I’ve been posting my top 400 rest of season rankings every month and even though it is fantasy football season, I wanted to get them out again right before your playoffs kick into gear. You can think of it as a waiver wire tool or a trade guide, use it however you’d like. Today, I’ll respond to some of the more controversial rankings preemptively, but if you have any further questions or disagreements, don’t hesitate to let me know on twitter @bobbyfantasypro.

“Andrew McCutchen is over the hill, bro.”

He is “only” the #23 ranked fantasy hitter thus far in the season, but if you look at his stats compared to the 2015 season when he finished 5th in the MVP voting, he is actually better this year. He has hit for more power, is showing more speed and is still carrying the quality batting average. The best part, however, is that he started so slow, so over his last 68 games, he has sustained an absurd .347/.442/.628 pace with 50 runs scored and 50 RBI. Prorated to a full season, that would make him better than Mike Trout this year. Perhaps my ranking is a little too conservative after all.

“Chris Taylor is a fluke just like Jonathan Villar last year”

That may be, but there have been plenty more cases where breakouts continued their success to close the season and into the following season. A few names quickly come to mind: JD Martinez, Justin Turner, Daniel Murphy, Matt Carpenter, Nelson Cruz, Charlie Blackmon, Jose Altuve and so on. There are only two other players who are batting at least .300 with as many steals: Paul Goldschmidt and Altuve, aka, the two best players in fantasy baseball. Oh, by the way, Taylor has done it in over 100 less at bats than either of them.

“How can you put Aaron Nola over aces like Strasburg, Ray and Keuchel?”

Well, for one, Nola is the only pitcher with less than 20 games started who appears in the top 15 for wins above replacement. His 3.02 ERA will lead to plenty of wins even in front of an offense like Philadelphia’s. Perhaps most importantly, the three aces named above are all trending backward while Nola and his 1.85 ERA and 10.2 K/9 in 6 starts since the all-star break has only been out-thrown by Chris Sale, James Paxton, Danny Salazar and Corey Kluber in that time. He is a legitimate breakout ace.

Let’s take a look at the full rankings. Thanks for reading!