Stephen Piscotty, Top 100 Hitters, 2019 Fantasy Baseball

Yea, yea, yea. I accidentally left two Stephen Piscotty’s in my Top 100 two weeks in a row. What had happened was: The first week was just a good ol’ fashioned screw-up. On my rankings spreadsheet my process for moving a player is to copy their row, delete their row and insert their row in their new ranking location. Grey and Jay were gracious enough to fix it after week 5 by replacing Piscotty on the website — but ya boy didn’t delete him in his own rankings spreadsheet. To make a long story short (“TOO LATE!”) there will be four Stephen Piscotties scattered through this Top 100. You pick which one fits best for your world view.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
1	Mike Trout	OF	LAA	1	0
2	Christian Yelich	OF	MIL	3	1
3	Cody Bellinger	1B/OF	LAD	2	-1
4	Trevor Story	SS	COL	6	2
5	Javier Baez	2B/SS/3B	CHC	4	-1
6	Nolan Arenado	3B	COL	7	1
7	Mookie Betts	OF	BOS	5	-2
8	Adalberto Mondesi	SS	KC	10	2
9	Ronald Acuna Jr.	OF	ATL	8	-1
10	J.D. Martinez	OF	BOS	9	-1

No one moved out of the top 10 — just a bit of cupid shuffling.

J.D. Martinez is still hitting for a solid average (.308,) but only has 5 HRs on the season. He’s actually hitting more fly balls this year, is making more solid contact (soft contact rate down 3.5%) but his BABIP is down almost 40 points from last year. I don’t know if there is a buy low-ish window – but you’re in it!

Every time I try to jinx Mondesi by saying how I didn’t believe him — he steals another pair of bases and hits another HR. So boy is he really great! He’s so great he’s going to win MVP this year. Best player. Ever. Of all time. In the history of the game. And boy was I wrong before this season. Wow. Such good. Very steals.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
11	Anthony Rendon	3B	WAS	13	2
12	Freddie Freeman	1B	ATL	14	2
13	Rhys Hoskins	OF	PHI	15	2
14	Tim Anderson	SS	CHW	19	5
15	George Springer	OF	HOU	21	6
16	Marcell Ozuna	OF	StL	17	1
17	Whit Merrifield	2B	KC	20	3
18	Paul Goldschmidt	1B	StL	12	-6
19	Jose Altuve	2B	HOU	11	-8
20	Bryce Harper	OF	PHI	16	-4

Tim Anderson: See Adalberto Mondesi. He better take back that “baseball is boring” comment. Even though it feels like less people are watching, attending and playing the game.

Jose Altuve’s .243 average is the lowest it’s been at any level since he was 17. Coincidentally, his .234 BABIP is the lowest of his career as well. He’s hitting the ball with the highest hard contact percentage of his career (38.3%) his line drive rate and fly ball rate are off from last year — but there’s nothing that makes me believe his average is going to stay below .250. Unless he’s maybe nursing a secret gamer injury.

I don’t need to tell you all this — but George Springer is currently third on Razzball’s Player Rater. He’s showing up all over the MLB leaderboard even contributing some SBs — he’s a quarter of the way towards topping his career high of 16.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
21	Manny Machado	SS	SD	22	1
22	Alex Bregman	3B/SS	HOU	23	1
23	Juan Soto	OF	WAS	18	-5
24	Domingo Santana	OF	SEA	25	1
25	Mitch Haniger	OF	SEA	26	1
26	Eddie Rosario	OF	MIN	27	1
27	Tommy Pham	OF	TBR	28	1
28	Andrew Benintendi	OF	BOS	30	2
29	Lorenzo Cain	OF	MIL	29	0
30	Joey Gallo	1B/OF	TEX	36	6

Juan Soto really just needs to show me he’s fully recovered from his injury and he’ll move up or down. I give players returning from injury a 2 week window to show me something. Which is why Daniel Murphy can barely be found on this list anymore. You’ll find him beneath a Stephen Piscotty.

So THIS is what Joey Gallo with a palatable batting average could look like. Gallo is third in hard contact rate to a pair of Christians: Walker and Yelich. He’s dropped his K/rate for the 4th year in a row and his 20.8% walk rate is second to Trout.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
31	Xander Bogaerts	SS	BOS	31	0
32	Carlos Correa	SS	HOU	32	0
33	Ozzie Albies	2B	ATL	37	4
34	Charlie Blackmon	OF	COL	33	-1
35	Pete Alonso	1B	NYM	38	3
36	Elvis Andrus	SS	TEX	40	4
37	Michael Brantley	OF	HOU	41	4
38	Khris Davis	DH	OAK	24	-14
39	Francisco Lindor	SS	CLE	34	-5
40	Trea Turner	SS	WAS	35	-5

Davis owners already know this, but he has 0 HRs in his last 19 games. He’s only hitting .188 in that period. “Well is he still at least hitting doubles — just not completely obliterating the ball?” Three. He’s got three.

Lindor is starting to show some life — he’s hit safely in 6 of his last 7 games. He’s got the most potential to climb back into the top 10 — but it might not happen until after the All-Star Break when he can rest, recover and relax a bit.

Andrus is capable of this type of production. He lost 2018 to injury, but 2017 he went 20/25 with a .297 average. We’re well on our way to a similar season: 5/8/.326. The .375 BABIP tells me that the average will hover right around .300 like it did in 2016 and 2017 — but still a great season.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
41	Matt Chapman	3B	OAK	39	-2
42	Eugenio Suarez	3B	CIN	43	1
43	Jose Ramirez	3B	CLE	44	1
44	David Peralta	OF	ARI	45	1
45	Yoan Moncada	2B	CHW	46	1
46	Jose Abreu	1B	CHW	53	7
47	Edwin Encarnacion	1B	SEA	54	7
48	Anthony Rizzo	1B	CHC	55	7
49	Willson Contreras	C	CHC	61	12
50	Paul DeJong	SS	STL	66	16

Among qualified catchers, Contreras is tied for first in runs, second in HRs, second in RBI and first in average. Where was this last year when I traded for him to make a playoff push?

Among qualified shortstops, DeJong is tied for first in runs scored, second in batting average and is top-10 in HRs. Just like every fantasy expert predicted this pre-season — he’s out-performing guys like Carlos Correa who were drafted 100 picks before him.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
51	Mike Moustakas	3B	MIL	58	7
52	Gleyber Torres	2B	NYY	47	-5
53	Aaron Judge	OF	NYY	48	-5
54	Starling Marte	OF	PIT	49	-5
55	Giancarlo Stanton	OF	NYY	50	-5
56	Michael Conforto	OF	NYM	51	-5
57	Jean Segura	SS	PHI	52	-5
58	Victor Robles	OF	WAS	64	6
59	J.T. Realmuto	C	PHI	59	0
60	Yasmani Grandal	C	MIL	60	0

I shook off my case of Yankee bias this week and I’m going to start properly ranking Gleyber Torres. Yes he has a cool name, yes he was a hyped prospect, but 18/5/17/3/.280? Borrrinng!

Robles is here because of the power/speed combo — definitely not for the 4th worst BB/K ratio in the league. Better only than Brandon Drury, Freddy Galvis and — what’s this? — Starling Marte?! How did you get here?! Robles also has the worst hard contact rate in the league. Even worse than sluggers like Billy Hamilton and Jose Peraza. There might just be some regression coming soon.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
61	Kris Bryant	3B/OF	CHC	67	6
62	Fernando Tatis Jr.	SS	SD	62	0
63	Brandon Lowe	2B	TBR	68	5
64	Ketel Marte	2B/SS/OF	ARI	69	5
65	Nelson Cruz	DH	MIN	63	-2
66	Jonathan Villar	2B	BAL	74	8
67	Josh Donaldson	3B	ATL	65	-2
68	Justin Turner	3B	LAD	71	3
69	Josh Bell	1B	PIT	87	18
70	Hunter Dozier	1B/3B	KC	88	18

Josh Bell is in the top-10 among first basemen in 4 of the major categories.

Dozier is the 5th ranked third baseman on Razzball’s Player Rater. I told you to draft him over Manny Machado but you just wouldn’t listen.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
71	Max Muncy	1B/3B	LAD	72	1
72	Vlad Guerrero Jr.	3B	TOR	57	-15
73	Daniel Murphy	1B/2B	COL	42	-31
74	Nick Castellanos	OF	DET	70	-4
75	Andrew McCutchen	OF	PHI	73	-2
76	Dee Gordon	2B/OF	SEA	75	-1
77	Luke Voit	1B	NYY	76	-1
78	Austin Meadows	OF	TBR	82	4
79	Stephen Piscotty	OF	OAK	77	-2
80	Trey Mancini	OF/1B	BAL	78	-2

Here’s why we all need to Netflix and Chill on our projections for rookies. Even the God of all prospects, Guerrero, is struggling in his first taste of big league action. Maybe we should all apologize to the Blue Jays for running them through the mud all pre-season? Vlad will probably be a top-25 player next year, but just take it easy when it comes to prospects because you never know how they’ll do.

Murphy is only hitting .213 in the 47 ABs since his return. He could easily heat up and move up in the next few weeks, but I have to stick to my two-week injury return grading system. I’m nothing without my rules and governance!

Stephen Piscotty sighting!

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
81	Jason Heyward	OF	CHC	79	-2
82	Maikel Franco	3B	PHI	80	-2
83	Gary Sanchez	C	NYY	81	-2
84	David Dahl	OF	COL	83	-1
85	Eduardo Escobar	SS/3B	ARI	84	-1
86	Joc Pederson	OF	LAD	85	-1
87	Alex Gordon	OF	KC	NA
88	Jorge Polanco	SS	MIN	NA
89	Yasiel Puig	OF	CIN	86	-3
90	Shin-Soo Choo	OF	OAK	89	-1

I was still in college when Alex Gordon made his major league debut so excuse me for not ranking him sooner. Gordon is really enjoying his spot batting behind Mondesi and Merrifield and in front of Dozier and Jorge Soler. If I could name a starting pitcher for the Royals after Danny Duffy this team might actually be something to watch!

Polanco is killing it in May so far. In 9 May games he has 14 hits, 7 runs, 2 HRs and 7 RBI. That’s a good month for some crappy players! He’s a big reason the Twins have the best record in baseball so far. Yea, read that sentence again and let it soak in.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
91	Dwight Smith Jr.	OF	BAL	90	-1
92	Hunter Pence	OF	TEX	NA
93	Wil Myers	3B/OF	SD	56	-37
94	Shohei Ohtani	DH	LAA	92	-2
95	Christian Walker	1B	ARI	93	-2
96	Andrelton Simmons	SS	LAA	NA
97	Ryan Braun	OF	LAD	NA
98	Dan Vogelbach	1B	SEA	100	2
99	Mitch Garver	C	MIN	NA
100	Mitch Moreland	1B	BOS	NA

The last 10 ranked hitters of this list are the hardest to come up with. With the top 10 you know who to expect — they’re up there for a reason and rarely fall out (except Jose Ramirez — I see you.) But for these bottom 10 all it takes is one bad week and they’re outta here. Don’t believe me? Here are the bottom 10 from last week:

91: Corey Seager
92: Shohei Ohtani
93: Christian Walker
94: Robinson Cano
95: Wilson Ramos
96: Nomar Mazara
97: Kolten Wong
98: Enrique Hernandez
99: Aaron Hicks
100: Dan Vogelbach

Only three of those players are still ranked this week. I almost want to turn the bottom 10 into a “hottest players of the week” section. Maybe I will self…maybe I will…