TOP DOGS
1. Jose Ramirez Guardians No Suprise Here as Ramirez has shown out of the gate he still has great plate discipline and has never seen a fastball he didn’t like. You would like to see a little more hard contact but it’s super early and Ramirez will get into one of his grooves and drafters will once again be happy he is on your squad.
2. Rafael Devers Red Sox Devers has hits in all of his games so far and has popped one out of the park in his 1st game of the season. Another elite hitter who will find his groove shortly. Whiff% and Chase Rate are a little higher than we would like to see but no worries here as another great season awaits from Mr. Devers.
3. Austin Riley Braves Riley is squaring up the baseball so far and is showing at least out of the gate he can sustain the lofty totals that he acquired last season. His WOBA is .427 which is about 100 points above his average so yes it will come down and you will have to deal with the occasional 3 strikeout day like yesterday against the Nationals for example but the ride will be worth it.
4. Nolan Arenado Cardinals Facing the likes of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitching staff will give all power hitters a boost in their numbers it looks like this season but Arenado torched the Pirate staff this past weekend and is off to a hot start. 2 HR out to left field and a few doubles to boot Arenado looks really good so far and drafters are reaping the rewards early on.
5. Manny Machado Padres No barreled up baseballs yet out of 14 batted balls but Manny is hitting the ball well and is just getting a little unlucky on some of his at-bats. He will come around eventually but definitely misses Tatis Jr. in the lineup and you can count on an uptick in his production when that happens.
SOLID PROS
6. Alex Bregman Astros Whoa, nice start from Bregman here, has only struck out one time in 14 plate appearances and has hit 2 HR already. He’s a little tough to root for unless you are a die-hard “Space City” fan but if he’s on your fantasy team who cares. I like the start so far and he could break the top 5 if he keeps it up.
7. Kris Bryant Rockies
8. Justin Turner Dodgers
9. Anthony Rendon Angels
10. Matt Chapman Blue Jays Chapman had a nice 3 run blast the other day against the Rangers. He has struck out 8 out of 16 plate appearances so that isn’t great but it will even out and Chapman should do his thing and hit 30 HR just with that low average we kinda cringe at thinking about.
STUCK IN MIDDLE
11. Ke’Bryan Hayes Pirates Nice start to the season for Hayes as he worked out a minor injury in his 1st game to come back and get 4 hits in 3 games over the weekend and they were nice hard hit balls for the most part. Wouldn’t be surprised if he settles in the 7-9 range shortly.
12. Josh Donaldson Yankees
13. Adalberto Mondesi Royals Well at least owners of Mondesi know he can at least steal a base as he did on Sunday. Not much else to see here as it could be a rough year awaiting him.
14. DJ LeMahieu Yankees Bad News 1 for 10 start for D.J. and is not playing every day. Good News is he has had some hard hit balls so far they just have found the opponent’s glove. I think he will be ok in the long run but if we are depending on him producing like he did two seasons ago I think that train has left the station.
15. Ryan McMahon Rockies
HAZY FUTURE
16. Jeimer Candelario Tigers Not a great start from the Candy Man but has driven in two runs so that’s been nice to see. Has only struck out twice so that’s a positive. I think there is more to see and the Tigers look good so far and that’s usually contagious.
17. Eduardo Escobar Mets
18. Gio Urshela Twins Gio had a great looking HR against the Mariners in the Twins 1st game where he had to lunge at the baseball and was able to get enough to hit it out to LF. Good Sign there just depends if he’s going to be in the lineup every day to be useful and provide enough for you to keep him in your lineup. You could do worse at your CI spot in your lineup.
19. Alec Bohm Phillies Well the man who hates the place he plays in has actually hit the ball pretty decent but it’s his defense that is getting the most of the unwanted attention. I think the Phillies probably move him at some point but in the meantime they keep trotting him out most of the time to get some exposure to other teams that may be interested. Still has some good attributes so not giving up on him just yet.
20. Joey Wendle Rays
Honorable Mention
Josh Harrison White Sox, Luis Urias Brewers (Injured), Yoan Moncada White Sox (Injured)
