2021 is over and we turn the page to 2022. Here are my current ranks for the third base position for 2022. I will post updates as things change with signings, injuries, or news in Major League Baseball.
See my other ranks here: https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/category/rankings/
Machine learning allows human eyes to take a break from the mundane scrolling and sorting through spreadsheets while still gathering useful insights. What made a top-five pitcher (from a fantasy perspective) so great in 2021? You could answer that easily by sorting through our leaderboards. Robbie Ray? Well, he had an excellent K-BB% (25.2%, league-average 14.6%) Corbin Burnes? His K/9 was a huge 12.61 while the league was only at 8.9. These underlying metrics are important to take note of but can be difficult to analyze all at once. Don’t get me wrong, it can be done. Just look at Michael Simione’s latest piece where he compares pitchers’ underlying metrics. In fact, that’s a lot of fun to do! But, as you come out of your fantasy hibernation and are ready to begin making your draft rankings, you’ll want a quicker way to analyze large data sets all at once. Enter the decision tree.
77-85 (4th in Division; 19th in MLB)
SP Wins: 40 (21st)
RP Wins: 37 (12th)
Saves: 39 (17th)
1+ Save: 5 (Raisel Iglesias 34, Mike Mayers 2, Patrick Sandoval 1, Alex Claudio 1, Austin Warren 1)
100+ Ks: 3 (Shohei Ohtani 156, Andrew Heaney 116 [total: 150], Iglesias 103)
.260+ AVG (min. 350 PA): 3 (Jared Walsh .277, David Fletcher .262, Phil Gosselin .261)
65+ Runs: 3 (Ohtani 103, Fletcher 74, Walsh 70)
65+ RBI: 2 (Ohtani 100, Walsh 98)
10+ HRs: 5 (Ohtani 46, Walsh 29, Justin Upton 17, Max Stassi 13, Jack Mayfield 10)
5+ SBs: 5 (Ohtani 26, Fletcher 15, Brandon Marsh 6, Mayfield, José Iglesias 5)
BEST BUY: Shohei Ohtani
I realize it can be hard for a 1st rounder to be a Best Buy, but that just speaks to Ohtani’s greatness. Even in leagues where you have to pick hitter or pitcher at the beginning of the week, he is remarkably valuable as a superstar in both avenues. I tend to draft him as a hitter and spot him in at pitcher as needed and if I somehow wind up with an uber-loaded offense, then I have 100 ace-level innings at the ready.
2021 is over and we turn the page to 2022. Here are my current ranks for the shortstop position for 2021. I will post updates as things change with signings, injuries, or news in Major League Baseball.
77-85 (4th in Division; 20th in MLB)
SP Wins: 35 (24th)
RP Wins: 42 (9th)
Saves: 42 (12th)
1+ Save: 8 (Gregory Soto 18, Michael Fulmer 14, José Cisnero 4, Bryan Garcia 2, Kyle Funkhouser, Joe Jimenez, Daniel Norris, & Alex Lange 1)
100+ Ks: 2 (Tarik Skubal 164, Casey Mize 118)
.260+ AVG (min. 350 PA): 2 (Jonathan Schoop .278, Jeimer Candelario .271)
65+ Runs: 3 (Robbie Grossman 88, Schoop 85, Candelario 75)
65+ RBI: 4 (Schoop 84, Miguel Cabrera 75, Grossman & Candelario 67)
10+ HRs: 6 (Grossman 23, Schoop & Eric Haase 22, Candelario 16, Cabrera 15, Akil Baddoo 13)
5+ SBs: 7 (Grossman 20, Baddoo 18, Niko Goodrum 14, Willi Castro 9, Daz Cameron & Derek Hill 6, Victor Reyes 5)
BEST BUY: Jonathan Schoop
Schoop had a career year in 2017 when he hit 32 HR with 105 RBI and a .293 AVG and while he will likely never reach that high watermark again, he is a firm bet for 22-25 HR with 75-80 RBI and a .255-.270 AVG. He is also dual eligible for 2022, adding 1B to his normal 2B. If you play H2H or DFS, there is always a Schoopening or two every year when he is white-hot and pitchers just can’t get him out.
We all look at underlying metrics when it comes to any player, but whether we like to admit it or not we still sometimes look at the basic numbers. For pitchers, while ERA and WHIP of course mean something, we all know they aren’t predictive at all. Yet sometimes they are hard to ignore and we think, “well he did have a great ERA.” As a fun little exercise, we are going to compare two pitchers at a time based on underlying statistics to see if we can push away some biases. Let’s have some fun!
After diving into early draft hitter projections, the late draft season hitter projections get their time in the sun. First up is the counting stats that are heavily influenced on accurately guesstimating playing time. As with the early projections, the Bat and the Wisdom of the Crowds stand out with the addition of the Pod projections joining the others near the top.
For the projections, I pulled the following ones from the morning of March 30.
I didn’t run the values on CBS even though I pulled them. They were missing quite a few players and I messed up not pulling the Utility-onlys. Additionally, I pulled the ZEILE projections which are an average of several projections. Read the rest of this entry »
74-87 (4th in Division; 21st in MLB)
SP Wins: 42 (15th)
RP Wins: 32 (21st)
Saves: 33 (26th)
1+ Save: 4 (Daniel Bard 20, Carlos Estévez 11, Robert Stephenson, Lucas Gilbreath 1)
100+ Ks: 5 (Germán Márquez 176, Jon Gray 157, Austin Gomber 113, Antonio Senzatela, Kyle Freeland 105)
.260+ AVG (min. 350 PA): 5 (Brendan Rodgers .284, C.J. Cron .281, Raimel Tapia .273, Charlie Blackmon .270)
65+ Runs: 6 (Trevor Story 88, Ryan McMahon 80, Blackmon 76, Cron 70, Tapia, Garrett Hampson 69)
65+ RBI: 4 (Cron 92, McMahon 86, Blackmon 78, Story 75)
10+ HRs: 9 (Cron 28, Story 24, McMahon 23, Elias Díaz 18, Rodgers 15, Sam Hilliard 14, Blackmon 13, Hampson 11, Dom Nuñez 10)
5+ SBs: 5 (Story, Tapia 20, Hampson 17, McMahon 6, Hilliard 5)
BEST BUY: C.J. Cron
For the first time since 2017, Cron won’t be changing teams. After five teams in five years (LAA, TBR, MIN, DET, COL), he finally found a team to appreciate his plus bat (career 113 wRC+; 119 since leaving LAA). Of course Colorado would sign the 32-year-old to a multi-year deal given their love of older players, but in this case I really don’t mind it as it’s an affordable $14.5 mil for the two years. He is a solid bet for .270/25/90 with some real upside thanks to his home park.
2021 is over and we turn the page to 2022. Here are my current ranks for the second position for 2021. I will post updates as things change with signings, injuries, or news in Major League Baseball.
2021 is over and we turn the page to 2022. Here are my current ranks for the catcher position for 2021. I will post updates as things change with signings, injuries, or news in Major League Baseball.
