 (small sample size) so maybe he’s just getting a bit unlucky in the early going. However, it’s enough to make me flip these two in the rankings.

Backlash

I had Trevor Story as high as 8th in my rankings to start the season after his 37/27 season. Yea, I saw the downside of his 2017 season when he only hit for a .239 average. I should be praised for my bravery. After only 8 games though — maybe I should be criticized for my stupidity. Story’s K/rate is sitting at 33.3% as of right now which is way too close to his 34.4% from 2017 and way too far away from the 25.6% he cut it to last season. His contact rate is at a career low, his swinging strike rate is at a career high, he’s only attempted two stolen bases and got caught both times. If you’re gonna be dumb then ya gotta be tough — so I welcome your roasting in the comments.

American Nightmare Cody Bellinger

The current king of the Razzball Player Ranker, Cody Bellinger is first in the majors in runs, HRs and RBI and is 6th in batting average. In my keeper rankings I had Bellinger as high as 16th and said this “If Bellinger can return to 30+ HR power (which I think he can and will) while maintaining double-digit speed and improving on his .263 career average — we’re talking about the #1 first baseman for the future.” Well ladies and gentlemen — Bellinger is on his way there. Bellinger is crushing to a 51.6% hard contact rate and is striking out at a much lower rate (13.2%) than his career (24.8%.) Obviously, he won’t hit over .400, but 35/15 is on the table and again, if he boosts that batting average — we’re in top-15 player territory.

MLB Power Pro-far

I’m not titling this one with a wrestling reference. MLB Power Pros 2008 is the greatest baseball game of all time. Konami needs to get their act together and release a new entry in this series. I’m using my platform here as a call to action to get their attention. John Oliver won’t take this case so I have to take this one on myself. Oh yea — Jurickson Profar. Profar is on the struggle bus with his new team slapping out 5 hits in 44 ABs so far. He’ll be fine — but he had a tentative grasp in these rankings as it is. I don’t care how sexy his eligibility is.

NXT Debuts

Yoan Moncada
Fernando Tatis Jr.
Enrique Hernandez
Maikel Franco
Elvis Andrus
Asdrubal Cabrera

Top 100 Hitters

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
1	Mike Trout	OF	LAA	1	0
2	Mookie Betts	OF	BOS	2	0
3	Christian Yelich	OF	MIL	4	1
4	Jose Ramirez	3B	CLE	3	-1
5	Manny Machado	SS	SD	6	1
6	Javier Baez	2B/SS/3B	CHC	7	1
7	J.D. Martinez	OF	BOS	9	2
8	Nolan Arenado	3B	COL	10	2
9	Alex Bregman	3B/SS	HOU	11	2
10	Ronald Acuna Jr.	OF	ATL	12	2
11	Jose Altuve	2B	HOU	13	2
12	Bryce Harper	OF	TBD	14	2
13	Paul Goldschmidt	1B	StL	15	2
14	Freddie Freeman	1B	ATL	16	2
15	Trevor Story	SS	COL	8	-7
16	Aaron Judge	OF	NYY	17	1
17	Andrew Benintendi	OF	BOS	18	1
18	Juan Soto	OF	WAS	20	2
19	Charlie Blackmon	OF	COL	21	2
20	Kris Bryant	3B/OF	CHC	22	2
21	Cody Bellinger	1B/OF	LAD	29	8
22	Anthony Rizzo	1B	CHC	23	1
23	Khris Davis	DH	OAK	24	1
24	Starling Marte	OF	PIT	26	2
25	Rhys Hoskins	OF	PHI	27	2
26	Anthony Rendon	3B	WAS	28	2
27	Giancarlo Stanton	OF	NYY	19	-8
28	Eugenio Suarez	3B	CIN	30	2
29	Xander Bogaerts	SS	BOS	31	2
30	Carlos Correa	SS	HOU	32	2
31	Whit Merrifield	2B	KC	33	2
32	Lorenzo Cain	OF	MIL	34	2
33	Tommy Pham	OF	TBR	35	2
34	George Springer	OF	HOU	36	2
35	Trea Turner	SS	WAS	5	-30
36	Marcell Ozuna	OF	StL	37	1
37	Francisco Lindor	SS	CLE	25	-12
38	Adalberto Mondesi	SS	KC	38	0
39	Ozzie Albies	2B	ATL	39	0
40	Joey Votto	1B	CIN	40	0
41	Mitch Haniger	OF	SEA	41	0
42	Gleyber Torres	2B	NYY	42	0
43	Nick Castellanos	OF	DET	43	0
44	Matt Carpenter	1B/3B	StL	44	0
45	Eddie Rosario	OF	MIN	45	0
46	Jean Segura	SS	PHI	46	0
47	Jose Abreu	1B	CHW	47	0
48	Corey Seager	SS	LAD	49	1
49	Robinson Cano	2B	NYM	50	1
50	Josh Donaldson	3B	ATL	51	1
51	Matt Chapman	3B	OAK	52	1
52	J.T. Realmuto	C	PHI	53	1
53	Nelson Cruz	DH	MIN	54	1
54	Michael Conforto	OF	NYM	55	1
55	Jesus Aguilar	1B	MIL	56	1
56	Justin Turner	3B	LAD	57	1
57	Yasiel Puig	OF	CIN	58	1
58	Edwin Encarnacion	1B	SEA	59	1
59	Travis Shaw	2B/3B	MIL	60	1
60	Mike Moustakas	3B	MIL	61	1
61	Wil Myers	3B/OF	SD	62	1
62	Michael Brantley	OF	HOU	63	1
63	David Peralta	OF	ARI	64	1
64	Gary Sanchez	C	NYY	65	1
65	David Dahl	OF	COL	66	1
66	Stephen Piscotty	OF	OAK	68	2
67	Andrew McCutchen	OF	PHI	69	2
68	Max Muncy	1B/3B	LAD	70	2
69	Vlad Guerrero Jr.	3B	TOR	71	2
70	Aaron Hicks	OF	NYY	72	2
71	Mallex Smith	OF	SEA	73	2
72	Shohei Ohtani	DH	LAA	76	4
73	Brian Dozier	2B	WAS	67	-6
74	Yasmani Grandal	C	MIL	77	3
75	A.J. Pollock	OF	LAD	78	3
76	Willson Contreras	C	CHC	79	3
77	Jonathan Villar	2B	BAL	93	16
78	Rougned Odor	2B	TEX	80	2
79	Elvis Andrus	SS	TEX	81	2
80	Joey Gallo	1B/OF	TEX	83	3
81	Wilson Ramos	C	NYM	84	3
82	Jose Peraza	SS	CIN	85	3
83	Tim Anderson	SS	CHW	87	4
84	Ender Inciarte	OF	ATL	88	4
85	Nomar Mazara	OF	TEX	89	4
86	Domingo Santana	OF	SEA	90	4
87	Eric Hosmer	1B	SD	92	5
88	Yoan Moncada	2B	CHW	—	NA
89	Fernando Tatis Jr.	SS	SD	—	NA
90	Amed Rosario	SS	NYM	95	5
91	Eduardo Escobar	SS/3B	ARI	96	5
92	Harrison Bader	OF	StL	97	5
93	Cesar Hernandez	2B	PHI	98	5
94	Jurickson Profar	1B/SS/3B	TEX	82	-12
95	Adam Eaton	OF	WAS	99	4
96	Jorge Soler	OF	KC	100	4
97	Enrique Hernandez	2B/SS/OF	LAD	—	NA
98	Maikel Franco	3B	PHI	—	NA
99	Pete Alonso	1B	NYM	—	NA
100	Asdrubal Cabrera	2B/SS/3B	TEX	—	NA