Once a week, I run through the rest-of-season rankings for fantasy baseball. Use them for a fresh draft, use them for self-scouting, use them to evaluate trades and pickups. It’s all up to you.
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James Wood, OF, Nationals: If he can trim his strikeouts a bit, he can be another Yordan Alvarez. Wood covers the entire zone, spits on borderline pitches and doesn’t have a problem with left-handed pitching. And unlike Alvarez, he’s also a menace on the bases. Wood also has more help than Alvarez these days, as the Nationals have been the best offense in baseball all year.
Royce Lewis, 3B, Twins: He’s back in the majors and apparently he means business, hitting .379/.424/.759 since his return eight games ago. The category juice is also flowing — he’s homered three times in that span and stole a base Sunday. Lewis is also making good contact, with just four strikeouts over 33 plate appearances. I’m trying to stay open-minded here, with Lewis still just 27 and a former No. 1 overall pick.
Logan Webb, SP, Giants: We try to be careful with pitcher injuries, but given that Webb hit the injured list in April with a knee problem, the rules are a little different. After all, it’s not a shoulder, an elbow or a forearm. Webb’s first turn back was a mess against San Diego (six runs) and then he had a choppy Coors Field start, but his last three turns have been vintage: 23 IP, 13 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 18 Ks. Welcome back, ace.
Willson Contreras, 1B, Red Sox: Boston management gets criticized for a lot of things, and many of the critiques are legitimate (letting Kyle Harrison go so cheaply looks like a blunder). But the Contreras contract looks like a win, as the new cornerman is slashing .304/.396/.570 with 16 homers. He’s been the expected smash in Fenway, where his OPS is a robust 1.059, though he also has eight homers on the road. This might be a career year at age 34.
Stephen Kolek, SP, Royals: I realize it can be difficult to trust pitch-to-contact arms, and Kolek only strikes out 6.1 batters per nine. But he still succeeds because of a microscopic walk rate (1.8/9) and a tenable home run rate (less than one per game). Even if we don’t take that pretty 2.68 ERA at face value, Kolek would still be a fantasy asset at his expected ERA of 3.41.
Downgrades
Austin Riley, 3B, Braves: The last two years, it’s been injuries holding Riley back — a broken hand, hernia surgery. This year, he’s been on the field but compromised, with slowing bat speed and difficulty against breaking pitches. His back-of-card stats represent what he’s earned — his expected average is just .208, his expected slugging a puny .387. At some point, you have to let go of the name brand.
Dansby Swanson, SS, Cubs: His bat speed has always been below average since those measurements entered the stat world, so that’s not an explanation for his puzzling slump. Swanson still hits fastballs well but he’s getting crushed on breaking pitches, and his hard-hit numbers are down even when he puts bat on ball. Swanson’s contract and excellent defense keep him in the lineup, but he’s going to be in the bottom of the order all season. Shortstop is a deep fantasy spot; in many of my leagues, Swanson is a free agent — and I’m not even considering a pickup.
Cole Ragans, SP, Royals: He had another setback with his elbow last week, which resulted in more testing. And in one of my deeper mixed leagues, I had to sadly accept that I couldn’t hold Ragans any longer. The Royals aren’t really a contender this year, so there’s no reason to rush Ragans back. And he hasn’t pitched like an ace in two years, anyway.
Chandler Simpson, OF, Rays: He’s sold as a two-trick pony, a good average man who runs literally. Alas, he’s in a .163 funk over the past 16 games, and hasn’t attempted a steal over that period. Given that Simpson has zero power and mediocre run production to begin with, he’s probably over-rostered in Yahoo leagues, still checking in at 56%. Let’s get that number where it should be.
Updated rest-of-season top-250 rankings (as of June 15)
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