Top 100 Hitters: Winding Down

In a recent ‘X’ (Twitter) poll, fantasy owners emphatically indicated they would rather own Corbin Carroll, Julio Rodriguez and Bobby Witt Jr. over Juan Soto.  How quickly we forget the wonderful players that have graced us with their talents.  Juan Soto at only 24 years old has nearly six seasons under his belt with almost 150 home runs, more walks than strikeouts and a 152 wRC+ across his career.  Nothing against the young guns of the last year or so, but let’s not forget a generational talent when we see it.  All this to say, we can win in the short-term by focusing on what a player did for us yesterday but to win a league we must think about tomorrow and beyond.  Speaking of thinking beyond tomorrow, this week’s rendition of the Top 100 players for the rest of the 2023 fantasy baseball season awaits!

 Rising

• Kerry Carpenter – Over the last 14 days, Carpenter has been neck and neck with Matt Olson, Jose Altuve, and Julio Rodriguez as the best hitters in the league.  Carpenter across that span has sent five balls into the cheap seats, hitting .455 with a combined 19 runs plus those batted in.  He has been batting in the middle of the Detroit lineup while displaying solid peripheral metrics.  A great grab in dynasty leagues and a rare bat that will deliver solid power and average which will likely gain helium in the offseason.
• Trevor Story – Story is back and healthy for the Boston Red Sox.  On an extended rehab assignment, he got in fourteen games and showed signs that he will be a valuable asset down the stretch with four homers and a small pile of counting stats.  Since returning to the majors, Story is gaining shortstop eligibility while swiping a few bases.  This one is simple, if Trevor Story is healthy then he is a top 50 or better bat.  If you held him all season, it is time to shake off the rust and enjoy your spoils.
• Spencer Torkelson – A once hyped top prospect, Torkelson has begun to find his own this season.  A disappointing .229 batting average has put a damper on what should have been a breakout season.  His xBA sitting at .261 combined with top 10% of the league exit velocity tells us that he has been unlucky and the 30+ homer power is real.  Over the last 10 days, he has slugged six homers with a 95+ exit velocity and since the beginning of August, there is nobody in baseball with a higher hard-hit rate.  If you are sleeping on this Detroit slugger, it is time to wake up.

Falling

• Nolan Gorman, Ozzie Albies, Josh Jung – Who did I miss with all of the injuries nagging and knocking out key contributors over the past few weeks?   Jung will not be back for most of the season and is droppable if you need the spot in the lineup.  Albies hopefully will return by early September and receives a hold status as any All Star should.  Finally, Gorman continues to miss time frequently for back issues and may be merely a daily shaky play the rest of the season as the Cardinals have little to play for.
• Giancarlo Stanton – A disappointing season for Stanton has continued as of late.  After hitting .145 in June, he rebounded to .198 in July although he still belted ten homers across that timeframe.  We can attribute much of that struggle to a comically low .167 BABIP, but even with that rebounding in August, he is only managing to hit .214 with reasonable power.  At this point, Stanton has firmly hit Kyle Schwarber territory where he is doing more damage than good in rotisserie scoring.  He still has value for a team that can withstand the average damage while trading off for power potential, however, he needs to stop getting under all his flyballs for those long outs.

Watching

• Masyn Winn – Winn lands on the watch list this week for two reasons.  First of all, any infielder that can throw 100 mph across the diamond is simply worth watching for fun.  Second, Winn has a valuable fantasy stat sheet upside.  Across 105 AAA games this season, Winn posted nearly a 20/20 line.  He also lowered his strikeout rate to the mid-teens at just 21 years of age.  Winn has a bright future and has a chance to deliver on that promise staking his claim to shortstop in St. Loud over the rest of the 2023 season.
• James Outman – Outman was a darling for fantasy owners the first month of the 2023 season belting homer after homer while piling up counting stats for the powerful Dodgers.  As the league adjusted, the lights dimmed on the potential for Outman and he started to lose playing time.  However, over the last two months, he has seen a resurgence with a .306 average, five homers, and six steals.  He has seen a bit of luck with a .403 BABIP and the 86.7 exit velocity has been lower than expected for those stat lines.  Outman continues to be a watch as the Dodgers and everyone else want to know who is his for this year and next.  Unfortunately, I believe he does not have the long-term potential of a Top 100 hitter while wearing a Dodger uniform.