Welcome to the 2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 14 Drop List!
In this week's article, we are dropping two former batting champs and an early-season breakout player who has come back down to earth.
Drafting players for just batting average is never my favorite thing, and two players in this week's drop list show exactly why.
Let's move into the week 14 drop list and take a peek at whose time on fantasy rosters has come to an end.
2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 14 Drop List
Tim Anderson, SS, Chicago White Sox
Four years ago, in 2019, Anderson won the AL batting title with a .335 batting average. Little did we know, Anderson hit his peak right then and there.
Since 2019, Anderson's batting average has been steadily declining yet remained above the .300 mark. Until this year.
Through 60 games in 2023, Anderson is slashing .226/.267/.263 with zero home runs, 11 RBIs, and eight stolen bases.Â
Nothing jumps off the page in the slightest for Anderson this year and he doesn't seem very capable of turning things around.
He is currently sitting at career lows in batting average, OBP, SLG, and OPS. The only thing that he is keeping up with is his steal total (8). Even that is underwhelming considering the explosion of steals in MLB in 2023.
Lastly, Anderson doesn't stay healthy. He has played over 125 games in only two of his eight MLB seasons and was already on the IL earlier this season.
The statistical decline along with the impending IL stint makes Anderson a definite drop.
Jeff McNeil, 2B/OF, New York Mets
Speaking of batting titles, McNeil is yet another former batting champ who has significantly underperformed in 2023.
Just last season, McNeil was an all-star and silver slugger award winner while going on to win the 2022 NL batting title.
2023 has been a bit of a different story for McNeil. After only hitting sub .300 once in his career (.251 in '21), he is slashing .256/.331/.331.
McNeil has been an extreme disappointment for owners thus far. He has excelled in one fantasy baseball statistic throughout his six-year career (batting average), and now he cannot even keep up in that single category.
At this point, McNeil provides zero fantasy value and probably should have made the drop list weeks ago. In the last month itself, McNeil went 17/91 with one homer and 6 RBIs.
As we head into July, McNeil is a drop. Just check back in a few weeks.
Nolan Gorman, 2B/3B, St. Louis Cardinals
After a blistering start to the 2023 season, Gorman has come back down to earth. Well, he actually crashed back down to earth.
Gorman made his MLB debut with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2022 where he played 89 games, batted .226, and hit 14 home runs.
To start 2023, in just March/April and May, Gorman played in 51 games and already had 13 long balls to go along with a .272 batting average.
If there was a time to sell high, the end of May was the time to do so. Unfortunately, May is long gone and June is the last thing that we remember.
Gorman played in 20 games in June and batted a putrid .143/.211/.229 with two homers and six RBIs. Breakout players often regress to the mean and Gorman did just that. I just didn't see it happening in such a dramatic fashion.
The time to sell Gorman has passed and now managers have a tough decision to make. Hold and hope for a turnaround or do you drop and free up space for another hot bat?Â
I believe the answer is pretty obvious. Gorman is a drop.Â
Holding a veteran bat who has proven themselves for 8+ years while waiting for a turnaround is a much more comfortable chore than holding a Gorman-esque type player.Â
Drop Gorman and find yourself some consistency elsewhere.
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