You’re not often thinking about RBIs when you’re drafting your fantasy baseball team. They’re just something that comes naturally during every draft, like that unmistakable feeling that this is definitely the year Eric Hosmer breaks out.
The best players that you’re drafting anyway are often the ones who are collecting the most RBIs, so it’s not something that you need to keep at the forefront of your mind. However, if you do find yourself lagging in your RBI production or just want to pad your lead in the category, here a few players that you can target who will drive in more runs than the others being drafted around them.
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Starting off strong
Nolan Arenado (3B – COL)
You’ll have to take him with your first pick, but no one player will help you more in the category than Arenado. He may have the Coors advantage, but why not take advantage of it? Only one other player (Giancarlo Stanton) has reached 130 RBIs in the past three seasons, while Arenado has done it in all three.
His total of 393 RBIs over that stretch is 48 higher than second place (Edwin Encarnacion) and 93 more than the next best at third base (Josh Donaldson). Taking Arenado with your first pick will give you such a lead in RBIs that you really won’t have to worry about them the rest of your draft.
Giancarlo Stanton (OF – NYY)
If he can drive in 132 runs in Miami, just imagine what he can do in New York. Of course, that requires staying healthy, but he’s projected for 526 at-bats and 119 RBIs, both of which are undoubtedly within reach.
Arenado and Stanton are the only two players projected for more than 104 RBIs, so taking either of them will give you a huge leg up on the rest of your league. Like Arenado, Stanton also comes with a first-round price tag, but he’s another player that you can grab early and alleviate any RBI concerns you may have later in the draft.
The Middle Rounds
Edwin Encarnacion (1B/DH – CLE)
Encarnacion is currently the 46th player being taken off the board according to the ADP Consensus, meaning he can be had in the fifth round in 10-team leagues and late in the fourth round in 12-team leagues. While I don’t doubt that drafters know what they’re doing, Encarnacion offers incredible value for anyone needing help in the RBI category at that point in the draft. The Zeile Projections have him driving in 106 runs this season, the third-highest projection in MLB behind only two first rounders in Nolan Arenado and Giancarlo Stanton.
He’s more than capable of putting up 106 RBIs-it would be his lowest total since 2014 if he were to only reach that mark, so there’s a chance he could even exceed that projection. No other player has driven in 98 runs in even four of the last six seasons, while Encarnacion has done it in each of them (arbitrary threshold, admittedly, but impressive regardless).
His average RBI total of 109.5 over those six seasons is highest in MLB, nearly five more than Miguel Cabrera in second. With the Indians still looking to be a dangerous team, Encarnacion looks poised to post his fourth consecutive 100-RBI season.
Nelson Cruz (OF/DH – SEA)
Cruz’s situation isn’t all that different from Encarnacion’s. He’s the 48th player off the board, two spots behind Encarnacion, and is projected for 105 RBIs, one fewer. They’re both also two of the most feared home run hitters in the game.
Over the past three years, Cruz and Encarnacion rank first and third, respectively, in home runs-second place belongs to Arenado, who’s being taken in the first round and won’t be able to provide you with much value. When you’re hitting home runs, you’re also driving in runs, whether it be yourself or the other guys on base. Cruz showed that to be true last year when he hit 39 home runs and drove in 119 runs, good for fifth in MLB.
He’s also one of just seven players with at least 100 RBIs in three of the past four seasons (along with Encarnacion). Jose Abreu is the only player with at least 100 RBIs in all four of those seasons, but because he’s never exceeded 107 in a season, his total is still behind Cruz and Encarnacion over that four=year period.
Khris Davis (OF/DH – OAK)
If you’re talking about home run hitters, you can’t leave Khris Davis out of the conversation. Only Stanton has hit more over the past two seasons, and even he only hit one more. Davis has crushed at least 40 home runs and driven in at least 100 runs in both of his seasons in Oakland, making it almost too easy to draft him late in the seventh round in 10-team leagues for RBI help.
The downside is that he’s practically guaranteed to hit .247 for your team, so he won’t help your batting average. If you play in an OBP league, his numbers become easier to live with, and he could prove to be a tremendous value.
Rhys Hoskins (1B/OF – PHI)
While Davis has been incredibly consistent over the past couple of years, it’s a lot more difficult to predict what Hoskins will provide your team this year. If he could reproduce his numbers through 50 games last season, he’d be a unanimous first-round pick, as he put up 37 runs, 18 home runs, and 48 RBIs through 50 games in 2017. The projections do like him-just not enough to project him for 50+ home runs and 156 RBIs.
They do have him reaching 100 RBIs, though, as one of just 12 players projected to reach that total. He’s currently being drafted ahead of Encarnacion, Cruz, and Davis (43rd overall), so he’s not as much of a value when looking at RBI production.
If you believe in what he did last year, though, he’s still a tremendous bargain. You’ll just have to take him before the Philly fan in your league does.
Filling out your roster
Nomar Mazara (OF – TEX)
If you need RBI help in the last few rounds of your draft, look no further than Mazara. He drove in 101 runs last year hitting primarily out of the three hole for the Rangers, and he’s projected to drive in 89 more this year. The fact that he’s currently the 170th player off the board means that most of the other guys at this spot are probably providing you 20 fewer RBIs, while Mazara can offer you the same production in that category as players being drafted in the first five or six rounds.
Joey Gallo (1B/3B/OF – TEX)
I’m going with back-to-back Rangers here, but only because they’re both deserving. Gallo only hit .209 last year, which is why he’s ranked so poorly and going so late in drafts, but if you can swallow his poor average-or play in an OBP league-the 89 RBIs Gallo’s projected for will provide a nice boost to your team. The 39 home runs won’t hurt either.
Evan Longoria (3B – SF)
A move to San Francisco may sap some of Longoria’s home runs, but hitting in the middle of a new-and-improved lineup should mean that his RBIs don’t see the same drop-off. It appears as though Longoria will hit cleanup behind Joe Panik, Andrew McCutchen, and Buster Posey, so he’ll have plenty of opportunities to drive runners in. He’s currently the 179th player off the board and projected for 84 RBIs.
MLB Players to Target for Steals
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Brian Reiff is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Brian, check out his archive and follow him @briansreiff.
