It's safe to say it's been an exciting first half of the MLB season. From Chris Davis firing off HRs at a pace previously surpassed ONLY by Barry Bonds to a whole host of new faces making an impact (Puig, anyone?), it's been a lot of fun to watch. Perhaps most impressive of all is that the Pittsburgh Pirates - a team that hasn't finished above .500 in over 20 years - are flirting with having the best record in baseball.
It goes without saying that there have been more than a few fantasy surprises thus far. Considering we tracked the preseason rankings of 65+ experts (in-season rankings here), we thought it would be interesting to highlight some of the best expert calls.
With that in mind, here's a summary of which pundits liked this year's surprise studs the most heading into the season.
Surprise Studs (Batters)
Note: ECR = Expert Consensus Rank
.315 AVE | 37 HR | 93 RBI
ECR: #22 1B | Best Rank: #11 1B
Top Expert: Muntradamus (Beast Dome)
Jean Segura (MIL).325 AVE | 11 HR | 27 SB
ECR: #20 SS | Best Rank: #7 SS
Top Expert: R.J. White (Fantasy Baseball Cafe)
Carlos Gomez (MIL).295 AVE | 14 HR | 21 SB
ECR: #35 OF | Best Rank: #10 OF
Top Expert: Matt Eastman (Fantasy Knuckleheads)
Domonic Brown (PHI).273 AVE | 23 HR | 67 RBI
ECR: #78 OF | Best Rank: #47 OF
Top Expert: Josh Shepardson (Baseball Prospectus)
Starling Marte (PIT).291 AVE | 9 HR | 28 SB
ECR: #61 OF | Best Rank: #27 OF
Top Expert: Jeff Zimmerman (Fangraphs)
.330 AVE | 16 HR | 55 RBI
ECR: #51 OF | Best Rank: #31 OF
Top Expert: Muntradamus (Beast Dome)
Josh Donaldson (OAK).310 AVE | 16 HR | 61 RBI
ECR: #33 3B | Best Rank: #24 3B
Top Expert: Eric Mack (Sports Illustrated)
Jason Kipnis (CLE).301 AVE | 13 HR | 57 RBI
ECR: #6 2B | Best Rank: #3 2B
Top Expert: Brandon Funston (Yahoo! Sports) and Zach Sanders (Fangraphs)
Everth Cabrera (SD).291 AVE | 4 HR | 33 SB
ECR: #19 SS | Best Rank: #11 SS
Top Expert: Andy Behrens (Yahoo! Sports) and Ryan Hodge (The Fantasy Bums)
Surprise Studs (Pitchers)
Note: ECR = Expert Consensus Rank
Max Scherzer (DET)13-1 | 3.19 ERA | 152 SO
ECR: #19 SP | Best Rank: #6 SP
Top Expert: Michael Pichan (RotoInfo)
Matt Harvey (NYM)7-2 | 2.35 ERA | 147 SO
ECR: #39 SP | Best Rank: #19 SP
Top Expert: Rotochamp Projections
Patrick Corbin (ARI)11-1 | 2.35 ERA | 109 SO
ECR: #112 SP | Best Rank: #64 SP
Top Expert: Mike Podhorzer (Fangraphs)
Bartolo Colon (OAK)12-3 | 2.70 ERA | 70 SO
ECR: #138 SP | Best Rank: #83 SP
Top Expert: Andrew Gould (Bleacher Report)
Hisashi Iwakuma (SEA)8-4 | 3.02 ERA | 113 SO
ECR: #72 SP | Best Rank: #42 SP
Top Expert: Zach Sanders (Fangraphs)
Shelby Miller (STL)9-6 | 2.92 ERA | 112 SO
ECR: #117 SP | Best Rank: #70 SP
Top Expert: KFFL Projections
Jeff Locke (PIT)8-2 | 2.15 ERA | 73 SO
ECR: #175 SP | Best Rank: #106 SP
Top Expert: Ben Pritchett (FantasySports.org)
Matt Moore (TB)13-3 | 3.44 ERA | 1.29 ERA
ECR: #25 SP | Best Rank: #11 SP
Top Expert: Dalton Del Don (Yahoo! Sports)
Jason Grilli (PIT)1.99 ERA | 29 Saves
ECR: #19 RP | Best Rank: #7 RP
Top Expert: Jeff Zimmerman (Fangraphs)
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There’s a lot of baseball left to play, but it's clear these experts were on to something when they touted each player above all other pundits. We're tracking the accuracy of the 65 experts we have draft rankings for, so we'll have a full report card after the season is over.
In the meantime, if there’s a player you think we missed above, you can check out his Preseason Rank here. Simply click on the player’s name to see how every expert rated him.
Enjoy the All Star game festivities!
