The Cutting Room Floor from the Top 30

by
July 26, 2018

Yesterday I posted my first run of a Top 30 for 2019. The comments have been lively discussing players y’all would’ve included or asking about certain players so I figured I’d show you the rest of the pool I was choosing. I had a list of about 70 guys that I whittled down to 30 and there were some tough cuts.

My toughest was Carlos Correa and I think that push-come-to-shove, I’d take him over at least Corey Kluber and Clayton Kershaw and maybe even Gerrit Cole and Aaron Nola, too. Those four made up the final four of my Top 30. Here are my next 10 in order and then a positional look at the others who were considered:

31. Carlos Correa, SS, HOU: He’s never been bad (lowest wRC+ was 123 in 2016), but he’s also topped 109 games just once (153 in that same 2016 season). He’s already missed a month with his current injury (back stiffness) and isn’t due back for another couple of weeks.

32. Anthony Rendon, 3B, WAS: I think he’s a bit underrated because he doesn’t do any one thing exceptionally well and his best categories are generally overlooked: AVG and R (.285, 93 full season averages since ’16).

33. Christian Yelich, OF, MIL: The hope was that he’d gain power and speed in Milwaukee with a friendlier park and a team prone to running and while neither category is soaring over previous highs, it is panning out as planned: 24 HR/24 SB pace would be career-highs in both.

34. Trevor Story, SS, COL: Coors Field is a helluva drug. A .322 home AVG has buoyed Story, though his .263 on the road isn’t bad, either, especially after a .256 at home last year. His power unsurprisingly dips on the road, but he runs to make up for it (16 HR, 4 SB at home; 4 HR, 9 SB on the road).

35. Eugenio Suarez, 3B, CIN: Quietly put together two solid, full seasons in 2016-17 before this year’s surge into a premium bat. Full season average since ’16: .265, 28 HR, 93 RBI, 89 R, 7 SB and while I’m not sure this year’s .305 AVG is his new level, I think he’ll hold some of the gains and be better than the .265.

36. Rhys Hoskins, OF, PHI: Feels like a 30-100 lock with the upside for more. Since returning from the DL, he’s hitting .280 with 12 HR (49 full season pace) after .233, 6 in 52 games before.

37. Xander Bogaerts, SS, BOS: I still see a superstar talent here. I know this is his fifth full season and it’s good-not-great production to this point, but he’s having a fantastic this year and I think it’s scratching the surface of how great he can be going forward.

38. George Springer, OF, HOU: Is he the Adam Jones of his era? That’s not a dig, by the way, Jones had several really good seasons and was even a fringe 1st rounder at one point.

39. Scooter Gennett, 2B, CIN: His R+RBI contributions are overlooked because of Cincy, but their poor record isn’t because of offense. His 123 R+RBI is better than Manny Machado (116) and Rhys Hoskins (121) to name a couple and very close to Aaron Judge (130).

40. Eddie Rosario, OF, MIN: He’s completely backed up his 2017 breakout and could reasonably finish .300-100-30-100 this year.

Other Candidates By Position (ranked by preference)

*added after chat suggestion

CATCHERS:

FIRST BASEMEN/DH:

SECOND BASEMEN:

THIRD BASEMEN:

SHORTSTOP:

OUTFIELDERS:

STARTING PITCHERS:

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Is there anyone not listed who you’re definitely taking in the top 70 or so?





 

Paul is the Editor of Rotographs and Content Director for OOTP Perfect Team. Follow Paul on Twitter @sporer and on Twitch at sporer.

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Smaleb Cith
6 years ago

How are you feeling about Ohtani?

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Paul SporerFanGraphs Staff
6 years ago
Reply to  Smaleb Cith

Love the talent, worried about the arm so didn’t consider him here until we get a clearer picture

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