Fantasy Baseball Today - First-Half recap, Top-12 Recaps for Each Position (7/18 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 18, 2022

If you support the show, please nominate Fantasy Baseball Today for The People's Choice Podcast Awards in the "Sports" Category: https://www.podcastawards.com/app/signup/ Chris Towers recaps the weekend's news you need to know plus the top performing players at each position in the first half of the season. Who cracked the top-12 at every position, who missed it, and who is going to be there by the end of the season? Now is your chance to buy Adley Rutschman, Brandon Lowe, Kevin Gausman, and Patrick Sandoval, among others. Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. With fantasy! Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. And we're live on Fantasy Baseball today. It's Chris Towers.

It's a solo podcast to recap the first half because it's finally over. We got those last games in on Sunday and we're here for the All-Star break. Final day of the first half, we're going to recap the first half. Take a look at the top 12 rankings for each position through the first half of the season. I always dislike the first half terminology because really the first half was about eight, nine days ago for most teams. But, you know, the unofficial first half of the season is now over with the All-Star break here. So we're going to take a look at the top 12 rankings at every position, top 24 for starting pitcher and outfield. We're going to look at the players most likely to stick in the top 12 the rest of the season.

The players most likely to drop out. And the players who aren't in the top 12 or 24 right now, but who I think are still going to be there. So we're going to take a look at the rankings. We're going to reset those. And just a program reminder for the rest of the week. It's an unusual week, Frank, Scott, and myself all on vacation this week. So we've pre-recorded a bunch of stuff. Monday night, though, we will have a live show with Chris Welsh of the In This League podcast.

and the prospect one. He'll join me for a breakdown of the MLB draft, focusing on first-year player-draft eligible players for fantasy. So first-year player draft is actually happening right now. Matt Holliday's son went with the first overall pick. I believe Andrew Jones' son went with the second overall pick, which just makes me feel so old. I'm not actually that old, but I remember Matt Holliday and Andrew Jones

when they were young players. So the fact that their kids are now being drafted is, I guess this is growing up, as the man said. So we'll talk about the rankings for the first year player draft, obviously, for those of you in dynasty leagues, that's going to be important for those of you in redraft. Generally speaking, we get like one player every five years or so who makes an impact in the first year after being drafted. So not going to be as relevant for you guys, but if you want to get to know some of the next generation of superstars in Major League Baseball, make sure you tune into that. Then on Tuesday through Thursday, we've got pre-recorded stuff with Frank Scott and I. Keep in mind that it's pre-recorded and some stuff has happened in the intervening time that will make some of that sound a little outdated.

But we're looking at redrafting the first two rounds, looking at first half trends and second half breakouts and more. And then we'll be back with our normal shows on Thursday night to preview week 17. So let's recap the first half, recap the weekend. And what we're going to do is a little different from how we usually handle the. weekend recaps because I'm going to go position by position, give you the news and notes that you need to know about, but we're not going to focus so much on the, the performances from this weekend, because the waiver wire is less important right now than it typically is. So what I want to do is focus on the news, and then we're going to go through the top 24 for starting pitcher, top 24 for

outfield, top 12 for every other position, and just kind of look back at the first half, see some surprising names in some of these top 24s and top 12s. And then I'll go ahead and show you guys my rankings for the rest of the way. If you're watching on YouTube, I'll share my screen so you can see my rankings as I go through and talk about them. But starting at starting pitcher this weekend, news and notes and just rotten luck for Chris sale, broke the pinky on his left hand in just his second start back from the IL. It seems like an IL stint is likely.

and could be a long one. Chris Sale, I believe, told reporters four to six weeks is what he's thinking at this time. So that's rough luck for Chris Sale, who comes back from the IL with that rib injury, took most of the first half to get back, but he looks like himself in the first start, and then takes a line drive off the hand. He's going to be out for a while, four to six weeks. I mean, if it's six weeks, you're talking about early September as the timetable. So even if you're in a league with IL spots, unless you've got unlimited,

at IL spots. Chris Sale is not someone who 100% needs to be rostered in all leagues at this point, which is frustrating, given the fact that you likely spent, not a significant draft pick on him, but you drafted him, you held on to him, and now you got about one and a quarter start out of him. So that's frustrating. But yeah, Chris Sale, probably someone that you can let go, even in leagues with an IL spot, it just seems unlikely that he's going to make much of an impact. One guy who didn't make much of an impact in his first start, but I think still looked pretty exciting.

That was Max Meyer. Marlin's top prospect made his debut on Saturday against the Phillies, and he struggled a little bit. Five earned runs over five in a third innings, but really he got off to a really solid start. He had a strikeout in each of the first four innings. Ten of his first 12 batters were retired. And then he ran into some trouble,

gave up a big home run to J.T. Raimuto to death. center, kind of hung a slider in the middle of the zone, and then Reese Hoskins went deep. But still, I think Max Meyer looked mostly as advertised. The fastball was a little bit hitable, but the slider was pretty good. Seven swinging strikes on the slider, he threw it 49% of the time. So that was his primary pitch in this one, the forcing fastball. He threw about 35% of the time with 15% changeups. And the slider was really good, 41%. I'm always, I'm always blank, called plus swinging strikes rate. That's a really good rate. The forcing fastball not nearly as effective, 21%. The changeup didn't throw it as often, only got one whiff. So, you know, that was

something that we were excited about because it's the Marlins and they developed pitchers with those changeups really well. So didn't see that from Max Meyer in the first. But all in all, I think he's going to stick in the rotation. I think that there's a lot to like there. Average 95 miles per hour with the fastball. So there's some potential there for whiffs and stuff. So I think Max Meyer, you know, not the start you were looking for in his first start, but not such a disaster that you get scared off of him.

So I'm excited to see what he can do moving forward. Jacob de Grom will throw live batting practice session before presumably joining the Mets rotation out of the All-Star break. So that's very exciting. Obviously, you know, Jacob de Grom, best pitcher in baseball went healthy for my money. I know Jacob Corbyn Burns and Shane McClanahan and Sandy Alcantra are all awesome. But when Jacob de Grom's healthy, there's nobody like him. His velocity's been there in the rehab outings. He's gotten like 45% strikeout rate or something. So I'm expecting him to be dominant. The only question is, will he be able to stay healthy? And it's unfortunately

a question we can't answer really at any point because like we saw in spring training he looked awesome and then he got hurt so there's always going to be that injury risk hanging over jacob de graham but excited to see him back uh hopefully within the first weekend of the all-star break so yeah great great stuff there nathan valdi returned from the iL friday throwing 78 pitches he allowed three earned runs and four and a third innings you know good to see him back not necessarily uh worried about the there Luis Severino he left his last start with that shoulder issue he will be shut down for two weeks before being re-evaluated he's hoping that it's just the two-week shutdown but once you start factoring the two-week shutdown then building back up you're probably looking at a month absence

at the earliest for Luis Severino so I wouldn't expect him back until mid-August at best that's unfortunate and that might be a you know an optimistic outcome Shane boss was transferred to the 60 day I also he's out until at least mid-September again not necessarily surprising given that he was shut down with an elbow strain his season's probably done you can drop him in all redraft formats and you know for your dynasty leagues he still has a lot of upside but he's got to make it through the rest of this season before we can start talking about next season uh carlos rodon will not pitch in the all-star game due to a split nail and a blood blister on his left hand frankie montas could start in the first game back from the all-star break thursday versus detroit

that's a good sign he's been dealing with that shoulder issue so hopefully he can get through that without any issue and get back to being you know he was someone he's not going to be in the top 24 starting pitchers but he was someone who's in my top 24 pitchers when he's healthy he was actually a top 20 guy before the injury so hopefully he will be good to go hazers lazardo through 40 pitches in his rehab debut Saturday striking out three and three innings pitched so that was good to see him back coming back from that forearm injury probably going to need to need to need a couple more rehab starts, but could be back sometime in early August. Lance McCullors threw a 40-pitched Sim outing Saturday and could go on his rehab assignment

soon. So, you know, again, mid-to-late August, probably a realistic timetable for him. Andrahini gave up four-armed runs in two-and-two-thirds innings Saturday in his first minor league rehab appearance, 48 pitches in that one, so he's probably a few more outings away. Edward Cabrera, another pitcher for the Marlins working his way back from injury through 31 pitches over three innings in his first rehab assignment. So probably I would say, you know, if you have him and Hazers Lazardo moving there, working their way back, Cabrera throwing a few fewer pitches, probably a start behind

Lizarro if I had to estimate. Dustin May, this is great news. Dustin May threw two innings pitched in his first rehab start at the Arizona Complex League, working his way back from Tommy John's surgery. That is potentially huge news because Dustin May, I mean, it was a very small sample size. I think he threw five starts in. in 2020 before going down with Tommy John surgery, trying to pull it up.

Yeah, he made five starts, six starts, not five starts. And in those first four before the injury, he had 32 strikeouts in 21 and third. I mean, Dustin May was one of those guys who throws incredibly hard. He's incredibly hard to hit, you know, like Jordan Hicks pitching out of the bullpen or, you know, Yuan Duran as well, but he was doing it as a starter for, you know, that month and was looking really good,

was getting the swinging strikes. And, you know, I'm not sure Dustin May's ever going to be a six innings per start guy, especially this season. But if he can come back, he has the potential to be a difference maker. So if you've got a spare IL spot, you know, Dustin May could be back in the next month. Zach Eflin's still dealing with knee soreness following a simulated game Saturday, no timetable for his return. And Daniel Lynch was placed on a 15-day IL with a blister.

And that's going to do it for the news and notes for starting pitcher. Let's take a look at the top 20. for the first half and shouldn't really be any surprises with the rankings. We'll go through the first 12 here at starting pitcher. This is for the first half, not including Sunday's outings. So obviously there could be some shuffling. Garrett Cole pitched on Sunday. I would guess he probably moved up a few spots.

But yeah, number one, Shane McClainan, number two, Sandy Alcounter, number three, Justin Verlander. None of those should really be surprising. Those guys all have ERAs under two. Those are your three. M-O-B-E-R-A leaders, obviously San Dale Contra, just massive, massive innings totals, 138, Shane McClainan. 147 strikeouts and 110 innings, and then Justin Berlander. Strikeouts actually haven't been there, but he's got the elite ERA, the elite whip.

He's looked really great and actually had a really good start over the weekend with a bunch of strikeouts as well. Corbyn's number four, no surprise. he is my number one starting pitcher the rest of the season. I think he's probably the consensus number one starting pitcher. If not, it's, you know, some people want Shane McLeanahan in that spot. I can't really argue with them. So, yeah. Tony Gonsalind is number five.

He's been outstanding, obviously, not nearly as many innings, only 93 and two-thirds. But when he's been on, he's been incredible. Alec Manoa, number six, Shohay Otani, number seven, Max Fried, Garrett Cole, Joe Musker, Carlos Rodon, and, D. Dylan Cese. So that's an interesting group of players. You've got, you know, a couple of guys who we expected to be there and, you know, Cole and Burns and, you know, I would say Rodon, if he was healthy, but then we've got a lot of breakouts so far in that top 12 at starting pitcher. McClan, Gonsolin, Manoa, you know, not necessarily shocking to see those guys. Rodon, Cise. These

were guys who a lot of people liked, but the leap that they've made, at least so far in the first half, has been really incredible. And of that top 12, again, McClanahan, Sandy Alcantra, Justin Verlander, Corbyn Burns, Tony, Tony, Gronsohn, Alex Fried, Garrett Cole, Joe Musker, Carlos Rodon, and Dylan Cease. Of that top 12, I mean, I don't expect all of these guys to be top 12 the rest of the season, but Gonsolin is probably the least. lowest ranked for me at starting pitcher, and he's still like top 26. So there's not really any flukes in this top 12. There are a couple flukes in the 13 through 24, and we'll talk about those now. Miles Michaelis, Kyle Wright, Logan Gilbert, Aaron Nola, Robbie Ray, Tyler Anderson, Framber Valdez,

Zach Wheeler, Nestor-Cortez, U. Darvish, and Julio O'Reas. So you can start to see where some of the flukiness comes in in that 13 through 24. range and you know if you were going through and saying which of the top 24 aren't going to be in the top 24 moving forward I don't think anybody would be upset if you said miles michaelis he's been awesome 254 era 0.96 whip pitching for you know a st. Louis team that tends to get the most out of their pitchers in terms of results because that defense is so great behind them so it's not necessarily to say that miles michaelis is bad it's just I don't think anybody disagrees that he's playing over his head. I think Logan Gilbert also probably playing a little bit

over his head. You know, the strikeout numbers, 104 and 111 innings. They're good, but they're not great. He doesn't have that elite swinging strike rate to back it up either. So, you know, Gilbert, he does a lot of things well, but I think he's probably just a hair below elite. And I think the same is probably true of Nestor Cortez and Kyle Wright, especially. Tyler Anderson, I think, is in a different category even below those guys. He's more like a top 50 starting pitcher rest of season. But Aaron Nola is a really interesting one. He had another amazing start, eight and a third innings against the Marlins on Sunday. The Marlins, you know, they're missing pretty much everyone who's good. Horace-Hillard was back this week.

But still, jazz chisholm out and it wasn't a good lineup to start with. So, you know, the degree of difficulty, not especially high, but still a very impressive start for Aaronola, who is now, I believe second in baseball innings pitched. He's only 12 behind Sandy Alcantra. So as amazing as Sandy Alcantra has been, you know, Aaron Nola has been right there with him in terms of volume, maybe a little below him, but he's got a whip below 0.9. He's got a 3137 strikeouts.

Aaron Nola is kind of surprisingly not in the top 12, but he is right on the cusp of a top 12 starting pitcher overall, and he's in my top 12 for the rest of the season. Frampervaldez, very interesting. He's just kind of rock solid Dallas Keikl-esque. U. Darvish is kind of surprising as a top 24 starting pitcher just because he's been so up and down. He's been so erratic. The strikeouts especially have been a little disappointing, only 100 and 108 innings.

But, yeah, the volume that you get from him is always going to be good, and the ratio should be pretty good. His ERA is always a little iffy. U. Darvish actually does have the second highest ERA of any starting. pitcher in the top 24. Some notable names that aren't in the top 24, and I'll kind of just highlight a few who I think probably should be, and that's, you know, Logan Webb, Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Pablo Lopez, some guys who've had really good seasons who aren't in the top 24 outside of that, Martine Perez, Luis Garcia, Kevin Gosman, Shane Bieber, Adam Wainwright.

You know, there's a lot of good pitchers out there. Frankie Montas, Brandon Woodruff, aren't top 24 pitchers this season. Luis Castillo obviously has been pretty good lately. Lucas Gialito, not anywhere close to being a top 24 starting pitcher. Jose Barrillos, Chris Sale, with the injury now, not so much. Shane Boz, again, with the injury, with someone I thought could have been a second half top 24 guy, not going to be that.

So let's take a look at who I do have in the top 24. We'll move on from starting pitcher shortly, but yeah, I'll share my screen for those of you watching on YouTube and we'll go through the top 24 and as you can see I do have Corbin Burns and Garrett Cole still at the top of the position Justin Verlander because of the volume I think that's that's gonna give him an edge Shane McClainahan is fourth which I think you can make a case for him as high as number one but rest of season is what we're talking about and there are just those

questions about what the innings are gonna look like the rest of the season because you know Shane McClainahan already nearing his career high in terms of innings pitch so not sure what the role is going to look like whether the raise are going to be careful with him going forward. He's only had one start with 100 innings or 100 pitches, excuse me. He's been right around 93, 94 most starts. So the thing with McClanahan is right now, that hasn't been an issue because the innings totals have been amazing, you know,

six, seven innings per start just because he's been so good. I think he'll be slightly less good moving forward. That's not to say that I think he'll be bad. Please, I want to empath. I don't think Shane McClanahan will be bad, but 1.71 ERA so far this season, 0.8 whip. If he's a 2.5 ERA and 0.95 whip guy the rest of the season, he's probably going to have a lot more five and six innings starts as opposed to six and seven. Now moving on from the from those guys, Sandy Alcounter is number five. He just doesn't have the strikeouts that the rest of the guys do.

and as good as he's been, he's not going to be this good moving forward. It's similar to Shane McClanahan where you've banked what they've done so far, but you have to keep in mind that what they're doing is unsustainable. So Max Scher, I'm really high on Kevin Gosman. I feel like I'm kind of unusually high on him, and he was someone who, when we redraft the first two rounds later on, you know, I'm kind of the only one who mentioned him. but Kevin Gosman, 287 ERA, 184 FIP so far this season.

10.15K per 9, 1.72 walks per 9. He's thrown 94 innings and 17 starts. So that comes out to right around six innings per start, I believe. And he's just really good. And I don't really get why Kevin Gosman has so much skepticism around him, considering he's doing exactly what he did last season. 281 ERA last season in 192 innings. And, you know, he's a little lower in the rankings for this season so far because he only

has the six wins. I think Toronto will be better moving forward than they have been. So I don't think that's a concern. So, yeah, I'm very high on Kevin Gosman. Carlos Redon number eight, Zach Wheeler, number nine, Brandon Woodruff, Shohei Otani, Aaron Nola, rounds out my top 12. And then Julio Arias, Max Friede, Shane Bieber, Dylan Sees, Joe Musgrove, of Alec, Alec, of Alec Manoa, Robbie Ray, Logan Webb,

Frankie, uh, sorry, Frankie Montas, Clayton Kirchall, Tony Gonsolin. I've got Charlie Morton and Lucas Gielito right in that 24-ish range. I'm moving Luis Severino out of the top 24 because I hadn't done that since the injury. So that's why if you're watching, you'll see that. But yeah, I think Morton, Gialito, Pablo Lopez, that's a really tough group. And you could go with Spencer Strider as a top 24 guy. with Framper Valdez.

Any of those guys, I think, makes sense. So I'm cool with all of them being top 24-ish. So let's move on to the outfield. And I'll stop sharing my screen on YouTube. And we'll go through the news and notes for the outfield before repeating the exercise with the top 24 players. Fernando Tatis has begun hitting as he works his way back from wrist surgery. You know, technically more shortstop than an outfielder.

But for our purposes, I wanted to get this clip. to the top of the show because this is big news you know obviously we've been waiting for fernando tatis and there was a a lot of there were reports that the the doctors aren't weren't sure what the next step in his recovery should be which indicates that there's you know maybe some questions about his healing so far um so that's a concern coming back from that wrist injury but look we're getting positive news now he's moving forward so hopefully this is a you know, by mid-August kind of thing where he can return because he's been champing at the bit, you know, since I feel like we've been hearing Fernetta Tatis saying he wanted to come back sooner since like April.

So, you know, hopefully he can get back and be himself because when we redrafted the first two rounds, which you'll hear in a couple of days, you know, he wasn't necessarily in that discussion yet. but if we're talking about drafting 2023, I think Fernando Tatis, as long as he comes back and looks like himself, he's a candidate for the number one overall pick. So, you know, I'm excited to see him get back. Juan Soto turned down a 15-year,

$440 million contract from the Nationals and may or will be available for trade. This is, obviously, I mean, you don't see many players as good as Juan Soto in baseball history at the age that he's at. I know there's been some frustration this season, but he's got 20 homers. And he's, I think, top five in the National League in OPS right now. The batting average has been low, but he's still walking a ton. And we still think he's going to be an elite player moving forward.

So this is the kind of thing where, you know, if he's healthy and plays the next five seasons, I mean, you're talking about a guy who's probably going to be worth $40 million a year. And the contract the nationals offered him was around $30 million a year. So, yeah, I think Juan Soto will garner just an absolutely ridiculous offer in trade. And we'll see. I think the Yankees and Mats have obviously been linked to him. We'll see if Boston gets in, the Dodgers, all those typical names. But I would look at like St. Louis as a possible.

Dark Course or maybe Texas. We've seen Texas, you know, this offseason really made a push to get a lot better and, you know, they've gotten better, but not as good as they want to be. I could see them trying to put together a package for Juan Soto. So that'll be something to watch over the next couple of weeks leading up to the trade deadline because could be one of the biggest trades in Major League history. Mike Trout, this is unfortunate. We'll skip the All-Star game due to back spasms. He missed most of this weekend with the injury and that's a concern. You know, Given his injury history, given his age, Mike Trout is not someone who has had a lot of back injuries, but he's getting towards the age 30 mark. You can see the back injuries starting to be a concern. So we'll hopefully get through this All-Star break, get a week off, and come back, refreshed, and ready to go. Matt Carpenter, it's weird to include Matt Carpenter in the outfield, but he continues to be absolutely unbelievable. went five for 11 with two home runs and 10 RBI in the three games against the Red Sox this weekend. He has started 11 of the last 14 heading into the final game of the All-Star break with appearances at first base, right field, left field, and D.H. So not quite an everyday player, and I'm not sure he's ever going to be.

And so that makes it hard to buy in on Matt Carpenter. But the way he's playing right now, I mean, I think you just have to add him just in case. You know, just in case this is real, he's rediscovered something, this pull-heavy, fly-ball-heavy swing that he reworked this off-season, obviously playing at Yankee Stadium in that lineup. It's been fantastic. So I'm hesitant to buy in 100%, but I can't keep denying what Matt Carpenter's doing. All right. Some injury news. Harold Ramirez suffered a broken right-thumb Sunday.

He will be re-evaluated in two weeks. That's a disappointment. He's been a really nice source of batting average off the waiver wire. Kyle Lewis, coming back from a concussion, we'll return for Seattle after the All-Star break. Hopefully, Luis Robert, this is a little concerning. He missed the final two games of the first half after being removed from Friday's game with lightheadedness. You know, it's being classified as an illness. Hopefully there's nothing serious going on, but obviously concerning.

So we'll keep an eye on that. Elo Jimenez also missed the final four games of the first half dealing with that leg injury. So hopefully both of those guys are good to go to start the second half of the season. Jorge Salair was back in Miami's lineup Friday after missing nearly a month with a pelvic injury. Christian Yelich returned to the lineup Friday. He was batting Lee off after missing three games with back tightness. That's a good sign given that he's dealt with back injuries recently, but only missed a couple of days. And the Pirates sent Jack Swinsky back to AAA.

He had 14 home runs and 250 play appearances, but was hitting just 198. So, you know, still some contact issues there for Jack Swinsky. And let's move on to the top 24 at Outfield. And no surprises. The top players are Aaron Judge, number one. He's the top player in all of fantasy right now. And I mean, I don't know if he's the frontrunner for the American League's MVP because of what Shohay Otani is doing.

But yeah, Aaron Judge had been slowing down a little bit, but hit a couple home runs over the weekend. So don't think he's going to stop. Jordan Alvarez, number two. Julio Rodriguez, the number three outfielder in fantasy. in the first half of the 2022 season, hitting 272, 52 runs, 16 homers, 50 RBI, and 21 stolen bases. I mean, that is a true five category stud.

He's the number 14 overall player. And spoiler alert, we've got him in our first round in the redrafting the first two rounds. So, yeah, at least for the rest of the season, that's where he's at. And I don't know, if he keeps this up, I mean, if Julio Rodriguez finished this season with like an 820 OPS, 30 homers, 35 stolen bases. It's going to be hard not to take him in the top five next season. So yeah, what he's doing is absolutely outrageous. Kyle Schwerber is the number four player, despite hitting only 211. That just tells you how good of a season he's having in terms of one home runs, obviously, 29 homers, second in the league. Fifty-eight RBI,

62 runs scored. So 120 combined runs and RBI at. the All-Star break for Kyle Schwarber, and he's even stolen four bases. So he's having a monster season. Mookie Betts, number five. Bryce Harper, Luis Robert, Mike Trout at number eight. Kyle Tucker, Brandon Drury, number 10, Tommy Edmund, and Adoles Garcia. Those are some names that you didn't expect to see in the top 12. I think especially, I mean, just that trio of Brandon Drury, Tommy Edmund, and Adolice Garcia.

The rest of them, you know, you could squint and see Julio Rodriguez. as being this good in the first half. I don't think anybody thought, I mean, Brandon Jury was a complete non-entity for fantasy coming in. So what a first half he's had, 18 homers, 52 RBI, 56 runs scored, 278 batting average. I mean, has really been a four-category contributor. And, you know, I'm not buying it necessarily,

as in I'm not ranking him as a top 10 outfielder rest of season. But, you know, he's someone who has to be. be viewed as a must start guy. The quality of contact numbers are mostly excellent. 348 expected Wobah is not nearly as good as the 370, but if he hits 265 the rest of the way and slugs 495 like his expected numbers are, I think you'd be thrilled with that. So the only, you know, the real question with Brandon Drury is whether the Cincinnati Reds opt to trade him at the deadline because obviously, you know, he's playing at one of, if not the best home parks in baseball for power, and you see that in his splits.

He's got a 936 OPS playing at home at the Great American Ballpark, 778 on the road. So still solid, still playable, but obviously not nearly as good. Let's move through 13 through 24, and some names who have, you know, it's always important to keep in mind that disappointment is relative. George Springer and Juan Soto, 13 and 14, they've been disappointments this season, but, have still been absolute must-start players, and I think better days are ahead for both of them. Starling Marte, John Carlos Stanton, Randy a Rosa Raina, Charlie Blackman. Very surprising to see Charlie Blackman in there.

You know, obviously really fueled by Corse Field. I'm not sure, you know, if I even buy that he's going to keep this up moving forward, but 14 homers, 277 average, 46 runs, 53 RBI. There are all solid numbers across the board for Charlie Blackman. Cedric Mullins, another guy, disappointing, but the 19 stolen bases still very good. Byron Buxton, 218 batting average, but the power has been outstanding, 23 home runs, 50 runs, 43 RBI. Luis Raias is your number 22 outfielder, followed by Christian Yalich and Ryan Mountcastle to round out the top 24. And I look at the chat on YouTube and I see somebody kind of questioning, Rainier-Rosurane is a top 20 outfielder?

Yeah, yeah, outfield's been bad. You know, Randy Rosarana has a 732 OPS. He has 11 home runs. He's got 82 RBI plus runs in, you know, 90 plus games or 80 plus games. So pretty mediocre stuff, but the 19 stolen bases are kind of all that matters. He's been such a good, you know, you can kind of say the same for Adoles Garcia, who only has 13 steals. He's kind of been a little more balanced than the power speed categories. But, you know, both of those guys, one, outfield's bad. And two, stolen bases are really hard to come by. So if you can do that at the outfield position, you're going to rank pretty highly. Some notable names missing from the top 24, who you know, you could talk yourself into being top 24 guys moving forward.

J.D. Martinez, Ronald O'Cuna, Tommy Fam, Jock Peterson, Ian Hap, Taylor Ward, Teoska Hernandez, Brian Reynolds, Cattel Marte, Marcellos. I mean, there's no shortage of disappointments in outfield, Cody Bellinger, Nick Castellanos, Jesse Winker. Some names that I think will be in the top 24 moving forward who haven't been so far. Ronald Acuna, he's a top five overall player for me, so I think he'll be in there. I think Ian Hap's really interesting. He's right around that range. Teosker Hernandez, I think absolutely will be a top 25 out, 24 outfielder moving forward. I think probably top 15,

maybe top 12. He's been on fire since June 1st. Brian Reynolds, if he gets back over this IEL, this oblique injury and gets back, I think he'll, I think he'll be very good. And then Cotel Marte, I'm still high on Marcelo Zuna. Cotel Marte has been showing signs lately, obviously dealing with his hamstring injury that's forced him to DH for a lot of the time lately, but showing some signs of figuring it out. And I still believe in Nick Castellanos, not so much Cody Bellinger, but one name to keep in mind. And this is a guy who, what he's done so far, Michael Harris, eight home.

runs, 10 stolen bases in 47 games, including a three-steal game this weekend against the Nationals. Michael Harris has just been absolutely outstanding. Braves are still mostly hitting him towards the bottom half of the lineup, usually ninth, which is holding him back from being able to put up even better numbers, especially those counting stat numbers. And there are some flaws in Michael Harris' game. He is an incredibly aggressive swinger, who has, I think, like 3% walk rate so far this season. So, you know, you can't necessarily 4% walk rate for Michael Harris, 24% strikeout rate.

It's really hard to be a really good hitter when your plate discipline looks like that. But expected stats love him. Average exit velocity, 89.4 miles per hour, barrel rate 7.3 per plate appearance, or one per 7.3 play appearances, 10.3%. 43% hard hit rate. I think Michael Harris, I mean, I don't know if he's going to definitely be a top 24 guy, but if he does what he's done so far,

we might be talking about Michael Harris as a top three-round pick next season. So very interested to see what he looks like when there's kind of some adjustments made towards him. So we're going to move on to the rest of the positions, but first we'll take a quick break right here on Fantasy Baseball today. And let's talk about catcher for the rest of the season. Look at those top 24s so far and then reset the rankings. Ryan Jeffers will be out six to eight weeks with a right thumb fracture.

Twins could be in line for a catcher upgrade at the deadline because Jeffers had not been playing 50-50, but like 55-45 with Gary Sanchez. He had played 60 games to Gary Sanchez is 70. And then Ace Precier prospect, Chey Langelliers was named the MVP of the futures game with a home off of Jared Schuster. He's hitting 272 with an 870 OPS, 16 home runs at AAA since being acquired in the Matt Olson trade. So, you know, he's someone who probably want to keep an eye on in the second half. The A's, obviously potentially sellers, you know, we don't know if Sean Murphy's going to

be part of that, but Shay Langaleeer, someone to keep an eye on in the second half. All right, let's look at the top 12 catchers and shouldn't really be much of a surprise here because there's not that many good catchers. Alejandro Kirk, number one, Will Smith, J.T. Relamuto, Wilson Contreras, who's really slowed down after a scorching hot start. Dalton Varsho, Jonah, Jonah, Jonae, Jonae, the rest of the top 12. Travis Darno, Tyler Stevenson, Sean Murphy, Christian Vasquez, and William Contreras. So you can see kind of the guys who have played a lot, and then the guys who have been good and minimal playing time. William Contreras, I think being chief among them, but also Tyler.

Stevenson you know he's a top six catcher when he's healthy Jonah hyme has been a really nice source of power and actually hitting 262 is really nice from him because he hasn't been killing you in batting average so yeah when you look catcher none of these catchers are ranked in the top 100 overall players in Roto so far this season in terms of their scoring you know even with Alejandro Kirk hitting 316 no steals limited county stats 10 home runs like he's been amazing, but that just goes to show how low the bar is at catcher. And really, I think there's kind of that top five, you know, Kirk, Smith, Raumuto, Contreras, Varshot, and then

after that, it's pretty mediocre. So the names that are missing, Salvador Perez was wasn't living up to expectations before the injury. Now he's coming back from that injury, so we'll see, Yosemani Grande Dahl, Adly Rushman, Khaver Ruiz, and Danny Jansen, are are some of the other ones who didn't make the top 12, who I think could be in the top 12 for the rest of the season and just kind of looking at my catcher rankings for the rest of the season. Will Smith is my number one, him and Alejandro Kirk. I think it's a coin flip,

and really the top four, kind of a four-way tie. Alejandro Kirk, Wilson Conderas, J.T. Raumuto. Dalton Varshow, Adley Rushman. There's just so much potential there. I still think he's going to live up to it, and he's going to be very good. Salvador Perez, Travis Darnow, Tyler Stevenson. I could move Tyler Stevenson up, and I probably will.

So, you know, among healthy players, he's number seven for me. And you could make a case for him ahead of Adley Rushman and Dalton Varsho, and I wouldn't really argue. Varsho, you know, the playing time has been awesome as expected. But only the five stolen bases, 236 batting average. You know, he's been a set-it and forget. get it kind of catcher, but there hasn't really been a lot to, uh, to get excited about there. Uh, Travis Darno, Kabbart Ruiz, Yasmani Grande, Dahl, Sean Murphy rounds out my top 12 for

the rest of the season, but really I think it's like seven or eight guys that matter and that includes Salvador Perez when he's healthy. And I think it will include Yasmani Grandeau when he's healthy. He hasn't been good this season, but I just think the track record is there. And he was so good last season that I'm willing to give Yosmani Grandaal the benefit of the doubt. All right, let's move on to first base and news and notes there. Spencer Torkelson was sent back to AAA. He hit 197 with a 282 on base, 2.95 slug. The slug is really, really disappointing for someone who, you know, we expected to have some pretty good pop.

So hopefully, you know, this is not a long-term thing for Spencer Torkelson and they'll call him back up. But given the way he's played, you know, it's not, it's hard to argue. against him being sent down. He has not been good this season. And then Juan Ypes was placed on the 10-day IL with a grade two right forearm strain. That is a really disappointing thing for him. He's been a solid contributor, some pop, some batting average. So hopefully Juan Yuppez can get healthy, but I would expect a multiple week absence there. Let's look at the first base rankings for the 2022 season so far at the All-Star break. Paul Goldschmidt, no surprise. the number one. First baseman, the number three overall player in Roto Leagues. He's hitting 3.30

with five stolen bases, 20 home runs, and 134 combined RBI and runs. He's been just absolutely incredible. Moving on, Freddie Freeman. A really, really good closing stretch for Freddie Freeman. I think he had 18 hits in his final eight games of the All-Star Break or heading into the All-Star Break, worked his way on to that all-star roster in the end. Only 13 home runs. That's the disappointing thing, but 321 average, 119 combined runs in RBI, and even seven stolen bases for Freddie Freeman. He's been really solid.

You know, I think the power, you're disappointed in the power, but we were disappointed in the power in the first half last season, and he turned it on. So I still think, you know, he might be more of a 25 to 30 home run guy in this offensive environment, but given that he's one of the best sources of batting average, there, there's nothing wrong with Freddie Freeman as your first baseman. Moving on, number three, Pete Alonzo, C.J. Crone, number four. Obviously, those massive splits between home and road.

You know, it's like a 400 point split in OPS between course field and a way for C.J. Crohn. So when you're looking at ranking him, I think you probably just rank him a little lower than the surface numbers, just because you know half the time he's going to be pretty bad. Anthony Rizzo is your number five first basement, 22 home runs, 226 batting average pretty bad, but the pop has been really nice,

especially where you were able to get him. Brandon Drury shows up again. He's been awesome. Vladimir Guerrero, a disappointment for sure. You know, he was the number one player taken in a lot of leagues. 268 batting average, 20 homers, 49 runs, 57 RBI, but this is what happens when you don't steal. This is an interesting, this is a good point to, to,

bring up. Vladimir Guerrero hasn't been bad. You know, he's got a like an 825 OPS. He's been a well above average hitter. He's on a 35 homer pace, you know, decent RBI and run totals. But there's, there's just not as much of a margin for error when you look at, you know, the guys like Freddie Freeman and Paul Goldschmidt, who will swipe a base occasionally. Even Anthony Rizzo somehow has six steals. The Yankees have been very aggressive on the base pass this season. So that's been a nice surprise. But Vladimir Guerrero, I think he's going to be a lot better than this. moving forward. He's still a first round pick in my eyes. So not too worried, but yeah, he's hitting the ball on the ground more, you know, after last season, you know, when he started hitting the ball in the

air and we thought, you know, maybe this was the start of this massive breakout. Still an incredibly talented player, though. So not too concerned there. Josh Bell, your number 12, 9, first baseman, then Jose O'Reilly, Matt Olson, and Reese Hoskins to round out the top 12. And so that's one that looks a lot. I mean, the order obviously isn't what we expected, but it looks a lot like what we would have thought coming into the season. Just, you know, shuffle an order. Nobody thought Vladimir Guerrero would be the number eight first baseman. I don't think anybody really thought Anthony Rizzo would be a top five guy, but for the most part, this looks like what we thought it would. Let's look at some of the notable missing names from first base. Luis

Syrias, Ty France, Andrew Vaughn, Nate Lowe, Jared Walsh, Max Muncie, Joey Vado, Spencer Torkelson, you know, first base is not that good right now. So it's been a disappointing season for the first base position. And yeah, that's kind of where we're at. Looking at the rest of season rankings at first base, I still have Lanmer-Garerrero, number one. I just think the upside here is so much higher than anyone else. You know, the 50 homer, 300 batting average, you know, potential just makes him worthy of that spot, but I can't really argue if you wanted to put Paul Goldschmidt or Freddie Freeman ahead of him. Pete Alonzo, Matt Olson, Jose O'Brien, Josh Bell, C.J. Crohn, Reese Hoskins, Ryan Mountcastle, Anthony Rizzo, and Andrew Vaughn, round out my top 12.

I think the top nine is pretty good. And then once you get to Ryan Mountcastle, who is actually having a very good season and it has been better than I expected, but just I think that the new dimensions in Camden Yards are just holding him back. It's a really hard place to hit for a right-handed power hitter now. And so I think Ryan Mountcastle could have a really good season.

It's just hard for him to do it in that environment. Rizzo, I just don't quite, by the production that we've seen so far. You know, the batting average is very low. I think it's very power-heavy. And, you know, he's, I don't know, he's going to continue to play his games at Yankee Stadium. So you can't really say that he's getting lucky with those short home runs. And then Androvon is really good batting average source right now.

I think the power is going to come. So that's kind of what puts him over, you know, your Jake Crono-Ware. and Thai France and Christian walkers of the world. So, yeah, that's where I'm at on first base. Let's see. Let's move on to second base. We've got a couple more positions left. News and notes for second base.

Brandon Lowe returned from the IL and went 6-48 with a walk in his first two games. So that was very good to see. He was coming back from that back injury. Jonathan Arando was sent back to the miners. I know he was someone that Scott liked a little bit. So, yeah, good to see Brandon Lau, healthy and hitting. Because, you know, he's incredibly streaky. He's been really frustrating as a player,

but still a top 12 second baseman farming rest of the season. I'm very excited to see what he can do now that he's healthy. Jose Altuve missed Friday's game after being hit on the knee by a pitch, but he was back in there on Saturday and Sunday, so that's a good sign. Rangers recalled Nick Solac from AAA. He was hitting 287 with an OPS right around 850. with five homers and four steals. So yeah, I think Nick Solek, he's someone who's been fantasy relevant in the past.

I'm not sure where he's going to play. He's got some multi-eligibility, but a name to keep an eye on now that he's back in the majors. Edmundo Sosa left Saturday's game with a leg injury for St. Louis. X-rays were negative, and Jerks and Pro Fire returned Friday after missing a week with a concussion and a neck strain. Let's talk about the top 12 players so far this season. No surprise. Trey Turner, your number one second baseman so far this season. season. After that, it gets surprising. I will admit. Brandon Jury, number two at second base. He's

eligible in a lot of different places, so he's been incredibly valuable in addition to just the very good numbers. Tommy Edmund, number three, he's slowed down, you know, the 259 batting average. That's a disappointment after how good he was early on, but 64 runs. He's among the leaders in the majors and runs scored. 20 stolen bases. He's been excellent. Trevor Story, He is shortstop eligible and he was placed on the IL retroactive to July 14th with that hand injury. He had been hit on the hand by a pitch earlier in the week. He is eligible to return Sunday following the All-Star break, so hopefully there's no long-term issues there. But, you know, as frustrating as his season's been, just goes to show, again, the power of stolen bases.

He's hitting 222. That's really bad. 49 runs, 58 RBI is fine, but, you know, 15 homers, 10 steals. At second base, that's going to be enough to make you a top. player. Jose Altuva having another solid season, 17 homers, eight steals, 276. This guy, Marcus Simeon might be the bounce back of the, you know, if you define the first half into halves, you know, you kind of start going like that. He's probably one of the best players of the second half of the first half. 16 steals is already a career high, only 236, but 12 homers, 42 RBI, 49 runs scored for Marcus Simeon. He's really been outstanding, you know, not as good

as he was last season still a disappointment still underperforming overall but for most of the season at this point marcus simeon's been very good jazz chisholm glaber torres louisa rias tyro strata and and andres himinez round out the top 12s yeah another situation where second base just a lot of surprises and you know the bar is relatively low although it's worth pointing out andres himenez is a number a top 100 player overall in rhodo scoring this season louis Luis Arias, obviously, leading the majors in batting average. It's kind of all he does. He has 52 runs scored, so I don't want to say it's all he does.

He's got, he's kind of a two-category guy, no pop, no steals, but still, Luis Raya is a very nice player to have a round. And then Tyra Estrada, we talked about on the podcast last week. Nobody's quite sure what to do with Tara Estrada. He doesn't play every day because he's a giant, and nobody plays every day for the Giants. I don't necessarily think we buy him as like an above average hitter, but the 12 stolen bases, that's very nice. Often when we're talking about roto, things come back to stolen bases.

So yeah, he's a solid player who probably hasn't gotten the credit he deserves. Some notable missing names at second base, Jorge Polanco. He's number 13. Thai France would absolutely be a top 12 guy if he hadn't gotten hurt. Whitmerfield, one of the bigger disappointments this season, Catel Marte, also disappointing, although he's been better lately. Ozzy Albies was a disappointment, but this is mostly about the injury. If it wasn't for the injury, he'd be a top 12 guy.

Jeff McNeil, Brandon Lau, Max Muncie, all guys who are not in the top 12, who you might have expected to see there. So let's move on to rest of season rankings at second base. And I've got Trey Turner at the top, followed by Jose Altuve, Trevor Story. And then Catele Marte for me, but I know I'm higher on Cateau Marte than most people. So if you want to put Catele Marte, you know, I think you could drop him as low as eighth, and it would make sense. But I think there is kind of a top eight at the position.

Then Marcus Simeon, Tommy Edmund, Brandon Lau, Jazz Chisholm, Whitmerfield, Javier Baez, surprising that he wasn't in there. He's been better lately, but obviously got off to a really bad start. Jorge Polanco and Luis Arias, you know, some of the other names I consider, in India, Glaver Torres, you know, J. Cronoworth and Thai France, you know, they're eligible everywhere, so that helps. But yeah, some of the guys I considered for second base, second base probably the weakest position in fantasy at this point. I don't think anybody is, well, not catcher, but you know, besides that. So let's move on to shortstop,

which is arguably the deepest position in fantasy. Some news and notes there. Brandon Crawford placed on the aisle with knee inflammation. That's the second time he's been on the IL. with a knee injury. Previously it was left knee inflammation. This time it's right knee inflammation. So that's just some old guy stuff there from Brandon Crawford. He's just got inflamed knees. Who among us? Jazz Chisholm has been hitting, running, and working on defense as he works his way back. From a back injury, the next step for him is not yet known coming into the weekend, but seems like he's close. He has maintained that he's going to play in the All-Star game. He hasn't pulled out of the All-Star game yet. So hopefully that means he'll be back, you know, beginning with the return from the All-Star break because

Jazz Chisholm, you know, even with this injury missing a decent amount of time lately, he's still been a top 12 guy at the position, the 12 stolen bases, 14 homers, 2.55 average. I mean, Jazz Chisholm has been about as good as you could have hoped for. It had been the Marlins best player, I guess position player, not including Sandy Alcantra. So, yeah, hopefully he's back. and then John Bertie was placed on the 10-day aisle with the left groin strain. That's bad news for the Marlins and four fantasy players

who have been riding the John Bertie's stolen base express. I think it's kind of coming derailed right now, and that's a disappointment, but we'll see what it looks like the playing time for him when he gets back, because I think he's been benefiting from some of those Marlins' absences. So, yeah, we'll see. Top 12 at shortstop.

Trey Turner, number one player in shortstop so far this season. shortstop and second base. Danesby Swanson, really good season. 15 homers, 14 steals, 291 average, five category stud, top 12 player overall. So just outstanding stuff from him. Francisco Lindor, it's interesting to see him as the number three shortstop. 16 homers, nine steals, 54 runs, 66 RBI. That's really where Francisco Lindor has been just outstanding so far this season. 7.53 OPS for the season is, pretty good, but sort of run-of-the-mill. He has actually a lower OPS than Bobby Witt so far.

Bobby Witt, the number four shortstop, despite being, I think, a little bit of a disappointment. 13 homers, 17 stolen bases for Bobby Witt, 100 percent on sprint speed, really good pop. Just super-star stuff from Bobby Witt, even though the results haven't necessarily been quite superstar level yet, certainly superstar potential. Tommy Edmund, number five.

right number five yeah Corey Seeger number six disappointing season for him only really in terms of the batting average the 22 homers on pace for a career high almost on a 40 homer pace and his babbip is like 85 points lower than his career mark core seager is uh absolutely one of the guys I expect to be better in the second half than he was in the first half and you got Trevor story and you can see that gap between second and short Trevor Storrh was number four, second basement. And he's number eight at shortstop. Zander Bogartz, quietly hitting 318, but only seven homers, because this is what Zander Bogarts does.

He just, he's kind of like a different version of the same excellent player every year. He's really hard to get nailed down, but he's always going to be good. You know that. Marcus Simeon and Jazz Chisholm round out the top 12. So some of the names who didn't make it at shortstop, But Labor Torres, number 13, Willie Adamas, number 14. Tim Anderson, surprisingly not a top 12 player. He always misses some time, but he's hitting 311, six home runs, 11 stolen bases, and 64 games, only 22 RBI and 43 runs.

So he's been hurt by the fact that that White Sox lineup has not been particularly good. Carlos Correa has a 7, sorry, 808 OPS right now, and the expected stats, are even better. So I think he's going to be very good moving forward. And possibly, you can make an argument that Carlos Correa's expected stats are better than they've ever been right now. So that's really good. Wanda Franco, out five to eight weeks with that hand injury, hitting 260 with a 308

OBP, 397 slug. Javier Baez, not in the top 12, but over the past 20 games, he's on a 49 homer 16 stolen base pace. So he's really turned his season around 266 batting average. You know, we mentioned that 60-game mark. He's turned it around right around the 60-game mark, which was where he was in that very bad 2020 season. So you can't give up on Javier Baez,

no matter how bad things look. He is right around the fringe of my top 12 at shortstop moving forward. I'll just go through that real quick. Boba Chet, also a name that didn't end up in the top 12. so far this season, but I think he will be moving forward. I've got shortstop looking like this. Trey Turner, Bo Bichette, Tim Anderson, Trevor Story,

Corey Seeger, Marcus Semyon, Zander Bogartz, Francisco Lindor, and there's a really tight margin between number two and number eight at shortstop. I think they're very bunched up. Then Tommy Edmund, Bobby Witt, Carlos Corray, and Jazz Chisholm. There are 14 players at shortstop who are inside my top 70. overall Fernando Tatis, Dansby Swanson, also in there. So even if you think Danesby Swanson should be a top 12 guy, I don't really disagree. You know, I could move him up very easily.

So point is shortstop's awesome. Move on to third base. Some news notes there. Evan Longoria was activated from the 10-day IL on Saturday. And Nolan Aronado missed the final game in the first half with back tightness. He I think wasn't going to play on Sunday. they got rained out, so not sure. It doesn't appear to be much of a concern.

I don't think he's pulled out of the All-Star game, so hopefully it won't be an issue in the second half. But something to keep an eye on with a guy in his 30s, you know, we are concerned about Mike Trout and Christian Yalach back, so we'll note it for Nolan Aeronado. Third base, you know, so I just saw someone in the comment, say there's Jose Ramirez, and then there's everyone else. Actually, I mean, if you go by the production so far this season,

there's Jose Ramirez, there's Raphael Devers, and then there's everyone else. Jose Ramirez, the number one player at third base, number seven player overall, 19 homers, 13 stolen bases, 288 batting average. I mean, just an absolute stud, arguably the best player in fantasy, especially if you play in a roto league. So, yeah, exceptional stuff from Jose Ramirez.

But Rafael Devers is right there with him so far. He's the number eight player, only two steals, so that's probably the gap between them. But 327 batting average, 22 home runs, 55. RBI, 62 runs from Raphael Devers. He's been outstanding. This is the best version of him that we've seen so far. Really, really like what we've seen from Raphael Devers. You've got Austin Riley, the number 11 player overall. I think he had a home run again on Sunday. He's got 27, 61 RBI, 54 runs scored. Doesn't run, but a 284 average. I mean, Frank and I have talked about it a lot

this season, how wrong we were to be skeptical of him. He's just really good. Manny Machado, average. He's the number four third baseman, 15 homers, seven stolen bases. He missed a little bit of time. Might be even higher if not for that. Brandon Jury, there he is again. Brandon Jury, a top 12 player at four different positions in the first half of the 2022 season. Who could have seen it coming? Bobby Witt number six. Nolan Aronado, number seven. I'm surprised Nolan Aronado is number seven. This is another one. He's the number 36 overall player, so not low by any means. but 293 batting average 18 homers 59 rbi the places that no and ronado struggles are one stolen base he's just that's not part of his game and 41 runs scored he's a he's a low o bp guy and he's not

fast so i think noon arnaado he's kind of a really good three category guy but not necessarily um you know the the five category or even four category stud that some of the other guys are and then there's a big gap between noon aranado as the number seven player and Luis Arias is the number eight. Luis Araya is the number 81 player overall. So that shows you how shallow third base is that, you know, we've got the entire top 12 at shortstop was within the top 65 players. Third base, the top seven is inside the top 65.

So just a big gap there. Closing out the top 12 of Louisa Ryas, Patrick Wisdom, Wilmer Flores, and John Bertie. Some notable missing names, Matt Chapman, Alex Bregman, Justin Turner, Alec him, Brian Hayes. Esak Bredes, who's been very good, but not quite top 12. Josh Donaldson, Jose Miranda, who's been absolutely on fire over the past month or so. You can make an argument he's a top 12 third baseman rest of the season just with the way he's played lately. Max Muncie and then Chris Bryant, who I want to point out, I think Chris Bryant has rightly been a disappointment.

I think a lot of people are rightly disappointed, but he's hitting 311 with a 377 OBP 475 slug in 32 games. So Chris Bryant, you know, he, a lot of that was, you know, a recent hot stretch, but he's been very good when he's been on the field. The issue has been injuries for him, but, you know, I think someone you could view as a potential top third, top 12 third baseman the rest of the season. And this is how I rank third base the rest of the way. Jose Ramirez, Mani Machado, Rafael Devers. I mean, Machado endeavors is really a coin flip. There's very little differentiating them. I think for me, Machado just gets a little bit of an edge in a roto because of stolen bases,

but Devers in a points league makes perfect sense. Austin Riley's not far behind them. Nolan Aronado, Bobby Witt, Alex Bregman, Chris Bryant, Luis Arias. And I don't really even want to say the rest of them because it's just not very good. And even Luis Arias is pretty fringy. So I've got Cabrion Hayes is the top 12 third baseman the rest of the season. I might be alone in that. but the quality of contact metrics are really good.

He just has to start elevating the ball, but he's a stolen base threat who could hit for a good batting average with some pop moving forward. And I'm willing to bet on that because he's shown some elite skills. John Birdie's number 11 for me. We'll see what his groin injury in Justin Turner's 12. But it's really, it's an eight-person position and really maybe six-person position at third base.

It's a pretty bad one. So not a particularly strong place for, third base to be and that's what we expected coming into the season so you know at least you can't say you're disappointed in third base and that's going to do it for this episode of fantasy baseball today thanks for uh coming along for the solo ride we'll be back tomorrow with uh chris welsh from the in this league podcast to talk about the MLB draft and the players you need to know about that i will see you guys next time bye-bye