A.J. Pollock, Top 100 Hitters, 2018 Fantasy Baseball

Solarte is breaking out all over! He’s halfway to his career high HR total with 9 right now. He’s a third of the way towards surpassing his career highs in runs and RBI. So what gives? Well Solarte has embraced the launch angle revolution and has dropped his ground ball rate by 7% from his career numbers. But this shouldn’t have surprised us — every year it seems like Solarte has been hitting less ground balls. In the low minors he was hitting between 50 and 60% of his balls on the ground, in the upper minors he was hitting between 40 and 50% and now he’s just taking his game to the next level. Maybe we just should’ve seen this coming?

Risers:

A.J. Pollock: This is the A.J. Pollock we were all promised in 2015. Pollock is currently the #4 outfielder according to ESPN’s biased Player Rater and is the closest hitter to having double-digit HR and SB (10/8 respectively.) All Pollock owners are all collectively holding their breath in anticipation of this year’s season-ending injury, but for now enjoy the ride.

Corey Dickerson: No one seems happier than Corey Dickerson to escape Florida.Of the big three outfielders who were traded from their Florida teams (Christian Yelich, Giancarlo Stanton and Dickerson) Dickerson has more hits, RBI and stolen bases. If he keeps this pace up he could end up in the top 50 completely eclipsing his current OF mate Gregory Polanco.

Fallers:

Marcell Ozuna: I don’t know how much longer Ozuna’s 2017 keeps him high on this list. Ozuna has 17 RBI which aren’t bad, but the 2 HR, 9 runs and .263 average are really not looking good for a guy who was probably a top 5 round pick in your league. Ozuna is making hard contact on almost 50% of his balls put in play — but unfortunately he’s also hitting 50% of his balls in play on the ground. He’s pulling 44% of his balls compared to 21% going to the opposite field — I wish there was something I could pinpoint with Ozuna, but baseball is a crazy game. I think last year’s .355 BABIP lead to a career high anomaly season. Before 2013 to 2016 his batting average was .265, .269, .259, .266. Last year? 312. This year? .263.

Brett Gardner: As of right now, Brett Gardner’s batting average is under .200. His lowest batting average since his rookie season was .256. I think a bit of bad luck has befallen the Yankees leadoff man who is posting a 13.8% BB/rate, yet the highest strikeout rate of his career with a 22.5%. Could age be catching up with him? Maybe — he’s an old 34 who seems like he’s been playing so long that he’s 44. More likely, his career low .259 BABIP is causing a bit of bad luck to affect his ratios. He, like Ozuna, is also hitting far too many ground balls: 51.2%. Maybe Gardy has lost a step at 34. When you’re 27 you can turn some of those ground balls into hits. Turning 35 in August plus having an annually falling speed score is a formula for decline.

New on the Scene:

Michael Brantley: Maybe I was hesitant to rank him on account of he’s always hurt. But I can’t deny that .348 average anymore. He is putting bat to ball at an astonishing 94% contact rate and he’s only drawn 3 walks and swung through 5 strikeouts. Michael Brantley has come to play and if he keeps making contact at that rate — he could hit over .333 on the year.

Kevin Pillar: Or as I like to call him — Diet Pollock. Solarte’s teammate hasn’t allowed his batting average to dip below .265 all year. This is being fed by a .354 meaning Pillar could be a sell high candidate for you. However, Pillar has been making excellent hard contact so far this season seeing his 27.3% last year to 36.9% this year so maybe all that time getting swole is paying off. Pillar has never hit over .280 at the major league level so I think some correction is coming — but he did have a 15/15 season last year making him a valuable 4th OF for you.

GREEN: Rising | BLUE: New Additions | RED: Falling

Top 100 Hitters

RANK	NAME	TEAM	POSITION	LAST WEEK
1	Mike Trout	LAA	OF	1
2	Jose Altuve	HOU	2B	2
3	Bryce Harper	WAS	OF	3
4	Mookie Betts	BOS	OF	4
5	Trea Turner	WAS	SS	5
6	Nolan Arenado	COL	3B	6
7	Charlie Blackmon	COL	OF	7
8	Paul Goldschmidt	ARI	1B	8
9	Carlos Correa	HOU	SS	9
10	Kris Bryant	CHC	3B	10
11	Manny Machado	BAL	3B	11
12	Aaron Judge	NYY	OF	12
13	Giancarlo Stanton	NYY	OF	13
14	Francisco Lindor	CLE	SS	14
15	Freddie Freeman	ATL	1B	15
16	Joey Votto	CIN	1B	16
17	Anthony Rizzo	CHC	1B	17
18	J.D. Martinez	BOS	OF	18
19	Jose Ramirez	CLE	2B/3B	19
20	George Springer	HOU	OF	20
21	Cody Bellinger	LAD	1B/OF	21
22	Brian Dozier	MIN	2B	22
23	Jose Abreu	CHW	1B	23
24	Dee Gordon	SEA	2B	24
25	Gary Sanchez	NYY	C	25
26	Christian Yelich	MIL	OF	26
27	Justin Upton	ARI	OF	27
28	Josh Donaldson	TOR	3B	NR
29	Alex Bregman	HOU	SS/3B	28
30	Andrew Benintendi	BOS	OF	29
31	Rhys Hoskins	PHI	1B/OF	30
32	Starling Marte	PIT	OF	31
33	A.J. Pollock	ARI	OF	44
34	Buster Posey	SF	C/1B	33
35	Ozzie Albies	ATL	2B	47
36	Robinson Cano	SEA	2B	34
37	Anthony Rendon	WAS	3B	NR
38	Edwin Encarnacion	CLE	1B	36
39	Khris Davis	OAK	OF	37
40	Didi Gregorius	NYY	SS	39
41	Yoenis Cespedes	NYM	OF	40
42	Marcell Ozuna	STL	OF	32
43	Eric Hosmer	SD	1B	41
44	Nelson Cruz	SEA	DH	42
45	Tommy Pham	STL	OF	43
46	Jean Segura	SEA	SS	46
47	Lorenzo Cain	MIL	OF	48
48	Xander Bogaerts	BOS	SS	49
49	Nicholas Castellanos	DET	3B/OF	50
50	Mitch Haniger	SEA	OF	64
51	Whit Merrifield	KC	2B	52
52	Andrew McCutchen	SF	OF	53
53	Ender Inciarte	ATL	OF	54
54	Ronald Acuna	ATL	OF	55
55	Mike Moustakas	KC	3B	56
56	Javier Baez	CHC	SS/2B	57
57	Trevor Story	COL	SS	58
58	Travis Shaw	MIL	3B	59
59	Rafael Devers	BOS	3B	62
60	Gregory Polanco	PIT	OF	51
61	Matt Olson	OAK	1B	67
62	Jose Martinez	STL	1B	70
63	Willson Contreras	CHC	C	60
64	Joey Gallo	TEX	3B/1B	71
65	Kyle Seager	SEA	3B	61
66	Nomar Mazara	TEX	OF	72
67	Adam Jones	BAL	OF	66
68	Justin Smoak	TOR	1B	76
69	Carlos Santana	PHI	1B	69
70	Hanley Ramirez	BOS	DH	77
71	Ryan Braun	MIL	OF	80
72	Eugenio Suarez	CIN	3B	81
73	Brett Gardner	NYY	OF	68
74	Billy Hamilton	CIN	OF	73
75	Chris Taylor	LAD	2B/OF	83
76	Jed Lowrie	OAK	2B	92
77	JT Realmuto	MIA	C	84
78	Corey Dickerson	PIT	OF	100
79	Kyle Schwarber	CHC	OF	82
80	Yangervis Solarte	TOR	2B/SS/3B	NR
81	Kevin Pillar	TOR	OF	NR
82	Salvador Perez	KC	C	89
83	Yadier Molina	STL	C	90
84	Brandon Belt	SF	1B	NR
85	Nick Markakis	ATL	OF	NR
86	David Peralta	ARI	OF	97
87	Domingo Santana	MIL	OF	74
88	Eddie Rosario	MIN	OF	93
89	Todd Frazier	NYM	3B	NR
90	Matt Chapman	OAK	3B	85
91	Josh Bell	PIT	1B	87
92	Delino DeShields	TEX	OF	NR
93	Tim Anderson	CWS	SS	95
94	Cesar Hernandez	PHI	2B	99
95	Michael Brantley	CLE	OF	NR
96	Christian Villanueva	SD	3B	NR
97	Teoscar Hernandez	TOR	OF	NR
98	Marcus Semien	OAK	SS	NR
99	Jose Peraza	CIN	SS	NR
100	Eduardo Escobar	MIN	3B/SS	NR

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

There were a lot of new arrivals because eight players in the top-100 from last week went on the disabled list!