My first set of ranking before the pitchers and catchers report. These rankings are bound to change before the start of Spring Training and even more so before Opening Night. So here are my Top 250 players in fantasy Baseball in 2017.
ESPN 2016 PLAYER RATER PORTION INCOMPLETE
RANK ------ NAME---------------------TEAM-----POSITION--POSITION RANK--AGE----ESPN PR
*PR stands for 'Player Rater' which is a measure of how good a player was in a standard 5x5 roto league on ESPN.COM
In 2016 Starting Pitcher was not as deep as many believed, grabbing one of these can’t miss aces at the end of the 1st round would be a draft pick well spent.
Jonathan Villar starts the list of Brewers players I think this kid is going to be a bust. He is high in my rankings based on how well he finished in 2016. Villar outperformed expectations last year and even finished a top 5 overall player in standard roto. I’m not drafting him at all, I think this guy is really a .250 hitter. He has speed which will be the same in 2017, but this guy is due for a correction.
Andrew McCutchen and David Price are trending in the wrong direction, both are getting old. They also have incredible track records and I certainly understand owners looking past last season. David Price looks like a guy who is mailing it in so to speak. Price says getting the big contract was important to him and now he can relax. Somebody needs to tell this dude he plays in Boston and that sentiment won’t fly with Red Sox Nation. They both move down a few rounds for me. Trades and spring performances could bump these guys up for me, but they could potentially fall as well. Chris Sale to Boston helps Price because he does not need to be the ACE, and all Price needs to do is get guys out and improve on his ERA in 2017.
Masahiro Tanaka and Julio Teheran, who both looked good in the 2016 season, both crack the SP top 20. Teheran will be a bargain for many 2017 fantasy baseball teams. His team is improving and his win total will increase if he continues pitching as well as he did. Tanaka went 14-4 with 3.10 ERA. Even with a little elbow trouble Tanaka was great in 2016. Although the Yankees didn’t compete well in 2016 Tanaka managed to put together one of his best years yet, while logging 31 starts a career high.
Gary Sanchez – This guy is my top Catcher for the next 5 years if you ask me. Sanchez has huge pop in his bat, in just 201 plate appearances he hit a whopping 20HR. He looks like right now he will be far and away the best Hitter on the Yankees major league roster at this point. He’s somebody to keep your eye on for sure!
The catcher position was as weak as I can remember in 2016. Buster Posey Jonathan Lucroy, and Gary Sanchez are the only catchers to crack the top 100. I feel confident in the production of these 3 players and also, I would make sure to grab one before the catcher pool drops off a cliff.
Chris Davis and Jose Bautista barely make my top 150 overall. They both coming off bad 2016 seasons and power is now much easier to find, the only big statistic both players produce. If either one of these players get hurt or in a slump, there more or less useless until they get health or break out there slumps. The same case can be made for Giancarlo Stanton's poor rank. Bautista at the age of 36 is starting to look like more of a DH only type player and even if he improves his numbers in 2017, they won’t be close to his previous value owners have come to expect. Davis and Bautista are just Home run hitters at this point with little to offer a fantasy team.
In the last 10 rounds (picks 151-250) I ranked these players if they have huge upside (like Javier Baez, Aaron Nola, Kevin Kiermaier, Kendrys Morales, and Matt Moore) and solid veterans who have low variance from season to season (think Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson, and Francisco Rodriguez) usually fall in the middle of those high upside guys. In these rounds owners are trying to fill out their rosters while either shooting for the moon or limiting their risk.
