2019 Fantasy Baseball Rankings

Last year's consensus No. 2 pick, Altuve stumbled to just 13 homers and 17 steals in 137 games. Despite the down year, drafters should pounce if the 2017 AL MVP falls into the second round. He was batting .342 through June before a knee injury interfered, eventually forcing the first DL appearance of his career. After an offseason to heal, he should veer closer to 20-homer, 25-steal form with a sky-high average and plenty of scoring output in Houston's star-studded lineup.

Ramirez was the fourth-most valuable player in standard 5x5 leagues last season, according to Baseball Monster, trailing only J.D. Martinez, Christian Yelich, and Mookie Betts. And that was with a .270 batting average that was 15 points below Ramirez's career .285 mark, due to an abnormally low .252 batting average on balls in play (BABIP). While Ramirez's average is very likely to rise, his career-high 39 home runs and 34 stolen bases are should go in the opposite direction. Still, we're talking about a player who can produce a 30-20 season with a plus batting average. It's hard to argue too much with his current ADP of third overall behind Mookie Betts and Mike Trout.

Despite recording the second-worst swinging strike (18.2%) and outside-swing (45.5%) rates, Baez managed to hit .290. Among 17 hitters with a contact rate of 70.0% or lower in at least 300 plate appearances, Aaron Judge was the only one besides Baez to bat above .266. That's a better baseline for 2019. Given his middling 4.5 walk %, he might not reach base enough to steal another 21 bases. Don't pay full freight for an encore.

Merrifield not only absconded an MLB-high 45 steals but also batted .304 with 12 homers and 43 doubles. That's borderline extinct skill set justifies his spot as an upper-echelon pick, but beware some regression. His batting average rose despite modest drops in contact and strikeout rates, and no speedster should hold a 14.7% infield-fly rate. Still, there aren't many .280, 12-35 hitters either.

Albies is dripping with potential and there is no denying that after his 20 homer first half with 9 steals. With that said, his second half was dreadful, batting .226 with just 4 bombs. There is a chance he returns first round value, but the downside would torch your team if he returns to second half form.

Murphy's draft stock hasn't soared nearly enough for a career .299/.344/.458 hitter moving to Coors Field. One of baseball's top sluggers in 2016 and 2017, his 2018 returns were contaminated by a brutal return from offseason knee injury. From July 1 onward, removing 15 games from his 91-game season, he batted .317/.355/.493 with 12 homers. Steamer's projected .307 average and 22 homers seem more than reasonable with the Rockies, and he's capable of bringing home another batting title.

If you pro-rate Mondesi's 75 games to a full season, it comes out to 30 homers, 68 steals and 100 RBIs. I don't need to tell you that a season like that would put him above Mike Trout from a fantasy perspective. Granted, he is due for some regression, but don't hesitate to reach several rounds to get him on your roster.

Torres isn't a big contributor in stolen bases, but he is plenty useful in each of the other four main categories. If you expand his rates out to a full season, Torres would have posted 32 homers, 101 RBIs and a .271 batting average. You would be thrilled to get that type of production out of your seventh round shortstop.

Shaw followed 2017's 31-homer breakout with one more last year, but his 10 steals sliced in half while his average slithered from .273 to .241. That's a peculiar drop considering he also set career bests in walk (13.3%) and strikeout (18.4%) rates with a rise in barrels per batted balls (10.3%). Last year was the time to pass, but drafters should jump back in now that Shaw comes at a cheaper price with second-base eligibility.

Despite entering the season with health woes and batting .155 in April, Carpenter then went scorched earth to hit .257/.374/.523 with a career-high 36 homers. It's dicey to bet on a 33-year-old coming off a career year, but he simply punishes baseball too severely to discredit. He led qualified hitters in hard-hit rate (49.0%) with the fifth-highest fly-ball rate (46.9%) and fourth-lowest popup rate (2.1%). Given his elite blend of hitting the ball hard, high, and far, Statcast's .535 XSLG and .386 xwOBA even offer room for growth. Expect more elite power in 2019.

Odor settled for 18 homers in 129 games after offering 33 and 30 long balls in the last two seasons, respectively. Yet he made demonstrative improvements as an actual player, upping his wOBA from .272 to .325 and fWAR from -1.2 to 2.5. A more selective approach led to a career-high 8.0% walk rate and a respectable .253 batting average. He should at least rebound closer to 25 homers, but there's some concern that Texas throws up a red (or at least yellow) light after getting caught in half of his 24 steals attempts. He's still only 25, so it's worth the gamble beyond the top-100 picks if searching for a power-speed punch.

Cano still has plenty left in the reserve. In a season sliced in half because of an 80-game PED suspension, the veteran second baseman batted .303/.374/.471 with 10 homers. While the elite power has dissipated, with 2016's 39 homers now looking like a clear outlier among recent returns, he has settled into a stable source of 20 long balls with a high average. Having earned his highest hard-hit rate and exit velocity over the last four seasons, Cano corralled the sixth-highest xBA (.305) of all MLB hitters with 250 plate appearances. He's a steady contributor going at a bargain because of old age.

After getting shipped out of Milwaukee to Baltimore, Villar won some leagues down the stretch. In 54 games with his new club, the middle infielder batted .258 with eight homers and 21 steals. Like Adalberto Mondesi, he offers mouth-watering steals upside with a chance to also deliver 15-20 long balls. Unlike Mondesi, Villar can draw a walk. He also manifested this fantastical ceiling when batting .285 with 19 homers and 62 steals in 2016. Oh yeah, he's also much cheaper. A poor contact profile presents significant batting-average downside, but the speed makes him a tantalizing upside pick.

Gordon is great at running, but not quite as good at reaching base. Despite the complete lack of power, his profile was palatable when consisting of a high average, plethora of runs, and 60 steals. Last season, however, he batted .268 with 62 runs and 30 steals. He was caught stealing (12) more times than he walked (nine), and the 30-year-old can't afford as many misfires with a .288 OBP. His Statcast speed score (29.0) didn't drop much from 2017 (29.0), so it's possible he bounces back to 40-45 steals if a few more dribbles roll his way. It's probably not worth the risk unless desperate for speed.

It was a lost year for Dozier, and he still came out with 21 homers and 12 steals. That wasn't worth much when paired with a .215 batting average, but the second baseman said he was playing through a knee injury all season. In two seasons before the 2018 downturn, he hit .269 with a combined 76 blasts and 34 steals. Banking on a health-enabled rebound is an interesting risk for those who can risk a subpar average or play in an OBP/points league.

A low average (.235) disrupted by a 33.4% strikeout rate again blocked Moncada's leap to stardom. He'll need to improve his contact skills significantly to reach his superstar ceiling, but the hype has quickly fizzled for the elite talent capable of a massive breakthrough a la Javier Baez in 2018. Drafters, however, should only draft Moncada if willing to accept a potential .230-.240 hitter in hopes of getting 15-20 homers and steals apiece. The second baseman might gain another position, as the White Sox are preparing to try him out at third.

Muncy had batted .195 with five homers in 245 big league plate appearances prior to 2018, so he naturally towered 35 homers with a .407 wOBA. He endured some troubling strikeout woes late in the season and playoffs, but there are plenty of reasons not to anticipate the bottom falling out entirely. Along with a gorgeous 16.4% walk rate, the late bloomer notched a heavy dosage of fly balls (44.9%, only 5.9% popups) and hard hits (47.4%). Per Statcast, only Joey Gallo served up a higher rate of barrels per batted balls than Muncy's 16.9. He's a solid power pick-and tremendous OBP target-if the rest of the room sees an obvious regression candidate.

Schoop takes a hit this season in home ballpark factor, but even still, has been a consistent enough source of power that fantasy owners can accept his .233 batting average from last year. Keep in mind, also, he carried a .293 mark in 2017 so the upside is there for a big season again.

Here's a case of launch angle not always helping. Hernandez elevated his launch angle from 3.3 to 9.4, and the philosophy shift produced a career-high 15 homers. He also, however, batted .253 after back-to-back .294 campaigns. The drop could potentially cost the second baseman his spot atop a Philadelphia lineup that has added Jean Segura, Andrew McCutchen, J.T. Realmuto, and Bryce Harper. An extra handful of homers isn't worth the average sacrifice for fantasy investors either, so here's to Hernandez resetting his approach and going back to being an on-base machine who could easily score 100 runs if batting leadoff. Regardless of his plate approach, he has delivered 15-19 steals in each of the past four seasons, making him a steady middle-infield target.

It took a bit longer than expected, but Profar finally emerged as a strong major leaguer by batting .254/.335/.458 with 20 homers and 10 steals. The Rangers oddly moved him to the A's, a move that presents a major ballpark downgrade after he slugged .511 in Arlington. Aside from a possible average uptick, the skills don't portend another leap forward. Perhaps the biggest incentive to drafting Profar is gleaning eligibility at first base, third, shortstop, and even second (10 games) in some leagues.

Gennett experienced a major breakout in his first season with the Reds in 2017, and his 2018 encore was just about as good. Last season's .310 batting average was fueled by a .358 BABIP that is due for a bit of a correction, but he should still be able to hit at least .280 or so. Meanwhile, his home run output should hold steady in the mid-20s while his already-strong run and RBI production could see a slight boost from an improved supporting cast.

He didn't quite validate last spring's sleeper appeal, but Marte continued to flash the skills that should prompt drafters to give him another shot. Despite batting .260, he produced a noteworthy 85.9% contact rate while dropping his strikeout rate to 13.4%. He appeared to put it all together when hitting .296/.377/.464 after the All-Star break, and the speed remains existent if ever given the green light. He's a strong middle-infield target who will gain eligibility at center field.

The Yankees signed LeMahieu to fill a super-utility role, but why would anyone with a working memory expect Troy Tulowitzki to stay healthy and succeed? Although he won't contend for another batting title away from Coors, the second baseman showed more power with a career-high 15 homers last year. His spray chart overlay actually showed more batted balls that would have cleared Yankee Stadium's miniature fences, so the 30-year-old can make a sneaky bargain for those completely writing off someone leaving Colorado without a locked-in everyday spot.

Now that Cabrera is with the Rangers and expected to play every day, we can feel comfortable grabbing him late in drafts as a reliable source of power to go with a decent batting average.

The signing of Daniel Murphy should cause Hampson's ECR to drop another 50 spots, as that transaction shifts Ryan McMahon over to second base. Hampson could force the Rockies hands with a strong Spring, but more than likely, he won't get the call until someone hits the DL. At that point, McMahon could slide over to first, third or the outfield. If it is Story that goes down, Hampson would fill the gap. He could eventually be a better version of D.J. LeMahieu offensively, posting a batting average near .300 with more power and speed. Right away, he will merely hold his own in the batting average department while contributing nearly 30 steals per 162 games.

On a 162-game pace, Gurriel was a 27 homer hitter with a .281 batting average and 87 RBIs. He may not keep up that pace with a full season's worth of at bats, but you can argue that is his upside which would make for an exceptional value late in drafts.

Adames broke onto the scene last year as a 22-year-old posting a 19-homer, 11 stolen base pace with a .278 batting average. It was a limited sample size, however, and there are still some holes in his swing. Think of him on the same terms as Dansby Swanson who also had a nice rookie campaign before everyone realized he had quite a bit to go offensively.

It is easy to look at a .300 batting average and assume a rookie will only get better. Wendle likely played over his head last year, though, and was a 28-year-old rookie. There is no power to his game, and while he may offer 15 to 20 steals, it won't be enough to make him anything more than a late-round pick.

Lowrie gave fantasy owners a surprising boost in power last season in Oakland and always offers a decent batting average. He might start the season on the DL with a knee injury, but once he returns, Lowrie should be owned in every league.

Outside of Marwin's huge 2017 season, he hasn't offered much from an offensive perspective. There is some power, but his batting average will hurt fantasy teams and the depth chart doesn't guarantee even 450 at-bats for him.

Castro went from one of the best ballparks to the worst possible offensive ballpark last season and it showed in his stats as he dropped from a .300 batting average and 20 homer pace to 12 homers and just a .278 average. More than likely, that is the mediocre type of production fantasy owners will get this year.

With the way the Dodgers' team is constructed, it is tough to tell whether Taylor will see another 500 at-bats this year, but if he does, we are probably looking at 20 homers and double-digit steals to go with a decent batting average and plenty of runs.

Over the last four seasons, Flores has been a useful fantasy player when he gets at-bats, posting 21 homers, 72 RBIs and a .267 batting average per 162 games. He should see plenty of playing time in Arizona this year and qualifies at second base, driving up his value.

 

McMahon may have struggled in a limited sample last year, but there are countless fantasy baseball studs with that on their resume as rookies. The fact of the matter is that the dude can hit. In 125 Triple-A games, he has tallied 68 extra-base hits with a .337 batting average. Over a full season, that would have been close to 90! Not only that, but he should steal double-digit bases as well while qualifying for potentially every position except shortstop and catcher. If the Rockies make room in their lineup for him, we are looking at one of the biggest breakout candidates of 2019.

Last season we saw a major breakout from Hernandez who was previously a platoon-only bat versus lefties. Kike swatted 21 bombs in just 402 at-bats, and while that may happen again, he offers nothing in terms of speed and is more than likely a .230 batting average guy.

 

Kipnis has been around forever and reached his peak long ago, but he is still just 32 years old and has plenty of baseball left in him. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, it will come without any speed or a quality batting average. Still, 20 homers and 70 RBIs will do the trick as a late-round pick.

 

 

 

 

Urias seems to be the favorite to start the season as the Padres' primary shortstop. If he were playing in a different home park, we might be talking about him as a challenger to Victor Robles to win the NL Rookie of the Year award. Rather, his offensive production will most probably be limited to a replacement level fantasy player. With that said, he does have a much higher ceiling so make sure to keep an eye on him from the get-go.

Cozart may miss time at the start of the season with a mild calf strain, and after his 2018 performance, it is fair to forget about him, but don't be so quick to forget how excellent he was in 2017 with the Reds, knocking 24 homers with a .297 batting average in just 122 games.

Zobrist isn't going to see 500 at-bats, nor does he offer much in the way of power or speed, but he is a reliable source of batting average late in drafts and that should be enough to warrant owning him as a depth piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although Perez likely won't steal 34 bases like we saw in 2016, he is a sufficient source of speed late into drafts with enough at-bats that he'll add counting stats. There won't be much in the way of power, but his batting average won't kill you either.