A Collection of Five Category Hitters

When drafting hitters for a traditional five category league, my standard strategy is to target players who contribute in many categories – preferably all five. Today, in deference to my jet lag, we’re mostly going to dispense with analysis and break out some lists of players who fall into different buckets of production. All of the values below come from Steamer’s 2014 projections. Steamer and projection systems in general aren’t the best at predicting runs and RBI, so keep that in mind.

Creme de la Creme

Name	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
Mike Trout	684	27	119	83	33	12	0.308	0.405	0.534
Carlos Gonzalez	579	28	87	91	19	8	0.297	0.365	0.544
Andrew McCutchen	644	23	89	89	20	10	0.300	0.389	0.507

This is a list of players projected for more than 80 runs and RBI, 20 home runs, 15 stolen bases, and a .280 average. No surprises here, these players are exceptionally good and their draft price reflects that fact. These are currently the first, fourth, and seventh overall picks. Hanley Ramirez missed the cutoff by one point in batting average.

Right Below the Creme

Name	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
Ryan Braun	573	25	78	82	16	7	0.293	0.367	0.513
Yasiel Puig	618	26	79	84	20	13	0.290	0.359	0.502

As I mentioned, run and RBI projections can get a little wonky. If we scale back to greater than 70, we add just two players. Braun’s mixed in with the above names, but Puig may represent a buying opportunity. Personally, I’m perturbed by Puig’s 16.9 swinging strike rate, which makes Adam Dunn look like a contact oriented hitter. Still…

Steals Are Overrated

Name	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
Joey Votto	609	23	84	79	5	3	0.296	0.424	0.507
Troy Tulowitzki	600	28	84	97	3	2	0.300	0.376	0.534
Paul Goldschmidt	661	32	96	99	13	7	0.289	0.382	0.533
Prince Fielder	635	27	90	97	1	1	0.286	0.386	0.498
Freddie Freeman	556	23	73	79	2	1	0.293	0.375	0.505
Buster Posey	635	21	81	90	2	2	0.304	0.383	0.49
David Ortiz	564	24	79	84	2	2	0.285	0.378	0.51
Matt Holliday	609	22	81	83	4	3	0.291	0.377	0.488
Albert Pujols	615	30	87	97	4	2	0.282	0.357	0.515
Adrian Beltre	635	28	85	101	1	1	0.296	0.347	0.504
Robinson Cano	635	23	83	90	4	3	0.292	0.363	0.487
Allen Craig	622	20	78	84	2	2	0.298	0.357	0.48
Billy Butler	645	20	83	89	1	1	0.293	0.373	0.467
Adrian Gonzalez	645	25	80	94	1	1	0.292	0.358	0.486
Pablo Sandoval	651	22	84	88	2	1	0.289	0.352	0.478
Eric Hosmer	661	21	84	90	11	6	0.288	0.353	0.462
Michael Cuddyer	584	21	75	82	8	4	0.281	0.343	0.474

Ah, now we get some names. Most of these players are still among the top picks, but there are a few that can be targeted mid-draft. Sandoval is currently the 147th pick off the board according to FantasyPros. Cuddyer is going 94th and Butler is 123rd, although the latter may be affected by position eligibility. Steamer is bullish about Pujols, but do your homework before betting on a renaissance.

Woe Be to Batting Average

Name	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
Hanley Ramirez	564	20	70	74	15	7	0.279	0.349	0.463
Carlos Gomez	630	22	76	72	33	13	0.254	0.31	0.436

Ok, so this is really just Gomez. I filtered to see which players are 20/20 threats without worrying about batting average. As I mentioned earlier, Ramirez missed the first group by one point in batting average.

Five Category Lite

Name	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
Shin-Soo Choo	642	18	91	70	17	8	0.279	0.39	0.449
David Wright	608	19	77	78	14	7	0.29	0.376	0.476
Jason Heyward	544	21	70	72	10	6	0.271	0.362	0.479
Bryce Harper	557	22	76	68	13	7	0.271	0.356	0.48
Hanley Ramirez	564	20	70	74	15	7	0.279	0.349	0.463
Dustin Pedroia	614	12	79	71	13	6	0.288	0.362	0.431
Matt Kemp	567	22	72	75	13	6	0.271	0.342	0.464
Kole Calhoun	498	15	63	62	10	6	0.273	0.341	0.447
Brett Lawrie	570	18	75	67	13	7	0.274	0.336	0.451
Hunter Pence	628	21	75	84	10	6	0.274	0.337	0.452
Austin Jackson	646	13	90	60	13	6	0.275	0.347	0.423
Jose Reyes	588	10	77	62	22	9	0.29	0.348	0.426
Jacoby Ellsbury	662	15	86	68	35	12	0.276	0.334	0.417
Brad Miller	564	13	65	62	11	7	0.268	0.331	0.413
Ian Desmond	556	16	62	61	15	7	0.266	0.317	0.426
Alex Rios	580	16	67	71	22	9	0.268	0.313	0.426
Starlin Castro	604	11	64	63	13	8	0.277	0.32	0.411
Alexei Ramirez	653	11	75	62	19	10	0.271	0.309	0.381

Now we’re looking at something. This is a list of players who are projected for better than 60 runs and RBI, 10 home runs and stolen bases, and a .265 average. Most of the list is populated with players who just missed my previous cutoffs, like Wright, Choo, and Harper. However, a few possible bargains reveal themselves including A. Ramirez, Miller, and Calhoun.

Power Club

Name	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
Jose Bautista	574	33	85	91	6	4	0.262	0.375	0.519
Edwin Encarnacion	644	33	91	100	6	4	0.271	0.364	0.505
Anthony Rizzo	654	31	86	94	7	5	0.268	0.35	0.501

I ratcheted down the stolen base requirement to five and batting average to .250 while filtering for hitters with a 30 plus home run projection. Rizzo isn’t a bargain, he’s being picked 87th overall.

Five Category Ultra-Lite

Name	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
Justin Upton	531	22	69	73	9	4	0.276	0.363	0.485
Domonic Brown	608	24	70	79	9	5	0.272	0.336	0.47
Adam Jones	578	25	72	85	9	5	0.278	0.32	0.479
Alex Gordon	660	18	90	75	9	5	0.274	0.348	0.442
Ben Zobrist	646	15	79	74	10	5	0.264	0.355	0.421
Wil Myers	597	22	75	77	9	5	0.263	0.333	0.452
Martin Prado	678	14	89	67	7	5	0.289	0.345	0.434
Yoenis Cespedes	529	22	66	77	8	5	0.261	0.324	0.462
Chase Utley	537	16	63	64	8	3	0.263	0.342	0.434
Aaron Hill	641	20	80	74	9	5	0.271	0.332	0.443
Ian Kinsler	651	19	81	83	17	8	0.261	0.336	0.426
Jason Kipnis	630	16	85	67	22	10	0.262	0.344	0.415
Melky Cabrera	539	11	64	64	8	4	0.285	0.336	0.427
Justin Ruggiano	554	18	63	65	17	9	0.257	0.324	0.432
Kyle Seager	598	17	66	68	8	5	0.261	0.332	0.418
Xander Bogaerts	564	14	66	65	8	5	0.261	0.325	0.413
Howie Kendrick	603	13	65	67	9	5	0.276	0.322	0.416
Asdrubal Cabrera	528	13	60	63	8	4	0.259	0.32	0.408
Andrelton Simmons	597	13	61	63	9	6	0.267	0.318	0.408
Brandon Phillips	609	16	66	68	7	4	0.266	0.317	0.408
Erick Aybar	630	8	77	61	15	7	0.274	0.313	0.389

Last table. The top half of this list just barely missed the filter conditions to appear on some of the above lists. As we get to the second half, we find a number of cost effective options who could help glue a roster together. Guys like Cabrera, Ruggiano, Simmons, and Aybar can fall through the cracks entirely despite providing relatively well-rounded production. They don’t stand out in any one category, which is something that fantasy owners tend to notice.

Overall, we tagged 66 players who offer some variation of five category production. Speaking from personal experience, drafting players who can contribute across the board makes it a lot easier to adjust to injuries and performance shortfalls. The waiver wire generally doesn’t have players who are exceptional in even one category, but there are a lot of players who are useful under the right conditions. If you’re lucky, a roster that emphasizes five category production could make it easier to use waiver bait while still pursuing every category.