We have almost reached the finish line of our position by position player recaps! Today we move on to the outfield, which means it’s time to check in on how I did with my preseason Pod’s Picks. Because there are so many of them, the list was a much better representation of the players I was particularly bullish and bearish on based on my projections.
The 2014 fantasy baseball season has come to a close, so it is time to look back at the season past and determine which players were the most valuable at each position. Since it’s such a large class, we’ll be focusing on outfielders for a fortnight.
The players were ranked based on their 2014 production, using the evaluation system explained and updated on this site some time ago. The valuations are built for $260 budgets and standard 5×5 roto fantasy leagues, where only one catcher is started. Players are listed only at their primary positions from 2014.
One important thing to note is the premium (or lack thereof) placed on the position a player occupies in your lineup. For example, while a first baseman may be able to accumulate superior overall numbers, the availability of such production lower in the rankings severely dampers the amount the player was worth. These rankings are meant to reflect a player’s value should he have occupied this spot in your lineup for the entire year. A player who missed time due to injury but put up great numbers during his time on the field would be worth less.
This year, I’ve added in RotoGraphs’ preseason consensus rankings so you can see what we thought of each player coming into the year. This ranking can be found in the “Pre” column. “EOS” of course stands for End Of Season, and the rest should be self explanatory.
With all this in mind, here are your rankings. Read the rest of this entry »
Admittedly we’ll be looking at arbitrary endpoints, specifically first half vs second half splits. I’m generally not one to split up a season like this, however with Josh Reddick, looking at his pre and post-All Star break numbers are worth it.
In total, Reddick has posted a decent albeit not great year. He’s sporting a .254/.310/.430 line, equating to a 111 wRC+. Two separate stints on the disabled list — both due to knee issues — have limited him to 375 plate appearances. Only 11 home runs and sub 50 RBIs and runs isn’t something you’d like to see from a corner outfielder, but there is good reason to hope for him. Read the rest of this entry »
Pirates infielder Josh Harrison has come a long way this season. At 26 years old, Harrison has emerged as one of the club’s key contributors. He’ll be relied as such when the team enters the postseason next week. Harrison’s rise to prominence has been one of the year’s biggest surprises. While he had always hit for high averages in the minors, that didn’t seem to carry over during his brief stints in the majors. On top of that, Harrison rarely offered anything in the power department. Considering he was never a top prospect, there are plenty of reasons to doubt Harrison’s recent breakout.
In his first extended stint of big league action, Kevin Kiermaier has shown a talent for hitting right-handed pitchers. To say a left-handed hitter can do damage against opposite-handed pitching is no new development, but Kiermaier has seemingly flown beneath the radar.
The 24-year-old has made it into 99 games thus far and has accrued 336 plate appearances. His overall .262/.314/.452 isn’t too inspiring, although his numbers versus righties is a strong .282/.340/.498, good for a 139 wRC+ in 267 PAs. Of his 10 home runs, nine have happened while facing a righty. The table below displays some relevant splits.
| AVG | OBP | SLG | BABIP | K% | BB% | GB% | FB% | HR/FB% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vs LHP | .188 | .212 | .282 | .244 | 26.1% | 2.9% | 58.1% | 20.9% | 11.1% |
| Vs RHP | .282 | .340 | .498 | .314 | 17.2% | 7.1% | 51.3% | 32.8% | 14.5% |
Start spreading the news. Martin Prado has truly woken up in the city that never sleeps. I wrote a few paragraphs about Prado last month, explaining why I’d rather have him than Dustin Pedroia rest-of-season. Now I feel compelled to study him a bit deeper, since he’s continued raking, despite battling a nagging hamstring issue that kept him out for a few games, but sure hasn’t slowed down his production.
Since being traded to the Yankees, Prado has snapped out of a year-and-a-half long slumber to put up some of the best numbers of his career. Since moving to the Bronx, Prado has been the No. 4 fantasy second baseman, hitting for both power and average. Just a quick look at his season stats, split between the two clubs, is jaw-dropping:
While Alejandro De Aza did move to Baltimore recently, as far as I know, he did not join the New Day Co-Op. Instead he joined the Baltimore Orioles as their a reserve outfielder. In my imagination he sat down with the rest of the O’s players and held a meeting of sorts, where they collectively decided to handle the gang from New York.
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A guy with a 151 wRC+ is owned in just 17% of Yahoo! leagues as the playoffs in head-to-head formats are taking place and while roto players are fighting for the top spot in their leagues. In my main league I was actually scouring the waiver wire last night and was able to pick Pollock up, and it’s a very competitive league with guys who are very keen on the wire.
Melky Cabrera’s finger injury has ended his 2014 season, and Blue Jays manager John Gibbons wants to give youngsters Anthony Gose and Kevin Pillar an extended look in the season’s last month.
“That could be your center and left fielder next year, you don’t know,” Gibbons recently told MLB.com. “You don’t know how things will shake out.”
Sounds like we have two contestants primed for a look in this week’s edition of the deep league wire.
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There are a few exciting names up today. You’ve got your Maikel Franco in Philly, your Joc Pederson in Los Angeles and your Daniel Norris in Toronto. They’ve been called up to the bigs! But, due to innings limits on young arms, and roster crunches on teams now as much as 50% larger, it’s fair to ask. Will any of these youngsters play regularly?
