Who Should I Draft?
Austin Meadows or Nelson Cruz (2020)
Experts' Pick | ||
| Austin Meadows LF,RF,DH - TB  | Nelson Cruz DH - MIN  | |
Expert |
56% Recommended by 29 of 52 experts |
44% Recommended by 23 of 52 experts |
| Rankings | ||
| ECR | # 31 | # 30 |
| Best Rank | # 16 | # 20 |
| Worst Rank | # 86 | # 63 |
| ADP | ||
| Composite | # 48 | # 78 |
| Best Rank | # 35 | # 48 |
| Worst Rank | # 74 | # 90 |
| Projections | ||
| Runs | 29 | 31 |
| Home Runs | 10 | 14 |
| RBI | 29 | 39 |
| Stolen Bases | 5 | 0 |
| Batting Average | .284 | .279 |
| Misc | ||
| Injury Alert | - | - |
| Expert Ranks | ||
| Scott Pianowski Yahoo! Sports | # 25 | # 36 |
| Site Rankings Sports Illustrated | # 45 | # 57 |
| Alan Harrison The Fantasy Fix | # 24 | # 37 |
| Steve Gardner USA Today | # 32 | # 45 |
| Site Projections RotoChamp | # 31 | # 49 |
| Grey Albright Razzball | # 34 | # 51 |
| Greg Smith The Fake Baseball | # 31 | # 42 |
| Tim Young Brewer Rat | # 29 | # 35 |
| Jeff Boggis Fantasy Football Empire | # 27 | # 37 |
| KJ Fantasy Team Advice | # 30 | # 35 |
| Chet Gresham The Fake Baseball | # 29 | # 34 |
| Wayne Bretsky BretskyBall | # 20 | # 35 |
| Joe Bond Fantasy Six Pack | # 27 | # 33 |
| Chris Meaney FTN | # 29 | # 37 |
| Heath Capps Fake Teams | # 21 | # 52 |
| Adam Ronis Fantasy Alarm | # 24 | # 34 |
| Mark Ross Athlon Sports | # 28 | # 34 |
| Tyler Thompson Fantasy Six Pack | # 31 | # 40 |
| Jason Johnson Understanding Fantasy Baseball | # 26 | # 43 |
| Donkey Teeth Razzball | # 31 | # 41 |
| Pierre Camus RotoBaller | # 16 | # 36 |
| Dennis Sosic Fantasy Six Pack | # 29 | # 38 |
| Mick Ciallela Fantrax | # 25 | # 28 |
| Michael Petropoulos BRoto Fantasy | # 24 | # 40 |
| Todd D Clark The Fantasy Fix | # 27 | # 43 |
| Nate Miller FantasyPros | # 24 | # 33 |
| Chris Mitchell FantasyData | # 59 | # 63 |
| Staff Rankings Roto Ranks | # 21 | # 34 |
| Corbin Young FantasyData | # 28 | # 31 |
| Jacob W. Dunne New Life Fantasy | # 31 | # 28 |
| Mario Mergola Sporfolio | # 32 | # 31 |
| Carmen Maiorano FantasyPros | # 33 | # 20 |
| Andrew Gould FantasyPros | # 35 | # 27 |
| Andrea LaMont Lenny Melnick Fantasy Sports | # 35 | # 26 |
| Sean Zerillo The Action Network | # 36 | # 32 |
| Dave McKay The Fantasy Sports Brain | # 37 | # 36 |
| Matt Brandon Matt Brandon | # 37 | # 34 |
| Ariel Cohen FanGraphs | # 39 | # 37 |
| Nick Mariano RotoBaller | # 40 | # 23 |
| Andy Singleton Expand The Boxscore | # 40 | # 30 |
| George Kurtz SportsGrid | # 40 | # 32 |
| Ryan Amore Pitcher List | # 44 | # 27 |
| Andrew Seifter FantasyPros | # 46 | # 31 |
| Brendan Tuma BettingPros | # 51 | # 37 |
| Muntradamus Beast Dome | # 53 | # 35 |
| M. Starks Powell New Life Fantasy | # 54 | # 48 |
| Dan Harris FantasyPros | # 54 | # 21 |
| Dalton Del Don Yahoo! Sports | # 55 | # 33 |
| Rudy Gamble Razzball | # 58 | # 27 |
| Andy Behrens Yahoo! Sports | # 68 | # 36 |
| Nick Pollack Pitcher List | # 74 | # 30 |
| Max Freeze Freeze Stats | # 86 | # 30 |
| Austin Meadows LF,RF,DH - TB | Nelson Cruz DH - MIN | |
| 2019 Stats | ||
| At Bats | 530 | 454 |
| Runs | 83 | 81 |
| Hits | 154 | 141 |
| Singles | 85 | 74 |
| Doubles | 29 | 26 |
| Triples | 7 | 0 |
| Home Runs | 33 | 41 |
| RBI | 89 | 108 |
| Stolen Bases | 12 | 0 |
| Caught Stealing | 7 | 1 |
| Walks | 54 | 56 |
| Strikeouts | 131 | 131 |
| Batting Average | .291 | .311 |
| On Base Pct | .364 | .392 |
| Slugging Pct | .559 | .639 |
| On-base Plus Slugging | .922 | 1.031 |
| Austin Meadows LF,RF,DH - TB | Nelson Cruz DH - MIN | |
| 2020 Projections | ||
| At Bats | 185 | 190 |
| Runs | 29 | 31 |
| Hits | 52 | 53 |
| Singles | 30 | 30 |
| Doubles | 11 | 9 |
| Triples | 2 | 0 |
| Home Runs | 10 | 14 |
| RBI | 29 | 39 |
| Stolen Bases | 5 | 0 |
| Caught Stealing | 2 | 0 |
| Walks | 17 | 22 |
| Strikeouts | 43 | 51 |
| Batting Average | .284 | .279 |
| On Base Pct | .345 | .353 |
| Slugging Pct | .513 | .549 |
| On-base Plus Slugging | .858 | .902 |
| Austin Meadows LF,RF,DH - TB | Nelson Cruz DH - MIN | |
| News | ||
| Austin Meadows went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Friday's 2-1 win in Game 5 of the ALDS. The Rays beat the Yankees 3-2 in the series. Brad Camara Sat, Oct 10th | Twins designated hitter Nelson Cruz went 1-for-3 with a double, an RBI, and a walk in Tuesday's loss to the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the Wild Card Round. Mike Maher Tue, Sep 29th | |
| OF Austin Meadows went 1-for-4 with a solo homer and a walk in Tuesday's 7-5 win over the Yankees in Game 2 of the ALDS. Brad Camara Wed, Oct 7th | Minnesota Twins DH Nelson Cruz went 0-for-3 with a walk in a 5-3 loss to the Reds in Sunday's regular-season finale. Matthew Terelle Mon, Sep 28th | |
| Austin Meadows is leading off in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Yankees on Tuesday. Brendan Tuma - Too Much Tuma Tue, Oct 6th | Nelson Cruz (knee) is once against absent from the Twins' lineup on Tuesday against the Tigers. Brendan Tuma - Too Much Tuma Tue, Sep 22nd | |
| Austin Meadows (oblique) is absent from the Rays' lineup in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees. Brendan Tuma - Too Much Tuma Mon, Oct 5th | Nelson Cruz was removed from the lineup in Saturday’s contest against the Cubs due to right knee soreness. Brad Camara Sat, Sep 19th | |
| OF Austin Meadows (oblique) will be on the roster for the ALDS against the Yankees. Brad Camara Mon, Oct 5th | Nelson Cruz went 1-for-4 with a double in a win over Chicago on Wednesday. Michael Felner Thu, Sep 17th | |
| Notes | ||
| Great 2019 but I just don't buy it. (Hypocritical considering I am a Danny Santana buyer I realize). I don't even consider a drop-off in 2020 regression because I don't believe 2019 was anything close to what he actually is. I won't draft him in any league unless he falls outside the Top 100. Chris Mitchell - FantasyData | Nelson Cruz falls in every draft, in every year, for the past four to five years. It's because he's ancient in baseball years, and only David Ortiz remains undefeated against Father Time. It also hurts that Cruz is DH only, but production is production. If you're looking at Yordan Alvarez in the first few rounds of the draft, you'd be better suited to wait a few rounds and take Cruz for as good - if not better - production. That is, assuming this isn't year where it all falls apart. Michael Waterloo - FantasyPros | |
| If you draft a Tampa Bay position player - especially this year - you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Well, except for Austin Meadows. The Rays have so many platoon options on their team, but Meadows is one of the few players who are locked into an everyday role. Meadows finally lived up to his prospect pedigree last season, and there's room for more growth if he can channel the speed that he flashed in the minors. The big thing to watch with Meadows is how he performs against lefties, but don't overthink it - especially in that division." Michael Waterloo - FantasyPros | If you removed Cruz's age from the equation, he'd be a top pick in fantasy. Despite missing nearly a quarter of the season to injury last year, he again put up elite numbers, topping 40 home runs and 100 RBI while batting .311. Cruz will be 40 this year, never plays the field and is starting to miss more time to injuries. But he's essentially forgotten in most drafts and has shown very little skills decline. Don't shy away from him on draft day even though he clogs your utility spot. Dan Harris - FantasyPros | |
| Some big time potential here if you are willing to take on the injury risk. Michael Petropoulos - BRoto Fantasy | Hit .311 with 41 homers last year. Entering age-39 season Brendan Tuma - BettingPros | |
| Love the player but ADP is just a tad too rich for my blood Brendan Tuma - BettingPros | ||
