Top 100 Hitters, Week 9: JRam’s Last Stand

#100. One hundred. Benjamin Franklin. C-note. One hunnit (RIP Nipsey Hussle.) That’s where you’ll find Jose Ramirez this week. Last week he was sitting at a no-so-nice #69 and he had another awful week: 6 games, 20 ABs, 4 hits, 0 runs, 0 HRs, 0 RBI, 0 SB. Sorry Ramirez fans — his season line: 193 ABs, 17 runs, 4 HRs, 15 RBI, 12 SBs, .197 is not a top-100 player anymore. However, this might be a perfect buy low opportunity since Ramirez is an avid Razzballer and doesn’t want to find himself missing from the most controversial column on the site.

Top 100 Hitters

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

Not too much shake-up in my top 10. All of you are going to be mad at George Springer staying in the top 10, but it is looking like he won’t miss too much time and I still have him this high going forward. Sorry haters.

The other change at the tippy top was really just semantics E.B. White. Last week I had Bellinger, Yelich and Trout 1a, b and c respectively. I’m officially giving the nod to Bellinger this week. Yes Yelich has the HRs and RBI, but Belly has the runs, RBI and AVG. And look out lil Mikey Trout — Trevor Story has you beat in runs, HRs, RBI and SBs.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
11	Anthony Rendon	3B	WAS	12	1
12	Freddie Freeman	1B	ATL	13	1
13	Alex Bregman	3B/SS	HOU	14	1
14	Joey Gallo	1B/OF	TEX	15	1
15	J.D. Martinez	OF	BOS	11	-4
16	Josh Bell	1B	PIT	40	24
17	Eddie Rosario	OF	MIN	21	4
18	Rhys Hoskins	OF	PHI	16	-2
19	Tim Anderson	SS	CHW	17	-2
20	Whit Merrifield	2B	KC	18	-2

There he is — Josh Bell. His numbers this year actually compare favorably to Yelich and Bellinger sans the speed game. Bell might unseat Springer in next week’s rankings if he can keep this up.

Don’t overreact to J.D.’s drop — his numbers aren’t so hot right now, but is there anyone else you are expecting to have an unbelievably explosive 2nd-half than Martinez? There is no better power threat in the game capable of going off at the drop of a hat.

On May 7th, Eddie Rosario’s batting average was sitting at a sad .225. In the 17 games since he’s hit .394 with 14 runs, 4 HR, 17 RBI and even snatched 2 SBs. The 15 games before that, however, he only had 8 hits (.136 AVG) so hopefully he isn’t that extremely streaky.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
21	Anthony Rizzo	1B	CHC	50	29
22	Michael Brantley	OF	HOU	22	0
23	Marcell Ozuna	OF	StL	23	0
24	Mitch Haniger	OF	SEA	20	-4
25	Charlie Blackmon	OF	COL	24	-1
26	Pete Alonso	1B	NYM	27	1
27	Kris Bryant	3B/OF	CHC	38	11
28	Manny Machado	SS	SD	19	-9
29	Bryce Harper	OF	PHI	26	-3
30	Lorenzo Cain	OF	MIL	29	-1

There’s more than a few Razzball commenters who will be happy at that Rizzo course correction. Look, I was a little worried about his numbers when he wasn’t hitting over .230 at the end of April. Well he’s shut me up in May: 15/8/22/1/.359. Lot of helium possibly here despite the worldwide shortage (how did we run out of helium?!)

I’m still a believer in Machado and Harper, but right now the two biggest free agents from this Winter are two of the biggest disappointments from a fantasy perspective. They’re putting up a respectable counting stats, but their averages: Machado: .263 and Harper: .227 aren’t what their new teams expected. They’re both too good to stay down this low — they could easily come back strong.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
31	Xander Bogaerts	SS	BOS	31	0
32	Carlos Correa	SS	HOU	32	0
33	Yoan Moncada	2B	CHW	36	3
34	Ozzie Albies	2B	ATL	33	-1
35	Elvis Andrus	SS	TEX	42	7
36	Francisco Lindor	SS	CLE	34	-2
37	Trea Turner	SS	WAS	35	-2
38	Paul Goldschmidt	1B	StL	25	-13
39	David Peralta	OF	ARI	37	-2
40	Domingo Santana	OF	SEA	28	-12

I guess I was just in Goldschmidt denial. You expect to see him at the top of any hitter rankings so I became nose blind to him. Boy, I was wrong. Every season we’d all ask “Yea Goldy’s double-digit steals are nice — but when will they run out?” Well, we have our answer: now. He’s only attempted 1 the entire season. “Well that’s okay — he’ll still hit a bunch of HRs.” Okay — now this is where you’re really going to get mad — he has 1 HR in his last 30 games.

Santana’s first 19 games had me salivating: 12/4/24/3/.354. I moved him up as high as the mid-20s based on that performance. In the 33 games since? 14/6/17/1/.231.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
41	Andrew Benintendi	OF	BOS	39	-2
42	Juan Soto	OF	WAS	41	-1
43	Eugenio Suarez	3B	CIN	43	0
44	Ketel Marte	2B/SS/OF	ARI	66	22
45	Tommy Pham	OF	TBR	44	-1
46	Austin Meadows	OF	TBR	73	27
47	Gleyber Torres	2B	NYY	53	6
48	Jose Altuve	2B	HOU	30	-18
49	Jose Abreu	1B	CHW	48	-1
50	Willson Contreras	C	CHC	46	-4

Here’s my question to you! Who ends 2019 with the better fantasy season: Sterling Marte or Ketel Marte? Don’t look now — but Ketel has the early lead in every 5×5 category except stolen bases.

I’ve been a little reluctant on Austin Meadows due to his inexperience, but as my good friend Jalen Rose would say, “He’s young, but he’s readddyyyy!” Since my rankings last week he’s hit .360 with another HR and SB. Meadows could end the season with 25 HRs and 20 SBs with solid counting stats hitting for the wild card Rays.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
51	Rafael Devers	3B	BOS	95	44
52	Mike Moustakas	3B	MIL	52	0
53	Matt Chapman	3B	OAK	47	-6
54	Paul DeJong	SS	STL	51	-3
55	Aaron Judge	OF	NYY	54	-1
56	Starling Marte	OF	PIT	55	-1
57	Giancarlo Stanton	OF	NYY	56	-1
58	J.T. Realmuto	C	PHI	60	2
59	Hunter Dozier	1B/3B	KC	64	5
60	Michael Conforto	OF	NYM	57	-3

I have been sleeping on Rafael Devers! He’s been killing it in May: 22 games, 22 runs, 7 HRs, 22 RBI, 3 SBs, .368 AVG. On the Sox he’s always a threat for 80+ runs/RBI and now he’s putting it together elsewhere. I apologize to the entire Devers family.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
61	Edwin Encarnacion	1B	SEA	49	-12
62	Jean Segura	SS	PHI	58	-4
63	Jorge Polanco	SS	MIN	74	11
64	Luke Voit	1B	NYY	70	6
65	Yasmani Grandal	C	MIL	61	-4
66	Fernando Tatis Jr.	SS	SD	62	-4
67	Vlad Guerrero Jr.	3B	TOR	63	-4
68	Eduardo Escobar	SS/3B	ARI	76	8
69	Max Muncy	1B/3B	LAD	65	-4
70	Victor Robles	OF	WAS	59	-11

Not much to say here really: Polanco continues to produce, Voit continues to produce, Escobar continues to produce. This is the land of the sub-elite players who do well enough to make the list, but not well enough to break the list.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
71	Khris Davis	DH	OAK	45	-26
72	Alex Gordon	OF	KC	67	-5
73	Jonathan Villar	2B	BAL	68	-5
74	Brandon Lowe	2B	TBR	71	-3
75	Ryan Braun	OF	LAD	72	-3
76	Max Kepler	OF	MIN	NA
77	Trey Mancini	OF/1B	BAL	75	-2
78	Joc Pederson	OF	LAD	77	-1
79	Hunter Pence	OF	TEX	94	15
80	Shin-Soo Choo	OF	OAK	83	3

Here’s the good news about Khris Davis: he’s hitting .248. We’re oh so close to that .247 threshold. However, he’s now on the DL again and has been a bit of a disappointment so far this season.

Kepler was doing just enough to be in the 101-120 range for most of the season, but he’s making this list because of his last 8 games: 14/4/14/1/.471 in 34 ABs to bring his season line to 35/12/33/.276. Really not bad for a 3rd or 4th OF.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
81	Justin Turner	3B	LAD	79	-2
82	Nick Castellanos	OF	DET	80	-2
83	Byron Buxton	OF	MIN	100	17
84	Eric Hosmer	1B	SD	NA
85	Yasiel Puig	OF	CIN	82	-3
86	Gary Sanchez	C	NYY	92	6
87	Andrew McCutchen	OF	PHI	85	-2
88	Dansby Swanson	SS	ATL	NA
89	CJ Cron	1B	MIN	NA
90	Jarrod Dyson	OF	ARI	87	-3

Hosmer has rebounded nicely from his career-worst 2018. Hosmer is hitting 2nd, 4th and 5th in the Padres line-up most often which has lead to him having a pretty solid balance of runs and HRs: 29/30 respectively.

Y’all don’t want Dansby on here, but he’s got good numbers so far this year: 27/10/35/5/.262. Dansby has hit 2nd in 15 of the Braves last 16 games so his numbers could get even better going forward.

Rank	Name	Position	Team	Last	Change
91	Daniel Vogelbach	1B	SEA	98	7
92	Stephen Piscotty	OF	OAK	88	-4
93	Dwight Smith Jr.	OF	BAL	93	0
94	Avisail Garcia	OF	TBR	NA
95	Wil Myers	3B/OF	SD	96	1
96	Dee Gordon	2B/OF	SEA	86	-10
97	Nelson Cruz	DH	MIN	81	-16
98	Michael Chavis	2B/3B	BOS	NA
99	David Dahl	OF	COL	99	0
100	Jose Ramirez	3B	CLE	69	-31

Dee Gordon and Nelson Cruz are easy candidates to move up as soon as they’re healthy — but right now they’re going to hang around the 90s.

Michael Chavis makes his debut after Dustin Pedroia all but made his retirement announcement this year. That’s not to say Chavis hasn’t been deserving — in 122 ABs so far this year Chavis’s line: 20/10/26/2/.270 is top-100 worthy and more.

A lot of people were calling for Austin Riley to make his debut after hitting 5 HRs in his first 9 games, but I’m a little wary of rookies. Especially rookies who have a 15:2 K/BB ratio in their last 33 ABs. Pitchers are already starting to figure him out.

30 Responses (Jump straight to the comment form)

Ryan says:
May 28, 2019 at 1:09 pm (link)

Franmil?
- Kerry Klug says:
  May 28, 2019 at 5:19 pm (link)
  
  If he sustains this current streak and continues to overcome his weak start he’ll be on the come up.
Chucky says:
May 28, 2019 at 1:47 pm (link)

Aside from the fact, that the Rockies will play two of the next three weeks at home, both 7 games series, Tapia, Buxton or Avisail. Need two
- Kerry Klug says:
  May 28, 2019 at 5:21 pm (link)
  
  I’d take Avisail and Buxton.
Grey says:
May 28, 2019 at 2:15 pm (link)

You’re taking Stephen Piscotty over Jose Ramirez?
- Kerry Klug says:
  May 28, 2019 at 5:21 pm (link)
  
  I’m taking 2 Piscotty’s over 4 Ramirez’s.
  - Grey says:
    May 28, 2019 at 5:22 pm (link)
    
    Galaxy brain math!
Norman Ginsberg says:
May 28, 2019 at 2:37 pm (link)

Bill James noted about Austin Riley.
A lot of people were calling for Austin Riley to make his debut after hitting 5 HRs in his first 9 games, but I’m a little wary of rookies. Especially rookies who have a 15:2 K/BB ratio in their last 33 ABs. Pitchers are already starting to figure him out.
- Norman Ginsberg says:
  May 28, 2019 at 2:38 pm (link)
  
  Disregard this message – part of your intro.
krazyivan says:
May 28, 2019 at 2:40 pm (link)

Is Carlos Santana not repping top 100 because of the horrible offense he sits in the middle?
9 HRs and 36 BBs. Slugging over .550 the past month and doesn’t strikeout too much.
- Kerry Klug says:
  May 28, 2019 at 5:23 pm (link)
  
  I thought he retired in shame after 2018! He’s someone who I was eyeing for one of those bottom spots — I’ve always wanted him to hit for a higher average and he’s actually doing it this year.
Charlie says:
May 28, 2019 at 2:41 pm (link)

H2H Points 10 team.
1: is this team naughty or nice?
2: who should I add to play 2nd base?
Schoop/Murphy/Lourdes Gurriel

Contreras
Bell
( open )
Arenado
Seager
Soto
Hanniger
Robles
Guerrero Jr.

Cole
Woodruff
Paddack
Nola
Wheeler
Price
Flaherty
Fried
E.Rodriguez
RP: Hader
RP: Vasquez

Bench/IR: Eloy/Stanton/Kluber
- Kerry Klug says:
  May 28, 2019 at 5:25 pm (link)
  
  Nice! OF could use a little work and there’s a few pitchers who’ve been unpredictable in your rotation — but really not bad.
  Schoop.
Jeremy Burke says:
May 28, 2019 at 2:59 pm (link)

I own Albies and hes been very disappointing this season and as you know has been moved to 8th in the order. Ive actually benched him tonight in favor of Scott Kingery.
What do you see that makes him worthy of being so high? I hope youre right obviously but he looks like he might be a 4 month wonder.
- Kerry Klug says:
  May 28, 2019 at 5:26 pm (link)
  
  Oh I think I’ve become nose blind to him as well…he’s going to tumble if he doesn’t start taking advantage of the lineup handed to him.
Ozzie Smith says:
May 28, 2019 at 3:43 pm (link)

As an Acuna, Santana, Albies, Moncada, Judge, Tatis Jr. owner in one league Woof!
I sure hope you’re right! My offense has been ugly so far, hopefully a big correction coming!
toolshed says:
May 28, 2019 at 4:11 pm (link)

Thank you for finally doing the right thing and moving Ramirez to the bottom and soon off of this list. He currently is the #312 ranked player in my league’s YTD stats. His numbers are abysmal. There doesn’t seem to be any sign of a rebound coming either. I still haven’t benched him which is even more perplexing. I keep saying how much worse can it get but he defies logic and continues to do worse every week. Glad he was on the bench yesterday so I didnt have to even think about playing him.
- Kerry Klug says:
  May 28, 2019 at 5:27 pm (link)
  
  But why do I still want to trade for him so badly?!
  - toolshed says:
    May 28, 2019 at 11:33 pm (link)
    
    I have been getting some crappy offers for him. I’d sell him but I am not giving away 1st round regardless of how bad he is doing. I rather hold him and eat it. If I trade him away and he finds his stroke, I will never be able to stomach that after sitting going through a miserable 50+ games with him. I think if I sell him, he will automatically start to hit again with my luck.
edietrich1962 says:
May 28, 2019 at 5:41 pm (link)

What in the world is wrong with Eloy Jimenez?

I know people are hanging on to him but for how long??

Thanks
- Kerry W Klug says:
  May 29, 2019 at 6:06 pm (link)
  
  Bad K/rate
  Bad BABIP
  High ground ball rate, low line drive rate, low hard contact rate
  His 15.7% swinging strike rate would be bottom 15 in the league.
  68% contact rate would be bottom 10.
  Pitchers just seem to be feeding him a lot of breaking balls and he is getting fooled.
  He’s only 22 so he should be fine long term — but this year? He needs to be in AAA learning how to hit a curveball.
CTFDU says:
May 28, 2019 at 5:59 pm (link)

Senzel not in 100?
- Kerry W Klug says:
  May 29, 2019 at 5:58 pm (link)
  
  Not yet — let’s see if pitchers start figuring him out and how he responds.
Jp says:
May 29, 2019 at 3:44 am (link)

Would you consider this trade?? In a 10 team keeper league.
Get: Machado ($31) & Cole ($27)
Trade: Trout ($51) $ Glasnow (4)
- Kerry W Klug says:
  May 29, 2019 at 5:58 pm (link)
  
  I’d consider it — but ultimately I like Trout and Glasnow more.
The Old Professor says:
May 29, 2019 at 4:32 am (link)

Moncada?
- Kerry Klug says:
  May 29, 2019 at 5:59 pm (link)
  
  33
Matt says:
May 29, 2019 at 8:03 am (link)

Putting any stock into a bounce back year for Hosmer? He’s been hanging on the WW all season and has turned a corner over the last 5/6 weeks. Do you see him keeping it up and climbing the list or reverting back to last years production?
- Kerry Klug says:
  May 29, 2019 at 6:02 pm (link)
  
  Absolutely 0 scientific evidence for this, but it’s interesting nonetheless;
  Eric Hosmer’s WAR year-by-year:
  2011: 1.4
  2012: -0.5
  2013: 3.5
  2014: 0.8
  2015: 3.6
  2016: 1.2
  2017: 4.1
  2018: 1.4
  2019 (so far): 0.5
  
  We all should’ve seen this coming.
Harley Earl says:
May 30, 2019 at 9:33 am (link)

There you go dropping Muncy again, not sure why since he had a nice week again last week 6/23, 6 R, 3 doubles, 1 HR, 2 RBIs, 1 SB. And he follows that up with a 2/5 including his 11th dong last night! Patience!!!

Oh, one more thing, why isn’t Austin Riley top 100 yet??? You’re telling me Jose Ramirez is #100 but Austin Riley isn’t???? NO FREAKIN’ WAY!!!

Comments are closed.