Yuli Gurriel, Week 20 Top 100 Hitters, 2019 Fantasy Baseball

It’s rare to see a player having a breakout year in his age 35 season in the post-Selig era, but Yuli Gurriel needs just 2 runs, 1 RBI and even 2 SB to set career highs in all of those categories. He already has a career-high in HRs with 25 and could end the season with 30-35. With 37 games remaining Gurriel could end the season with an 85/33/100/8/.300 line for the year. Not too shabby from a guy with an ADP in the 200s. This production uptick is due to a career-low ground ball rate, career-high fly ball rate, career-high hard contact rate — the underlying numbers are pointing to this being for real and he should finish the year strong.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
1	Christian Yelich	OF	MIL	1	0
2	Cody Bellinger	1B/OF	LAD	2	0
3	Mike Trout	OF	LAA	3	0
4	Ronald Acuna Jr.	OF	ATL	4	0
5	Trevor Story	SS	COL	5	0
6	Freddie Freeman	1B	ATL	6	0
7	Nolan Arenado	3B	COL	7	0
8	Javier Baez	2B/SS/3B	CHC	8	0
9	Rafael Devers	3B	BOS	11	2
10	Anthony Rendon	3B	WAS	9	-1

There’s a new girl in town
Who just came on the scene
The new girl in town
Can’t be more than sixteen

The young Devers has put up phenomenal numbers in his age 22 season. He’s on pace to finish with 115+ runs, 30+ HRs, 110+ RBI, 10+ SBs with around a .325 AVG. That’s first-round numbers for 2020 baby. He’s earned the push into the top-10.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
11	Mookie Betts	OF	BOS	10	-1
12	Alex Bregman	3B/SS	HOU	13	1
13	Francisco Lindor	SS	CLE	14	1
14	Xander Bogaerts	SS	BOS	15	1
15	Charlie Blackmon	OF	COL	12	-3
16	Pete Alonso	1B	NYM	18	2
17	Starling Marte	OF	PIT	24	7
18	Trea Turner	SS	WAS	26	8
19	Josh Bell	1B	PIT	16	-3
20	J.D. Martinez	OF	BOS	19	-1

Last year saw Starling Marte finally reach the 20/20 threshold and this year he’s got a good shot for 25/25. As Marte enters his 30s I think we’ll start to see less steals so it’s good to see that he is gaining value in the power game to still make him a viable fantasy pick. In any other season these would push him into the top-10 and in NL MVP conversation, but the 1, 2, and 4 players on this list are out of this world.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
21	Eddie Rosario	OF	MIN	20	-1
22	Eduardo Escobar	SS/3B	ARI	27	5
23	Anthony Rizzo	1B	CHC	17	-6
24	Ketel Marte	2B/SS/OF	ARI	31	7
25	Whit Merrifield	2B	KC	22	-3
26	Carlos Santana	1B	CLE	40	14
27	Jonathan Villar	2B	BAL	46	19
28	Kris Bryant	3B/OF	CHC	23	-5
29	George Springer	OF	HOU	25	-4
30	Jose Altuve	2B	HOU	37	7

Jonathan Villar 2016 blah blah blah now here we are. Perhaps the most impressive stat for Villar is the 80 runs. The .340 OBP is the second-highest of his career and is all well and good — but he’s, unfortunately, toiling away on the AAA Orioles. Luckily he’s had Trey Mancini to knock him in 20 of those opportunities. Still — 90/20/70/30 has to have his owners living la Villar loca.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
31	DJ LeMahieu	1B/2B/3B	NYY	44	13
32	Max Muncy	1B/3B	LAD	28	-4
33	Manny Machado	SS/3B	SD	21	-12
34	Bryce Harper	OF	PHI	34	0
35	Gleyber Torres	2B	NYY	45	10
36	Nelson Cruz	DH	MIN	32	-4
37	Elvis Andrus	SS	TEX	33	-4
38	Michael Brantley	OF	HOU	36	-2
39	Jose Abreu	1B	CHW	39	0
40	Juan Soto	OF	WAS	41	1

Machado is having another awful month. Machado started the season with a .236 AVG/.693 OPS, but rebounded over the next three months with a .293/.925 mark. Well, August is here and March Machado is back with a vengeance: .177 AVG/.448 OPS with 0 HRs and only 1 SB in 62 ABs. Where will you draft Machado next year? 2nd round? 3rd round? Avoid altogether?

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
41	Trey Mancini	OF/1B	BAL	51	10
42	Max Kepler	OF	MIN	47	5
43	Mike Moustakas	3B	MIL	29	-14
44	Marcell Ozuna	OF	StL	43	-1
45	Jose Ramirez	3B	CLE	84	39
46	Jorge Soler	OF	KC	63	17
47	Ozzie Albies	2B	ATL	57	10
48	J.T. Realmuto	C	PHI	60	12
49	Aaron Judge	OF	NYY	38	-11
50	Yoan Moncada	2B	CHW	35	-15
51	Yasiel Puig	OF	CIN	48	-3
52	Jorge Polanco	SS	MIN	49	-3
53	Eugenio Suarez	3B	CIN	50	-3
54	Matt Chapman	3B	OAK	52	-2
55	Tim Anderson	SS	CHW	66	11
56	Andrew Benintendi	OF	BOS	56	0
57	Paul Goldschmidt	1B	StL	68	11
58	Shin-Soo Choo	OF	OAK	61	3
59	Luke Voit	1B	NYY	62	3
60	Tommy Pham	OF	TBR	65	5

Everybody chill — Ramirez has started his climb. He’ll be back in the top-25 if he keeps this up. You already know what he’s done this year, but just for fun here it is: April, May, June: 295 ABs, 32/5/30/18/.214. July and August: 164 ABs, 33/15/44/6 SB/.323. Like Machado I’m curious to see where he’ll be drafted in 2020.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
61	Yordan Alvarez	OF	HOU	77	16
62	Paul DeJong	SS	STL	58	-4
63	Joey Gallo	1B/OF	TEX	42	-21
64	Michael Conforto	OF	NYM	67	3
65	Vlad Guerrero Jr.	3B	TOR	69	4
66	Yuli Gurriel	1B/3B	HOU	99	33
67	Rhys Hoskins	OF	PHI	59	-8
68	Adalberto Mondesi	SS	KC	53	-15
69	Ramon Laureano	OF	OAK	54	-15
70	Eric Hosmer	1B	SD	74	4
71	Danny Santana	1B/2B/OF	TEX	78	7
72	Victor Robles	OF	WAS	82	10
73	Jean Segura	SS	PHI	70	-3
74	Yasmani Grandal	C	MIL	71	-3
75	Austin Meadows	OF	TBR	55	-20
76	Edwin Encarnacion	1B	NYY	75	-1
77	Hunter Renfroe	OF	SD	76	-1
78	Domingo Santana	OF	SEA	64	-14
79	Gary Sanchez	C	NYY	79	0
80	Justin Turner	3B	LAD	89	9

Yordan Alvarez is the real friggen deal. I’ve denied him his climb because I was waiting for him to hit the rookie wall and for pitchers to start figuring him out. In 405 total ABs between AAA and MLB Alvarez has 84 runs, 42 HRs, 126 RBI and a .344 AVG. Thems some mid-90’s Juan Gonzalez numbers and there are still a lot of games to be played!

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
81	Hunter Dozier	1B/3B	KC	85	4
82	Amed Rosario	SS	NYM	92	10
83	Shohei Ohtani	DH	LAA	88	5
84	Keston Hiura	2B	MIL	93	9
85	Carlos Correa	SS	HOU	100	15
86	Franmil Reyes	OF	SD	90	4
87	Josh Donaldson	3B	ATL	91	4
88	Eloy Jimenez	OF	CHW	98	10
89	Alex Gordon	OF	KC	81	-8
90	Adam Eaton	OF	WAS	NA	NA
91	Michael Chavis	2B/3B	BOS	94	3
92	Willson Contreras	C	CHC	73	-19
93	Avisail Garcia	OF	TBR	95	2
94	Lourdes Gurriel Jr.	2B/SS/OF	TOR	96	2
95	Marcus Semien	SS	OAK	86	-9
96	Jeff McNeil	2B/3B/OF	NYM	97	1
97	Gio Urshela	3B	NYY	NA	NA
98	Aristides Aquino	OF	CIN	NA	NA
99	Byron Buxton	OF	MIN	80	-19
100	Joc Pederson	OF	LAD	87	-13

The man with the best name in the game, Aristedes Aquino, makes his debut this week. In only 55 ABs he has 11 HRs. Much like Alvarez above, Aristides was crushing in the minors this year with 28 HRs in 294 ABs. Will this trend continue? Obviously not. I’m a little worried about the walk and K-rates. He’ll get figured out, but enjoy this outburst while it lasts.