It is the final countdown and that means players are jumping up and down the 2021 rest of season hitter rankings. There are two main drivers to this known affectionately as the ‘Mondesi Momentum’ and ‘Trout Trouble’. Time to break down the categories:
- The ‘Mondesi Momentum’ represents those players making a late season surge. For a variety of reasons, they may have missed time earlier in the year. It might have been an injury, minor league service time manipulation, or a long paternity leave. Whatever the case, if you have held onto or picked up these players, they will be the reason you close out the season strong.
- The ‘Trout Trouble’ is an all too common story this time of the year. Due to lingering injuries and rehabilitation, several players just are not going to make it back to the lineup. Specifically for teams out of contention, there is little reason to rush a player such as Mike Trout back to only risk further injury and uncertainty heading into the offseason. This trouble means it is time to cut bait.
Keeping these official categories in mind, the top 100 hitters for the rest of the 2021 fantasy baseball season are as follows:
| Rank | Player | Movement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernando Tatis Jr. | |
| 2 | Shohei Ohtani | |
| 3 | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | 1 |
| 4 | Trea Turner | -1 |
| 5 | Juan Soto | 1 |
| 6 | Jose Ramirez | -1 |
| 7 | Bryce Harper | 2 |
| 8 | Bo Bichette | |
| 9 | Freddie Freeman | -2 |
| 10 | Rafael Devers | |
| 11 | Kyle Tucker | |
| 12 | Mookie Betts | |
| 13 | Starling Marte | 2 |
| 14 | Nelson Cruz | 4 |
| 15 | Whit Merrifield | 1 |
| 16 | Nick Castellanos | 1 |
| 17 | Marcus Semien | 4 |
| 18 | Matt Olson | 2 |
| 19 | Aaron Judge | |
| 20 | J.D. Martinez | -7 |
| 21 | Xander Bogaerts | -7 |
| 22 | Manny Machado | |
| 23 | Ozzie Albies | 4 |
| 24 | Yordan Alvarez | |
| 25 | Jose Abreu | |
| 26 | Trevor Story | 5 |
| 27 | Adalberto Mondesi | 62 |
| 28 | Max Muncy | |
| 29 | George Springer | |
| 30 | Cedric Mullins II | 19 |
| 31 | Nolan Arenado | -1 |
| 32 | Austin Meadows | 2 |
| 33 | Jose Altuve | -1 |
| 34 | Alex Bregman | -1 |
| 35 | Luis Robert | NR |
| 36 | Pete Alonso | 17 |
| 37 | Byron Buxton | |
| 38 | Kris Bryant | |
| 39 | Carlos Correa | |
| 40 | Paul Goldschmidt | |
| 41 | Giancarlo Stanton | |
| 42 | Javier Baez | -16 |
| 43 | Teoscar Hernandez | |
| 44 | Franmil Reyes | |
| 45 | Randy Arozarena | 1 |
| 46 | Corey Seager | -1 |
| 47 | J.T. Realmuto | |
| 48 | Justin Turner | |
| 49 | Salvador Perez | 9 |
| 50 | Cody Bellinger | -15 |
| 51 | Ketel Marte | 5 |
| 52 | Jazz Chisholm | -1 |
| 53 | Wander Franco | 6 |
| 54 | Ryan Mountcastle | 12 |
| 55 | Tim Anderson | -32 |
| 56 | Mitch Haniger | -2 |
| 57 | DJ LeMahieu | -2 |
| 58 | Austin Riley | -6 |
| 59 | Joey Votto | -2 |
| 60 | Anthony Rizzo | -10 |
| 61 | Christian Yelich | -1 |
| 62 | Tyler O’Neill | 3 |
| 63 | Jorge Polanco | 11 |
| 64 | Michael Brantley | -3 |
| 65 | Bryan Reynolds | -2 |
| 66 | Francisco Lindor | -2 |
| 67 | Brandon Lowe | |
| 68 | Kyle Schwarber | 10 |
| 69 | Jared Walsh | -1 |
| 70 | Eduardo Escobar | 6 |
| 71 | Trey Mancini | -9 |
| 72 | Charlie Blackmon | |
| 73 | Yuli Gurriel | -2 |
| 74 | Alex Verdugo | -4 |
| 75 | Joey Gallo | -2 |
| 76 | Hunter Renfroe | 1 |
| 77 | Eloy Jimenez | -41 |
| 78 | Robbie Grossman | 9 |
| 79 | Jonathan India | 1 |
| 80 | Josh Donaldson | 1 |
| 81 | Dansby Swanson | 1 |
| 82 | Jake Cronenworth | 1 |
| 83 | C.J. Cron | NR |
| 84 | Brandon Crawford | 1 |
| 85 | Trent Grisham | -16 |
| 86 | Frank Schwindel | NR |
| 87 | Yoan Moncada | -3 |
| 88 | Mark Canha | 3 |
| 89 | Yasmani Grandal | NR |
| 90 | Lourdes Gurriel Jr. | 4 |
| 91 | Tommy Edman | NR |
| 92 | Avisail Garcia | 3 |
| 93 | Brandon Belt | 3 |
| 94 | Jesse Winker | NR |
| 95 | Ian Happ | NR |
| 96 | Bobby Dalbec | NR |
| 97 | Kyle Seager | NR |
| 98 | Adam Duvall | 2 |
| 99 | Matt Chapman | NR |
| 100 | Mike Trout | -58 |
Time to dig through some of the biggest changes since we last talked a few weeks back:
- Adalberto Mondesi – Mondesi has been back from the injured list for a whole week and has been nothing short of the enigma that he was coming into the season. In only his first four games back he stole an astounding six bases on only four hits. He moves up the list for his ability to win a fantasy playoff round all by himself with his speed and power combination. While he should be downgraded in a season-long ranking due to his injury history and lack of patience at the plate, with only a few weeks left he is a very valuable asset.
- Mike Trout, Jesse Winker, Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez – Add any other injured star to this list of players we need to consider cutting bait with if it helps extend the season in the playoffs or simply focus on that critical rotisserie category. Mike Trout remains a top-five fantasy player and one of the best to ever play the game and the future is bright for guys like Eloy and Winker. However, holding on to hope can sink a team before it is too late.
- Luis Robert – Trending the opposite way as his injured teammate, Robert continues to show his immense promise. Over the past two weeks, Robert has hit .326 with four dingers and 18 R + RBI. Even more impressive is his 8% strikeout rate over that same timeframe. While that will not hold, he appears to be locked in at the plate and poised to finish the season strong.
- Cody Bellinger – This has been nothing short of a lost year for Cody Bellinger. It speaks volumes about the Dodger offense that we have not talked more about the struggles the young slugger has had. Bellinger has not actually had a single hit in the month of September spanning eight games with only two multi-hit games since July. We can dig into the numbers all we want, but he simply is not useful at this point. He will be back next year, but it is time to play the hot hand the rest of the way. Frankly, he should be further down the list.
- Ian Happ, Bobby Dalbec – Speaking of the hot hand, Happ and Dalbec are both picking it up at the right time. Ian Happ is hitting well over .400 since the month swung to September along with his expected power stats. Dalbec has produced eight runs batted in with a couple of dingers himself. Both guys have been on and off the waiver wire for much of the year depending on league depth. If available, these are both guys that could give a late boost to finish out the 2021 season.
