Who Should I Draft?
Nolan Arenado or Bo Bichette (2021)
Experts' Pick | ||
| Bo Bichette SS - TOR  | Nolan Arenado 3B - STL  | |
Expert |
83% Recommended by 20 of 24 experts |
17% Recommended by 4 of 24 experts |
| Rankings | ||
| ECR | # 15 | # 28 |
| Best Rank | # 11 | # 14 |
| Worst Rank | # 37 | # 51 |
| ADP | ||
| Composite | # 25 | # 28 |
| Best Rank | # 23 | # 21 |
| Worst Rank | # 32 | # 38 |
| Projections | ||
| Runs | 91 | 86 |
| Home Runs | 23 | 32 |
| RBI | 85 | 99 |
| Stolen Bases | 21 | 2 |
| Batting Average | .287 | .277 |
| Misc | ||
| Injury Alert | - | - |
| Expert Ranks | ||
| Andy Behrens Yahoo! Sports | # 16 | # 26 |
| Scott Pianowski Yahoo! Sports | # 17 | # 28 |
| Site Projections RotoChamp | # 30 | # 34 |
| Jeff Boggis Fantasy Football Empire | # 15 | # 17 |
| Dalton Del Don Yahoo! Sports | # 16 | # 35 |
| Andrew Gould FantasyPros | # 16 | # 32 |
| Tim McCullough Baseball Prospectus | # 14 | # 30 |
| Wayne Bretsky BretskyBall | # 19 | # 20 |
| Jake Ciely The Athletic | # 17 | # 43 |
| Joe Bond Fantasy Six Pack | # 14 | # 33 |
| Chris Meaney FTN | # 15 | # 26 |
| Heath Capps Fake Teams | # 16 | # 19 |
| Nick Mariano RotoBaller | # 13 | # 35 |
| Mike Maher FantasyPros | # 11 | # 17 |
| Dan Harris FantasyPros | # 16 | # 25 |
| Pierre Camus RotoBaller | # 18 | # 30 |
| Ariel Cohen FanGraphs | # 15 | # 42 |
| Ryan Amore Pitcher List | # 19 | # 51 |
| Carmen Maiorano FantasyPros | # 23 | # 33 |
| Joe Pisapia FantasyPros | # 16 | # 29 |
| Brad Camara FantasyPros | # 15 | # 14 |
| Nick Pollack Pitcher List | # 17 | # 14 |
| Brendan Tuma FantasyPros | # 21 | # 17 |
| Nate Miller FantasyPros | # 37 | # 18 |
| Bo Bichette SS - TOR | Nolan Arenado 3B - STL | |
| 2020 Stats | ||
| At Bats | 123 | 182 |
| Runs | 18 | 23 |
| Hits | 37 | 46 |
| Singles | 22 | 29 |
| Doubles | 9 | 9 |
| Triples | 1 | 0 |
| Home Runs | 5 | 8 |
| RBI | 23 | 26 |
| Stolen Bases | 4 | 0 |
| Caught Stealing | 1 | 0 |
| Walks | 5 | 15 |
| Strikeouts | 27 | 20 |
| Batting Average | .301 | .253 |
| On Base Pct | .328 | .304 |
| Slugging Pct | .512 | .434 |
| On-base Plus Slugging | .840 | .738 |
| Bo Bichette SS - TOR | Nolan Arenado 3B - STL | |
| 2021 Projections | ||
| At Bats | 578 | 574 |
| Runs | 91 | 86 |
| Hits | 164 | 157 |
| Singles | 97 | 94 |
| Doubles | 40 | 30 |
| Triples | 4 | 2 |
| Home Runs | 23 | 32 |
| RBI | 85 | 99 |
| Stolen Bases | 21 | 2 |
| Caught Stealing | 8 | 1 |
| Walks | 41 | 61 |
| Strikeouts | 125 | 94 |
| Batting Average | .287 | .277 |
| On Base Pct | .332 | .344 |
| Slugging Pct | .492 | .499 |
| On-base Plus Slugging | .824 | .843 |
| Bo Bichette SS - TOR | Nolan Arenado 3B - STL | |
| News | ||
| According to Mark Feinsand, the trade between the Rockies and Cardinals is official. The Cardinals officially acquired Nolan Arenado plus cash considerations for Austin Gomber, Elehuris Montero, Tony Locey, Mateo Gil, and Jake Sommers.
Corbin Young Mon, Feb 1st | ||
| The Rockies have traded 3B Nolan Arenado to the Cardinals on Friday. Brad Camara Fri, Jan 29th | ||
| According to Ken Rosenthal, the Cardinals and Rockies are discussing a trade involving Nolan Arenado. At this point, it's mostly speculation, but the trade rumors involving Arenado have been happening. Corbin Young Fri, Jan 29th | ||
| Notes | ||
| Bichette missed about half the season with a knee injury last year, but was productive when he was on the field, batting .301 with an .840 OPS. His 162-game pace was 28 home runs, 100 runs, 128 RBI, and 22 steals, so he was well on his way to earning his lofty draft price. If there was a wart to Bichette's season it was that his walk rate dropped to just 3.9%, one of the worst in the league. But, given that he had just 128 plate appearances, that's likely just the product of a small sample size, since he never walked at less than a 6.6% clip in his career. Batting in a stacked lineup, Bichette should once again put up strong five-category numbers, and should be one of the first shortstops drafted in fantasy leagues again in 2020. Dan Harris - FantasyPros | On the bright side, Arenado struck out just 10% of the time, a career-best. On the down side, there was everything else. Arenado batted just .253 and put up a 162-game pace of 27 home runs, 78 runs, 88 RBI, and zero steals. Those numbers won't kill your fantasy team, but considering Arenado's worst numbers over the previous five seasons were 37 home runs, 97 runs scored, and 110 RBI, they were a disaster. The good news, at least from the standpoint of projecting Arenado into the future, is that he was dealing with an injured AC joint in his shoulder for most of the season. In other words, fantasy managers can largely ignore Arenado's poor 2020 numbers, and focus instead on how he will perform now that he's been traded to the Cardinals. Although there's likely to be some dip in his numbers, we've seen hitters leave the Rockies and largely retain their value (or, in the case of DJ LeMahieu, increase their value), The best part is you won't have to pay that first-round price anymore, and if his ADP drops after the trade to St. Louis, it should be easy to turn a profit. Dan Harris - FantasyPros | |
| Bo Bichette slashed .301/.328/.512 with five home runs and four stolen bases across 128 plate appearances in 2020. The 22-year-old has successfully swiped eight bases in just 13 attempts in his MLB career, but has yet to flash the speed he displayed in the minors. He has a ton of upside and should once again produce in a loaded Blue Jays lineup. Bichette has plenty of room for growth and is considered a top-10 middle-infield option in 2021. Brad Camara - FantasyPros | 270 - 35 - 0 Jordan Eisen - Field of Vision Sports | |
| Frankly, I've been shocked to see how high Bichette is going in fantasy drafts so far this offseason. We're spending second-round picks on a player with just 75 big league games to his name? Of course, his 162-game pace equates to 35 homers and 17 stolen bases, and Toronto's lineup only got better this winter. There are a lot of reasons to be bullish on Bichette these days, but I can't pass on established studs like Xander Bogaerts and Nolan Arenado for him. Perhaps Bichette's aggressive ADP is due to the need for stolen bases. In that case, it's worth pointing out that the youngster is just 8-for-13 in theft attempts to begin his career. Brendan Tuma - FantasyPros | Arenado suffered a shoulder injury in his fifth game of the year in 2020. He played through it, and it clearly affected his power stroke. Instead of crushing doubles and homers over the heads of opposing outfielders, Arenado was weakly flying out. He was later shut down with a week left in the year, and I think it's fair to attribute his poor production to playing through injury. However, there will always be analysts knocking down Arenado for his move away from Coors Field. Yet savvy fantasy managers know by now that playing half your games in Coors hurts your road numbers more than any other park, so we can't simply view Arenado's road numbers as "who he truly is." For example, Matt Holliday's road OPS while with the Rockies was .803. While with the Cardinals? .853. I'm aggressively targeting Arenado anytime he lasts until Round 3 of drafts this spring, and I'll be sure to get some shares late in the second as well. Brendan Tuma - FantasyPros | |
