2016 Fantasy Baseball Top 250 Rankings: Rest of Season, Week 15

Credit: Arturo Pardavila III

Ah, the All-Star Game: the Mid-Summer Classic, baseball’s halfway mark. Or as we fantasy players know it: the three day respite from checking box scores. While you enjoy your break and take in the game, it’s also a good time to take stock of your fantasy teams with this week’s Fantasy Baseball Top 250 Rankings.

Take a look at where you are in the standings, not only overall, but in each individual category. Where are your strengths and weaknesses? Can you pick up more than just a couple points anywhere just by adding ten home runs or steals for instance?

As your league’s trade deadline looms, it becomes even more essential to be properly valuing players. This is precisely what these rankings seek to help you with. This week I want to emphasize some guys who might be under- or over-valued.

Stock Rising

Jean Segura, 2B/SS, Arizona Diamondbacks

For those of you who don’t habla español, “Segura” is Spanish for “sure”. As in, am I sure Segura deserves to make a huge jump in the rankings?  Why, yes, I am! And part of why I am is because he’s started walking.

After only taking five free passes all year, Segura had fifteen in June. And for the season, he’s swinging at pitches outside the zone less and consequently forcing pitchers to throw more in the zone to him. On top of that, he is hitting the ball harder than he ever has in his career.

As a result, he has become a fixture at the top of the Diamondbacks lineup, and he is a great pickup if you can get him from an owner who still may not be buying in.

Trevor Bauer, SP, Cleveland Indians

The National Weather Service has just issued a Breakout Alert for the city of Cleveland! This applies to all pro-sports teams in the area. (Just kidding, not you, Browns.)

Lebron’s vanquishing of the city’s championship demons has apparently elevated the game of the remaining active team in town as well. The Indians have been on fire since the Cavs hoisted the O’Brien trophy, and Bauer can take at least part of the credit.

Since becoming a full-time member of the rotation in May, he’s gone 5-3 with a 3.30 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. Although his peripherals predict some regression, his FIP is only 3.56, and I think it might be sustainable given his career high groundball/flyball rate of 1.57. Fewer flyballs equals fewer homers. Fewer homers equals a lower ERA.

High Impact Players Returning from Long Absences:

The following are guys that have been on the DL or suspended for a long time, but are due back soon. They could all be huge values for the rest of the season as each of them were top 100 or better in the pre-season. Try and nab them now before their owners get too excited about their return.

Dee Gordon, 2B, Miami Marlins:

Gordon was suspended for 80 games following a positive PED test in April. He is due back at the end of the month. This is a top 30 talent who did not suffer an injury. He should be all systems go for the final two months. Get him now before it’s too late! He could steal 20 bases!

Michael Brantley, OF, Cleveland Indians: Brantley is coming off his second stint on the DL this year related to the same shoulder he had surgery on last off-season. He is a much higher risk than the other two guys in this section, but if you are down-and-not-quite-out, he might just be your best bet to get you back in the hunt. He was drafted in the first round just last year after a stellar 2014 and can contribute across the board offensively.

Hunter Pence, OF, San Francisco Giants: Pence had surgery to repair a torn hamstring in June. Hamstrings are risky injuries too, but with a talent like Pence’s, you should be taking the risk if it is Hail Mary time for your team.

Stock Falling

Jung-Ho Kang, SS/3B, Pittsburgh Pirates

He’s got eleven homers and 28 RBI in 165 AB since coming off the DL in May. Sounds nice, right? Only problem is he’s still not playing every day. If you can’t monitor your lineups on a daily basis, then you might also be taking a lot of zeroes.

Oh, and that’s not really his only problem. His main problem is the criminal investigation that has been launched against him following some pretty stern allegations made by a woman in Chicago last month.

Now, in a court of law, he is innocent until proven guilty, but remember MLB has not needed a guilty verdict to levy suspensions under the new domestic violence policy thus far. (See: Reyes, Jose and Chapman, Aroldis.) It’s possible Kang gets suspended for the rest of the season or for a huge chunk of it! I’d be selling. ASAP.

Adam Eaton, OF, Chicago White Sox

Something is different about Eaton this year, and it’s not good. His BABIP is way down and not projected to bump back up. His batted ball rates are back roughly to what they were in 2014. His plate discipline numbers are trending the wrong way across the board as well.

I overrated this guy as being in the discussion for top 100. It seems he’s a better fit for the top 200 instead.

Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, New York Yankees

Another pre-season top 100 bust, Ellsbury is unlike Eaton because there isn’t much different about him this season. Perhaps this is just age-related decline as his injury-proneness finally takes its toll. Or perhaps it’s the age-related decline of everyone else in the Yankee lineup.

Either way, Ellsbury is basically just Elvis Andrus in the outfield: not much here other than stolen bases.

Fantasy Baseball Top 250 Rankings