Sunday will mark the start of another great season for Major League Baseball and we here at FantasyPros can’t wait. The offseason has been fun, painful, exciting, or maybe all of the above, but it’s time to rinse off the last few weeks and start setting lineups as well as thinking towards the future.
Of course, it wouldn’t be right to start the fantasy season without bold predictions from the most accurate experts in the industry, so here we go as you’ll find below, the pundits going out on a limb while still keeping realistic possibilities in mind.
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Q. Please give us one bold prediction with the season about to start that owners should keep in mind.
“Keon Broxton will be the first 20/40 player since Carlos Gomez in 2013. Interestingly enough, Gomez was still with the Brewers at that point. Broxton can and will post a very similar line with a slightly lower average than Gomez and maybe a few less RBIs. But, from July 28 through the end of his season last year, Broxton was on a 66 R, 28 HR, 59 RBI, 55 SB pace with a .299 AVG. This is Broxton’s breakout year.”
– Jake Ciely (RotoExperts)
“Mike Moustakas, who currently has a No. 217 consensus ADP, finishes 2017 as the Royals’ most valuable fantasy hitter. Before tearing his ACL in May, he registered seven home runs, a .260 ISO and 37.4 hard-hit percentage in 27 games while slicing his strikeout rate down to 11.5. For those justifiably skeptical of the small sample size, the former star prospect already broke out by hitting .284/.348/.470 in 2015. Although Eric Hosmer is certainly a safer corner-infielder choice, which is reflected by his No. 99 ADP, it’s not far-fetched for Moose to eclipse a first baseman who notched a .761 OPS in his first season hitting 20 or more home runs.”
– Andrew Gould (Bleacher Report)
“Sean Manaea will finish 2017 as a top-25 SP. He struggled in his first three starts as a rookie in 2016, but after changing his changeup grip (as Eno Sarris of FanGraphs noted on Twitter), the lefty totaled a 3.14 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 6.0% BB%, and 21.4% K% in 21 starts spanning 132.0 innings, per FanGraphs. He really kicked things up a notch in the second half with a 2.67 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 5.6% BB%, 22.8% K%, and 48.3% GB%. Add in that he calls a pitcher-friendly park home, and there’s a ton to like here.”
– Josh Shepardson (Fantasy Cruncher)
“This could be a big breakout season for Brandon Drury. Don’t hesitate to bid aggressively for him this season. In My Xclusive Edge Insider series on RotoExperts.com, I spoke to a source close to Drury who called him a workout warrior and baseball-type gym rat who could be the next coming of Nolan Arenado.”
– Scott Engel (RotoExperts)
“Nick Castellanos is a top-10 3B this season. There are few positions as deep as the player pool at third base this season, but I still believe the Tigers’ 25-year-old Castellanos works his way into the top ten at the position. The line drive machine saw a spike in his HR/FB rate last season, but even a subtle regression here can be absorbed and still deliver the end-game results we’re looking for. His hard-hit contact rates are elite and will play well in the 2-hole ahead of Miguel Cabrera where he’ll likely see his fair share of fastballs, and the increase in at-bats he’ll see will raise his run scoring and creating opportunities, while also improving the weight of his likely .300ish batting average in roto leagues.”
– Ryan Noonan (The Fantasy Fix)
“The Mets will have three of the Top 20 fantasy starting pitchers in 2017. While Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom seem like safe bets to be in the Top 20, there are questions about Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, Zach Wheeler and Robert Gsellman. This fearsome rotation gets to face off against the weak offenses Phillies, Braves and Marlins on a regular basis. The health of the pitchers is the gamble here but the Mets have been extra careful about that and we’re seeing good signs already with Harvey, in particular, reaching 97 MPH this spring. ”
– Luke Gloeckner (Mr. Cheatsheet)
“Giancarlo Stanton stays healthy and hits 60 home runs. The Miami Marlins slugger’s incredible raw power has never been in question. We know from MLB’s Statcast data that no one in the game today hits the ball harder. Stanton’s biggest problem has been avoiding injuries. He’s played in 140 or more games only twice in his seven seasons with the Marlins. With home runs inching closer to an all-time high last season (1.16 per game), a healthy Stanton – at age 27 – is in perfect position to challenge the 60-homer mark, something we haven’t seen since Barry Bonds set the single-season record of 73 in 2001.”
– Steve Gardner (USA Today)
“Giancarlo Stanton hits over 40 home runs this season. For Giancarlo Stanton to hit over 40 home runs this season, he must avoid the injury bug and stay on the field. Over his career, Stanton has missed 23% of Miami’s games, but he’s now at the prime playing age of 27. Let’s not lose sight that in 2014, Stanton played in 145 games and hit 37 home runs in 539 at bats. Spring training has showed that he is a full health and those fantasy baseball league managers that took advantage of his depressed ADP will be rewarded in 2017. ”
– Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire)
“Zach Davies is going to be a Cy Young finalist: If you look at Davies and Kyle Hendricks, they are very similar. One big difference is Hendricks plays on a much better team (although I think the Brewers will surprise people this season too). Still, the command (K/BB and BB/9 ratios) is almost identical to Hendricks. If Davies can get his BABIP lower (which will be helped by better defense behind him), like Hendricks last year, then we could see very similar numbers and a run at the Cy Young. ”
– Joe Bond (Fantasy Six Pack)
“Trea Turner and Jose Peraza will be within $5 of each other in 5 x 5 leagues. Their minor league numbers are very similar and there’s absolutely nothing in Turner’s past that says his power outburst in 2016 is repeatable. Both will be great players to own in 2017, but the huge divide in their currently perceived values is not warranted.”
– Doug Anderson (FNTSY Sports Network)
“The Nationals win the NL East in a runaway, by 10 games or more. You’re going to want a lot of shares in this team.”
– Scott Pianowski (Yahoo! Sports)
Bonus Prediction:
“Starling Marte will take a page out of Carl Crawford’s playbook and post a 20 HR, 60 SB season with a .300 batting average. Last season, the Pirates’ outfielder played through a back injury and somehow still stole 47 bags in just 129 games. He saw his HR/FB ratio plummet from 18.6% to 8.4% despite a substantial increase in his hard hit percentage. He is due for a major bounce back in the power department and now that he is healthy and playing in the prime years of a hitter’s career, an additional power spike isn’t out of the question.”
– Bobby Sylvester (FantasyPros)
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Thank you to the experts for making their bold predictions. Be sure to give them a follow on Twitter for advice all season long. Also, take a listen to our podcast and subscribe below to get the latest episodes.
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