Fantasy Baseball Player Notes
2021 Fantasy Baseball Draft Notes
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27.
Adalberto Mondesi
SS
Even in a shortened year, it was a tale of two seasons for Mondesi. In 35 games in July and August, he batted just .186 with 11 runs, two RBI, no home runs, and eight steals. In his final 24 games, he batted .356 with six home runs, 22 runs scored, 20 RBI, and 16 steals. In the end, Mondesi delivered exactly the type of season that fantasy managers have come to expect, and his 24 steals were eight more than the next highest total. Mondesi won't help in batting average and offers minimal power, but he's an unmatched source of steals. And given that much of his lackluster first month can probably be written off to offseason shoulder surgery, fantasy managers should be able to expect closer to the second-half version of Mondesi rather than the firs this year.
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44.
Whit Merrifield
2B,CF,RF
Merrifield has established an extremely strong floor, as he'll almost always be an asset in batting average, steals, and runs scored, and chip in for the remaining categories. There were some concern after his steals dropped to just 20 in 2019, but he bounced back to a 32-steal pace last year while also seeing a power spike. Merrifield is 32 years old and does not hit the ball particularly hard, but that's really irrelevant at this point. He is what he is, and with multi-position eligibility, what he is a major asset in fantasy and one of the top second basemen in fantasy.
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102.
Salvador Perez
C
Perez returned from missing all of the 2019 season to put up monstrous numbers. He batted .333 with 11 home runs in just 37 games. Sure, his meager walk rate became even worst and he struck out more than ever, but his strong numbers were absolutely earned. He had an expected batting average of .325, an expected slugging percentage of .624, and barreled baseballs at a significantly higher rate than he ever had before. Perez will be 31 years old this year this year but considering that he's had just 156 plate appearances combined over the past two years (after having one of the heaviest workloads for a catcher over the previous six seasons), he should have some gas left in the tank. Draft him as a top-three catcher without hesitation.
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117.
Jorge Soler
RF
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195.
Andrew Benintendi
LF,CF
Benintendi will get a fresh start with the Royals in 2021, and if any player ever needed a change of scenery, it's him. After looking like a perennial 20-20 player with a solid batting average, Benintendi has fallen off a cliff the last two years. To the extent you could boil his struggles down to something simple, it was that he appeared to get too homer-happy in 2019. Despite making better contact when he did hit the ball, his swinging strike rate jumped by four points to 11.6%, and his fly ball percentage and launch angle skyrocketed. Things didn't look much better in his brief 2020 season, which was cut short by a rib injury. Benintendi is still young, and out of the spotlight of the Boston media, might be able to return to what made him an impact player prior to 2019. You won't need to spend a ton to find out, thankfully, and he's worth a late-round pick in all formats.
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205.
Carlos Santana
1B
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220.
Brady Singer
SP
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236.
Hunter Dozier
1B,3B,RF
Dozier is almost entirely off the fantasy radar this year, but that feels like an overreaction to 2020. Yes, his poor performance last year makes his breakout 2019 performance seem like an outlier, but really, it seems like 2020, rather than 2019, should be discounted. Dozier's quality of contact was awful last year, but it was out of character for him over the previous two seasons, and was more likely the result of him having tested positive for COVID-19 rather than from a sudden loss of skills. The Royals' lineup is sneaky deep, and Dozier will start at third base this season, giving him eligibility at three positions. Considering he's free in drafts, there is every reason to scoop him up with a late-round pick.
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276.
Greg Holland
RP
Holland re-signed with the Royals after an outstanding season, during which he put up an ERA under 2.00 and a WHIP below 1.00 for the first time since 2014. He'll almost certainly begin the year as the closer, but he's unlikely to stay in the role for the entire season. Even if he's not dealt to a contender by the trade deadline, his walk rate is surely to be closer to the 5.3/9 innings that he put up his previous four seasons, rather than the 2.22 he managed last year. Draft Holland late as someone who can chip in saves early, but be prepared to hit the waiver wire later in the year.
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284.
Mike Minor
SP
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319.
Brad Keller
SP
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438.
Kris Bubic
SP
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442.
Josh Staumont
RP
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475.
Danny Duffy
SP
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543.
Michael A. Taylor
LF,CF,RF
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550.
Scott Barlow
RP
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567.
Hanser Alberto
2B,3B
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569.
Jakob Junis
SP
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588.
Jesse Hahn
RP
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626.
Edward Olivares
LF,CF,RF
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670.
Nicky Lopez
2B,SS
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705.
Wade Davis
RP
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716.
Daniel Lynch
SP
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741.
Ryan O'Hearn
1B
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761.
Jackson Kowar
SP
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833.
Bobby Witt Jr.
SS
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873.
Ryan McBroom
1B,RF
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894.
Ronald Bolanos
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902.
Ervin Santana
SP
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964.
Carlos Hernandez
SP
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969.
Bubba Starling
CF,RF
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986.
Kyle Zimmer
RP
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996.
Tyler Zuber
RP
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1037.
Richard Lovelady
RP
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1175.
Brad Brach
RP
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1210.
Carlos Sanabria
RP
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1238.
Jake Newberry
RP
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1246.
Scott Blewett
RP
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1264.
Chance Adams
RP
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1287.
Cam Gallagher
C
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1317.
Meibrys Viloria
C
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1363.
Nick Heath
Util
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1428.
Kelvin Gutierrez
3B
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1457.
Lucius Fox
SS
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1496.
Erick Mejia
CF
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