May 1B and DH Rankings
Monday, May 05, 2014
Here are the May first baseman and designated hitter rankings. As always, players are ranked based on how I believe they will perform in 5x5 scoring over the rest of the season. Included along with the position rankings is an updated top 300 list. I try to list players at the positions at which they're most valuable, so if you can't find that second baseman you're looking for, check shortstop instead.
Click to see other May rankings:
Top 300 | SP | RP | OF | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C | DH
Editor's Note: Rotoworld's partner FanDuel is hosting a one-day $45,000 Fantasy Baseball league for Monday night's MLB games. It's $25 to join and first prize is $7,000. Starts at 7:05pm ET on Monday. Here's the FanDuel link.
Follow us at @Rotoworld_BB and @matthewpouliot on Twitter.
First Baseman and Designated Hitter Rankings
Dropping off: Alex Gonzalez (37th), Japhet Amador (38th), Paul Konerko (39th)
- No. 2 through No. 9 is totally a jumble here, and I could come up with a completely new order if asked again tomorrow. I’m not going to write off Fielder or Encarnacion. I don’t think Davis’s stock has fallen as far as his placement here suggests, but it’s hard to rank any of those healthy guys behind him. Anyway, all of them are bunched closely in the top 300.
- That Cron had three hits and two RBI in his major league debut after being called up Saturday turned him from an interesting speculation pickup in AL-only leagues into someone who is getting grabbed in mixed leagues. After all, the 24-year-old was hitting .319/.369/.602 with six homers in 113 at-bats in the minors, and he has only Raul Ibanez standing in his way at DH in Anaheim.
Still, I am rather skeptical. Last year, Cron hit a much less interesting .274/.319/.428 with 14 homers in 519 at-bats in Double-A. That came with a sub-.700 OPS against righties. His minor league numbers have been inflated by playing in very good situations for hitters and still aren’t all that impressive. I think he’s a long shot to make it as a major league regular for the long haul.
Of course, I’m also pretty skeptical of Ibanez making a positive contribution this year, and if he starts getting regular at-bats, it’s not like Cron would need to post an .800 OPS to be a useful fantasy property while hitting in the middle of the Angels lineup. I still think there are plenty of better mixed-league options out there right now, but it’s a situation worth watching.
Here are the May first baseman and designated hitter rankings. As always, players are ranked based on how I believe they will perform in 5x5 scoring over the rest of the season. Included along with the position rankings is an updated top 300 list. I try to list players at the positions at which they're most valuable, so if you can't find that second baseman you're looking for, check shortstop instead.
Click to see other May rankings:
Top 300 | SP | RP | OF | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C | DH
Editor's Note: Rotoworld's partner FanDuel is hosting a one-day $45,000 Fantasy Baseball league for Monday night's MLB games. It's $25 to join and first prize is $7,000. Starts at 7:05pm ET on Monday. Here's the FanDuel link.
Follow us at @Rotoworld_BB and @matthewpouliot on Twitter.
First Baseman and Designated Hitter Rankings
Dropping off: Alex Gonzalez (37th), Japhet Amador (38th), Paul Konerko (39th)
- No. 2 through No. 9 is totally a jumble here, and I could come up with a completely new order if asked again tomorrow. I’m not going to write off Fielder or Encarnacion. I don’t think Davis’s stock has fallen as far as his placement here suggests, but it’s hard to rank any of those healthy guys behind him. Anyway, all of them are bunched closely in the top 300.
- That Cron had three hits and two RBI in his major league debut after being called up Saturday turned him from an interesting speculation pickup in AL-only leagues into someone who is getting grabbed in mixed leagues. After all, the 24-year-old was hitting .319/.369/.602 with six homers in 113 at-bats in the minors, and he has only Raul Ibanez standing in his way at DH in Anaheim.
Still, I am rather skeptical. Last year, Cron hit a much less interesting .274/.319/.428 with 14 homers in 519 at-bats in Double-A. That came with a sub-.700 OPS against righties. His minor league numbers have been inflated by playing in very good situations for hitters and still aren’t all that impressive. I think he’s a long shot to make it as a major league regular for the long haul.
Of course, I’m also pretty skeptical of Ibanez making a positive contribution this year, and if he starts getting regular at-bats, it’s not like Cron would need to post an .800 OPS to be a useful fantasy property while hitting in the middle of the Angels lineup. I still think there are plenty of better mixed-league options out there right now, but it’s a situation worth watching.
Matthew Pouliot is the Executive Editor of RotoWorld.com and has been doing the site's baseball projections for the last 10 years. Follow him on Twitter
@matthewpouliot.
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Matthew Pouliot