Who Should I Draft?
Christian Yelich or Shane Bieber (2021)
Experts' Pick | ||
| Christian Yelich LF,RF - MIL  | Shane Bieber SP - CLE  | |
Expert |
63% Recommended by 35 of 56 experts |
38% Recommended by 21 of 56 experts |
| Rankings | ||
| ECR | # 9 | # 12 |
| Best Rank | # 5 | # 4 |
| Worst Rank | # 15 | # 16 |
| ADP | ||
| Composite | # 12 | # 9 |
| Best Rank | # 9 | # 8 |
| Worst Rank | # 13 | # 10 |
| Projections | ||
| Runs | 103 | ‐ |
| Home Runs | 36 | 24 |
| RBI | 93 | ‐ |
| Stolen Bases | 18 | ‐ |
| Batting Avg | .283 | ‐ |
| Strikeouts | 154 | 243 |
| Wins | ‐ | 15 |
| Saves | ‐ | 0 |
| ERA | ‐ | 3.18 |
| WHIP | ‐ | 1.05 |
| Misc | ||
| Injury Alert | - | - |
| Expert Ranks | ||
| Andy Behrens Yahoo! Sports | # 6 | # 12 |
| Scott Pianowski Yahoo! Sports | # 10 | # 14 |
| Steve Gardner USA Today | # 9 | # 13 |
| Site Projections RotoChamp | # 5 | # 14 |
| Grey Albright Razzball | # 11 | # 16 |
| Greg Smith The Fake Baseball | # 11 | # 14 |
| Josh Shepardson FantasyPros | # 5 | # 10 |
| KJ Fantasy Team Advice | # 12 | # 16 |
| Dave McKay The Fantasy Sports Brain | # 9 | # 16 |
| Andrew Gould FantasyPros | # 11 | # 13 |
| Wayne Bretsky BretskyBall | # 6 | # 13 |
| Jake Ciely The Athletic | # 9 | # 12 |
| Chris Meaney FTN | # 9 | # 12 |
| Andy Singleton Expand The Boxscore | # 10 | # 11 |
| Adam Ronis Fantasy Alarm | # 9 | # 10 |
| Mario Mergola Sporfolio | # 8 | # 10 |
| Nick Pollack Pitcher List | # 8 | # 10 |
| Nick Mariano RotoBaller | # 9 | # 13 |
| Mike Maher FantasyPros | # 9 | # 11 |
| Michael Waterloo FantasyPros | # 5 | # 10 |
| Donkey Teeth Razzball | # 5 | # 8 |
| Dan Harris FantasyPros | # 9 | # 10 |
| Pierre Camus RotoBaller | # 8 | # 10 |
| Max Freeze Freeze Stats | # 10 | # 12 |
| Jorge B. Edwards Fantasy In Frames | # 10 | # 11 |
| Mick Ciallela Fantrax | # 7 | # 10 |
| Michael Petropoulos BRoto Fantasy | # 6 | # 11 |
| Ryan Amore Pitcher List | # 7 | # 9 |
| Todd D Clark The Fantasy Fix | # 11 | # 16 |
| Jacob W. Dunne New Life Fantasy | # 10 | # 12 |
| Lucas Spence Pitcher List | # 12 | # 13 |
| Nate Miller FantasyPros | # 10 | # 11 |
| Brad Camara FantasyPros | # 9 | # 10 |
| Staff Rankings Roto Ranks | # 9 | # 11 |
| SportsLine - Computer Simulation CBS Sports | # 9 | # 11 |
| Dalton Del Don Yahoo! Sports | # 7 | # 5 |
| Andrew Seifter FantasyPros | # 9 | # 8 |
| Brendan Tuma FantasyPros | # 10 | # 7 |
| Scott White CBS Sports | # 10 | # 4 |
| Jeff Boggis Fantasy Football Empire | # 10 | # 9 |
| Corbin Young FantasyData | # 11 | # 9 |
| Carmen Maiorano FantasyPros | # 12 | # 8 |
| Frank Stampfl CBS Sports | # 12 | # 9 |
| Joe Bond Fantasy Six Pack | # 12 | # 9 |
| Tyler Thompson Fantasy Six Pack | # 12 | # 9 |
| Tim McCullough Baseball Prospectus | # 12 | # 11 |
| Nicklaus Gaut RotoBaller | # 13 | # 11 |
| Chris Clegg Fantrax | # 13 | # 12 |
| Heath Capps Fake Teams | # 14 | # 11 |
| Joe Pisapia FantasyPros | # 14 | # 10 |
| Dennis Sosic Fantasy Six Pack | # 14 | # 8 |
| Jordan Eisen Field of Vision Sports | # 14 | # 8 |
| Luke Gloeckner Mr. Cheatsheet | # 14 | # 10 |
| Ariel Cohen FanGraphs | # 15 | # 7 |
| Rudy Gamble Razzball | # 15 | # 8 |
| Muntradamus Beast Dome | # 15 | # 10 |
| Christian Yelich LF,RF - MIL | Shane Bieber SP - CLE | |
| 2020 Stats | ||
| Runs | 39 | ‐ |
| Home Runs | 12 | 7 |
| RBI | 22 | ‐ |
| Stolen Bases | 4 | ‐ |
| Batting Avg | .205 | ‐ |
| Strikeouts | 76 | 122 |
| Wins | ‐ | 8 |
| Saves | ‐ | 0 |
| ERA | ‐ | 1.63 |
| WHIP | ‐ | 0.87 |
| Christian Yelich LF,RF - MIL | Shane Bieber SP - CLE | |
| 2021 Projections | ||
| Runs | 103 | ‐ |
| Home Runs | 36 | 24 |
| RBI | 93 | ‐ |
| Stolen Bases | 18 | ‐ |
| Batting Avg | .283 | ‐ |
| Strikeouts | 154 | 243 |
| Wins | ‐ | 15 |
| Saves | ‐ | 0 |
| ERA | ‐ | 3.18 |
| WHIP | ‐ | 1.05 |
| Christian Yelich LF,RF - MIL | Shane Bieber SP - CLE | |
| News | ||
| Christian Yelich went 2-for-3 with a triple, a walk, a solo home run, and two runs scored Friday against the Mets. Connor Rooney Sat, Sep 25th | Cleveland right-hander Shane Bieber allowed one run in three innings in a 6-1 win over the Royals on Thursday. Bieber struck out one and scattered four hits. Matthew Terelle Fri, Oct 1st | |
| Christian Yelich went 3-for-5 with a double, two RBI, and one run scored Tuesday against the Phillies. Connor Rooney Wed, Sep 8th | Cleveland right-hander Shane Bieber threw three scoreless innings in a 1-0 loss to the White Sox on Friday. He struck out three and did not allow a hit. Matthew Terelle Sat, Sep 25th | |
| Christian Yelich went 3-for-5 with two home runs, three runs scored, six RBI, and a stolen base in Saturday's win over Washington. Connor Rooney Sat, Aug 21st | Shane Bieber will make his return and start on Friday against the White Sox. The reigning AL Cy Young winner has been out since June 13th. Kamran Hoda Wed, Sep 22nd | |
| Christian Yelich has returned to the Brewers' lineup on Saturday against the Nationals. Brendan Tuma - Too Much Tuma Sat, Aug 21st | Indians RHP Shane Bieber (shoulder) will begin a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus on Tuesday. Brendan Tuma - Too Much Tuma Sun, Sep 12th | |
| Christian Yelich went 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI Sunday against the Pirates. Connor Rooney Sun, Aug 15th | Indians pitcher Shane Bieber threw a “36-pitch up-and-down bullpen session yesterday,” according to Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal. Andersen Pickard Sat, Aug 28th | |
| Notes | ||
| Yelich's 2020 season was, in a word, bizarre. After batting .327 combined from 2018-2019, his batting average dropped to a meager .205 last year. Although he hit the ball as hard as ever, setting career highs in average exit velocity and hard hit percentage, his strikeout rate ballooned more than 10 points to 30.8%. At the same time, Yelich's walk rate jumped up to 18.6%. Unsurprisingly, the reason for the jump in both Yelich's strikeouts and walks was that he simply swung less - just 34.6% of the time after his mark hovered above 44% the previous two seasons. If Yelich takes the same passive approach in 2021, then it's likely that his batting average will remain below what fantasy managers had come to expect. But considering that his season was so out of line with what he'd produced since coming to Milwaukee, fantasy managers should expect far more this season, and feel confident drafting him late in the first round. Dan Harris - FantasyPros | Bieber took the huge gains he had made in 2019 and kicked the into hyperdrive en route to a Cy Young season. He had a miniscule 1.63 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP, and took his strikeout percentage to 41.1%, which ranked first among qualified starters. Everything was exceptional for Bieber, as he held batters to just a .167 batting average, barely allowed home runs, and earned eight wins in just 12 starts. He may struggle to again find wins given the Indians' depleted lineup, but there is nothing else to think twice about with Bieber. He's part of the ultra-elite tier in starting pitching with Jacob deGrom and Gerrit Cole, and should be a first-round selection, especially since he seems to have had no ill effects from his battle with COVID-19. Dan Harris - FantasyPros | |
| Yelich was a bust for those who used a top-three selection on him in 2020 fantasy drafts. Don't let that scare you off, however. One of the biggest factors we need to consider for draft prep this year is how much should we weigh 2020? Yelich actually had a higher average exit velocity, a higher hard-hit rate, and a better walk rate than he did in 2019. He was just striking out way more often than usual. That, to me, looks like a profile in which Yelich would've eventually rebounded over the course of a full year. Perhaps he was pressing due to the depletion of Milwaukee's lineup, but Yelich's batted ball data is fine. I'm taking the discount and drafting him in the late-first with confidence. Brendan Tuma - FantasyPros | ||
