We are at the halfway point of the season and as always, there were plenty of surprises in performance. Today, I’ll be handing out the first-half awards and naming the fantasy all-star team, all-draft value team and all-waiver wire team. If you want to make a case for someone else, doesn’t hesitate to shoot me a tweet. If you’ve got a good point, I’ll correct myself on the FantasyPros Baseball Podcast and give you a shout out. Enjoy!
Fantasy Awards
Most Valuable Player
Aaron Judge (OF – NYY)
It really isn’t all that close if we are being honest with ourselves. Paul Goldschmidt has continued to post unworldly power/speed numbers and is batting over .310 once again, but the Yankees’ rookie has set the world on fire. With Judge’s .329 BA, 30 bombs, 75 runs scored and 66 RBI, you’d imagine any owner would be looking down from atop the standings. He is top 10 in four of the five major categories and even steals some bases to boot. I expect the second half batting average to end up around .280, but there is no sign of his power slowing down so he looks destined to finish as a top three fantasy asset and be a consensus first round pick next preseason.
Second Half Prediction: Mookie Betts (OF – BOS)
Cy Young
Clayton Kershaw (SP – LAD)
With both Max Scherzer and Chris Sale on pace for well over 300 strikeouts, you might think one of them would have this award locked up, but don’t overlook what Kershaw has done once again. His ERA is 2nd of the bunch, WHIP is 2nd and Ks are a good 19 behind the leader, but he has already racked up 14 wins. Granted, both Scherzer and Sale have deserved as many, or perhaps more wins than Kershaw, but he has been the beneficiary of some luck, nevertheless and fantasy owners have rejoiced. For what it’s worth, he is 3rd in my rest of season pitchers rankings as the wins are unlikely to continue at such a pace.
Second Half Prediction: Corey Kluber (SP – CLE)
Top Value Pick
Jose Ramirez (2B/3B/OF – CLE)
This time last year, I scoffed at the possibility of Ramirez being a legitimate fantasy asset. Little did I know, he would be a top 15 player at mid-season the following year. Not only is Ramirez in contention for the batting title and swiping double-digit bags, but he is pounding out homers as often as Nelson Cruz and Nolan Arenado. Then when you multiply that by the fact that he qualifies at three positions including second base and it is clear that he was an incredible value pick. This pre-season, he was being selected #111 behind the likes of Alex Bregman and DJ LeMahieu. I bet we all wish we could have a do-over, except of course for the owners who he fell to.
Second Half Prediction: Nick Castellanos (3B – DET)
Top Waiver Wire Addition
Aaron Judge (OF – NYY)
If you can believe it, so many of us whiffed on Judge this season that he went undrafted in the majority of leagues. His average ADP was #282 which means unless we were in a 12 team league that had 24 rosters, he was usually a free agent to start the year. It makes sense, however, considering he struck out 50% of the time (quite literally) last season with a .179 batting average. There were talks that the Yankees would start him in Triple-A and give the final outfield spot to Aaron Hicks, but for whatever reason, New York gave Judge another chance and what do you know? Triple crown candidate. Baseball is weird.
Second Half Prediction: Nick Pivetta (SP – PHI)
Fantasy All-Star Team
| POS | PLAYER | AB | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG |
| C | Salvador Perez (KC – C,DH) | 297 | 37 | 18 | 57 | 0 | 0.290 |
| 1B | Paul Goldschmidt (ARI – 1B) | 317 | 73 | 20 | 67 | 13 | 0.312 |
| 2B | Jose Altuve (HOU – 2B) | 334 | 62 | 13 | 50 | 18 | 0.347 |
| 3B | Jose Ramirez (CLE – 3B,2B,LF) | 328 | 62 | 17 | 48 | 10 | 0.332 |
| SS | Carlos Correa (HOU – SS) | 317 | 62 | 20 | 65 | 0 | 0.325 |
| OF | Aaron Judge (NYY – RF) | 301 | 75 | 30 | 66 | 6 | 0.329 |
| OF | Charlie Blackmon (COL – CF) | 367 | 72 | 20 | 61 | 8 | 0.319 |
| OF | George Springer (HOU – RF,CF) | 336 | 76 | 27 | 61 | 2 | 0.310 |
| UTL | Joey Votto (CIN – 1B) | 314 | 65 | 26 | 68 | 3 | 0.315 |
| PLAYER | IP | K | W | SV | ERA | WHIP |
| Clayton Kershaw (LAD – SP) | 132 | 159 | 14 | 0 | 2.18 | 0.88 |
| Max Scherzer (WSH – SP) | 128 | 173 | 10 | 0 | 2.10 | 0.78 |
| Chris Sale (BOS – SP) | 128 | 178 | 11 | 0 | 2.75 | 0.90 |
| Zack Greinke (ARI – SP) | 116 | 131 | 11 | 0 | 2.86 | 1.00 |
| Alex Wood (LAD – RP,SP) | 81 | 97 | 10 | 0 | 1.67 | 0.89 |
| Corey Kluber (CLE – SP) | 93 | 123 | 7 | 0 | 2.80 | 0.99 |
| Kenley Jansen (LAD – RP) | 38 | 57 | 4 | 21 | 0.96 | 0.56 |
| Craig Kimbrel (BOS – RP) | 38 | 68 | 2 | 23 | 1.19 | 0.50 |
| Roberto Osuna (TOR – RP) | 35 | 47 | 2 | 22 | 2.06 | 0.71 |
Chances are, if you have three players from this team, you are in killer shape. Four? You might as well start prepping for fantasy football because the fat lady is already singing. It is remarkable how many power hitters are also carrying superb batting averages still at this point of the season. On the pitching side, the top three come as no surprise, nor does Kluber, but Greinke and Wood’s appearance on this list were predicted by virtually no one. In fact, if you knew Alex Wood was going to be a fantasy all-star with a 1.67 ERA and 10.8 K/9 then I’d like to talk to you, and maybe take a spin in your time machine. Perhaps the most astonishing part of this list, however, are the sheer numbers of Jansen and Kimbrel. Baseball has never seen such dominance out of the bullpen before with their sub 0.60 WHIPs and their 16+ K/9.
All-Draft-Value Team
| POS | PLAYER | AB | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG |
| C | Salvador Perez (KC – C,DH) | 297 | 37 | 18 | 57 | 0 | 0.290 |
| 1B | Mike Moustakas (KC – 3B) | 311 | 45 | 25 | 54 | 0 | 0.270 |
| 2B | Jose Ramirez (CLE – 3B,2B,LF) | 328 | 62 | 17 | 48 | 10 | 0.332 |
| 3B | Jake Lamb (ARI – 3B) | 315 | 54 | 20 | 67 | 4 | 0.279 |
| SS | Elvis Andrus (TEX – SS) | 340 | 52 | 11 | 50 | 20 | 0.300 |
| OF | Marcell Ozuna (MIA – CF,LF) | 339 | 52 | 23 | 70 | 0 | 0.316 |
| OF | Domingo Santana (MIL – RF) | 296 | 54 | 15 | 50 | 9 | 0.291 |
| OF | Corey Dickerson (TB – LF,DH) | 343 | 60 | 17 | 42 | 2 | 0.312 |
| UTL | Miguel Sano (MIN – 3B,RF,DH) | 301 | 55 | 21 | 62 | 0 | 0.276 |
| PLAYER | IP | K | W | SV | ERA | WHIP |
| Zack Greinke (ARI – SP) | 116 | 131 | 11 | 0 | 2.86 | 1.00 |
| Dallas Keuchel (HOU – SP) | 76 | 69 | 9 | 0 | 1.67 | 0.87 |
| Ervin Santana (MIN – SP) | 120 | 91 | 10 | 0 | 2.99 | 1.08 |
| Robbie Ray (ARI – SP) | 106 | 141 | 8 | 0 | 2.97 | 1.22 |
| Lance McCullers (HOU – SP) | 91 | 106 | 7 | 0 | 3.05 | 1.14 |
| Michael Fulmer (DET – SP) | 116 | 84 | 9 | 0 | 3.19 | 1.12 |
| Raisel Iglesias (CIN – RP,SP) | 43 | 52 | 2 | 16 | 1.69 | 0.91 |
| Greg Holland (COL – RP) | 33 | 43 | 1 | 28 | 1.62 | 1.02 |
| Brandon Kintzler (MIN – RP) | 39 | 24 | 2 | 24 | 2.29 | 1.07 |
Now take another look at this roster, but now consider that it is feasible that you could have selected every single one of these players on your fantasy team. Try to restrain from kicking yourself, we all passed on most of these guys for one reason or the other. Who knew Holland would be so great off of a serious injury and in Coors? Who foresaw Moose knocking 45 homers this season or Robbie Ray and Lance McCullers breaking out? Ok, all the experts knew Ray and McCullers were true aces coming into the season so if you ignored us, that one is on you. What stands out most about this list is that every single one of these players flashed significant potential at some point in the past, but came with risk. If you take enough risky picks in the mid and late rounds, you are bound to stumble onto several of these types of breakouts, and for those you miss on, just cut them loose for the types of players on the next team.
All-Waiver Wire Team
| POS | PLAYER | AB | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG |
| C | Alex Avila (DET – C,1B) | 187 | 27 | 11 | 29 | 0 | 0.299 |
| 1B | Ryan Zimmerman (WSH – 1B) | 297 | 52 | 19 | 63 | 1 | 0.330 |
| 2B | Jedd Gyorko (STL – 2B,3B,SS) | 270 | 35 | 13 | 45 | 5 | 0.300 |
| 3B | Travis Shaw (MIL – 1B,3B) | 298 | 50 | 19 | 65 | 7 | 0.299 |
| SS | Chris Owings (ARI – SS,2B,CF,RF) | 310 | 38 | 12 | 49 | 11 | 0.290 |
| OF | Aaron Judge (NYY – RF) | 301 | 75 | 30 | 66 | 6 | 0.329 |
| OF | Cody Bellinger (LAD – 1B,LF) | 257 | 50 | 25 | 58 | 5 | 0.261 |
| OF | Steven Souza (TB – RF) | 310 | 49 | 17 | 56 | 4 | 0.271 |
| UTL | Justin Smoak (TOR – 1B) | 299 | 48 | 23 | 56 | 0 | 0.294 |
| PLAYER | IP | K | W | SV | ERA | WHIP |
| Alex Wood (LAD – RP,SP) | 81 | 97 | 10 | 0 | 1.67 | 0.89 |
| Jason Vargas (KC – SP) | 106 | 78 | 12 | 0 | 2.62 | 1.15 |
| Daniel Straily (MIA – SP) | 103 | 97 | 7 | 0 | 3.31 | 1.05 |
| Jimmy Nelson (MIL – SP) | 109 | 118 | 8 | 0 | 3.30 | 1.25 |
| Luis Severino (NYY – SP,RP) | 107 | 124 | 5 | 0 | 3.54 | 1.12 |
| Chase Anderson (MIL – SP) | 90 | 85 | 6 | 0 | 2.89 | 1.11 |
| Felipe Rivero (PIT – RP) | 47 | 55 | 3 | 6 | 0.76 | 0.72 |
| Chris Devenski (HOU – RP,SP) | 53 | 74 | 6 | 3 | 2.73 | 0.84 |
| Brad Brach (BAL – RP) | 38 | 41 | 2 | 15 | 2.58 | 0.86 |
Virtually every name on the hitter’s list can be directly related to the flyball revolution that overcame baseball this past season. We might see similar types of breakouts next season from players who hit the baseball hard but not often in the air (Nick Castellanos, Brad Miller, Tim Beckham), but trends tend to catch up quickly, so don’t make a habit of looking for similar players in your draft research. Of the group listed above, Avila is the most interesting because his batted ball stats suggest he is actually due for positive regression. Don’t be surprised if he ends up hitting .320 with 25 homers this season. On the pitcher’s side, you may not have noticed, but Dan Straily has been one of the 15 best pitchers in baseball over the last calendar year. He should bring the single largest bidding war at the trade deadline this year as pitcher desperate teams vie for the only surefire rotation help that will be available.
Thanks for reading and good luck the rest of the season!
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