Top Risers

Aaron Judge, NYY- No real surprise right here.  Judge has already broken the single season home run record by a rookie with his 50 bombs and with those home runs he is also hitting .283 with 125 runs, 109 RBI and nine stolen bases.  Judge will more than likely add to these totals with the Yankees having five games remaining on their schedule.  Judge was looking like a dud in the month following the All-Star game as he hit just .185 in August but September has been another monster as Judge is hitting .308 with 13 home runs and an OPS of 1.337. He is a lock to win the A.L. Rookie of the Year and will be a contender for the A.L. MVP Award as well.

Cody Bellinger, LAD- The National League’s answer to Aaron Judge was the Dodger’s Cody Bellinger.  Bellinger was called up by the Dodgers in April and went on an absolute tear in the power department and really sprung the Dodgers to the best record in the National League.  Bellinger is hitting .270 with 87 runs, 39 home runs, 95 RBI and 10 stolen bases. He is a lock on the N.L. Rookie of the Year award and will certainly get some MVP votes as the Dodgers have locked down the No.1 seed in the National League.

Whit Merrifield, KC- Where did this season come from? In 2016 Merrifield hit .283 with 44 runs, two home runs, 29 RBI and eight stolen bases over 83 games for the Royals.  So it has been quite a surprise to see Merrifield hitting .286 with 77 runs, 18 home runs, 77 RBI and 33 stolen bases over 140 games this season.  The power and stole base production has Merrifield ranking among one of the top fantasy players this season.  2018 will be a big year for his career and it will be interesting to see where Whit goes in fantasy drafts as he will be one of the biggest risks given his likely ADP.

Jose Ramirez, CLE- Ramirez had a breakout season in 2016, hitting .312 with 84 runs, 11 home runs, 76 RBI and 22 stolen bases.  In 2017 he went on to set all new career highs with 103 runs, 29 home runs and 81 RBI through 147 games.  Ramirez has also swiped 16 bags while hitting .317 with an OPS of .953.  After being drafted somewhere in the 6-to-8th round in most fantasy drafts his ADP next season will likely fall within the first four rounds.

Tommy Pham, STL- Pham was called up from the minors in May and went on to have a career year as he is hitting .310 with 92 runs, 23 home runs, 73 RBI, 23 stolen bases and an OPS of .941 over 124 games so far this season.  Pham had shown some power and stolen base ability in limited playing time over the last two seasons but nobody could have predicted the type of year he has gone on to have in 2017.  Fantasy owners who were keen on adding Pham during his early hot stretch have been rewarded in doing so.

Elvis Andrus, TEX- We have seen some solid numbers from Andrus in the past but never have we seen him put up power numbers like he has this season as his 20 home runs to this point in the season is more than double his previous career best of eight home runs which he hit last season.  Along with those 20 home runs Andrus is hitting .298 with a career best 99 runs and a career best 87 RBI while adding 25 stolen bases.  At 29 years old it was certainly unexpected to see this type of power come from Andrus but the home run ball has become more prevalent in baseball this season as the league on a whole is on pace to shatter the previous record for total home runs hit in a season.

Alex Wood, LAD- There a point this season where Wood was pitching like a Cy Young candidate and while he has slowed a bit in the second half of the season he is still 16-3 with a 2.72 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP over 27 games (25 starts) this season.  Wood has struck out 151 over 152.1 innings and both his FIP and xFIP show that this season was no fluke.  Wood’s frailty had him on pitch counts early in the season and he did spend some time on the disabled list but overall he was an ACE for any fantasy owner that grabbed him off the waiver wire, especially prior to the All-Star break where he went 10-0 with a 1.67 ERA while striking out 97 over 80.2 innings.

Robbie Ray, ARI- After a few seasons of teasing us with solid peripheral numbers and high strikeout rates but poor ERA’s and WHIP’s Ray finally put forth a season we knew he was capable of as he leads the Diamondbacks to the No.1 Wild Card slot.  Through 27 starts this season Ray is 15-5 with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP.  He has struck out 217 batters over 160.1 innings which is just a ridiculous rate.  Ray should have had a few more starts under his belt if not for a scary incident where he was struck in the head by a comebacker to the mound but he has since recovered and is ready for the Diamondbacks playoff push.  Fantasy owners likely took Ray in the later rounds of their draft in standard league formats and were rewarded with a Cy Young caliber season.

Top Fallers

Miguel Cabrera, DET- Miggy skipped the gradual decline and decide to jump straight off the cliff in 2017 as he entered Wednesday hitting just .249 with 50 runs, 16 home runs, 60 RBI and an OPS of .728.  All of which would be his lowest marks since his rookie season back in 2003.  There were no obvious signs that a decline was coming after he hit .316 with 38 home runs and 108 RBI in 2016 so fantasy owners used a late first or early second round pick and took the Tigers slugger only to now see him floating around the waiver wire in most leagues.

Rick Porcello, BOS- Many figured the 2016 A.L. Cy Young Award winner would have some regression in 2017 but nobody would have figured Porcello would be as bad as 11-17 with a 4.65 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP yet that’s where he stands after 33 starts this season.  It wasn’t ALL bad for Porcello this season as he had a 3.06 ERA over five starts in July but the Red Sox struggled to score runs for him as he went 0-4 during that five start stretch.

Matt Harvey, NYM- The story of Matt Harvey’s 2017 season is quite a tale and none of if is any good.  The once “Dark Knight’ of the New York Mets, Harvey is just 5-6 with a 6.60 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP over 18 games (17 starts) this season.  He has spent time on the disabled list and has really struggled to be the same pitcher that we last saw in 2015 before the injuries to his pitching arm took its toll.

Tyler Glasnow, PIT- There was plenty of hype surrounding Glasnow entering the 2017 season as he has incredible stuff that has dominated the minor leagues and after a solid spring he was named to the Pirates Opening Day rotation but after that nothing good happened on a major league mound.  With the Pirates this season Glasnow is 2-7 with an ugly 8.02 ERA and a crazy high 2.02 WHIP over 14 games (13 starts).  What really makes no sense is the fact that after being demoted to Triple-A Glasnow again dominated minor league hitters, going 9-2 with a 1.93 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP over 15 starts.  The talent is there but it appears it could be a mental thing that is preventing Glasnow from having success up at “The Show”.

Pablo Sandoval, BOS/SF- As a Red Sox fan there may be no player I dislike more than Pablo Sandoval.  I don’t blame him for taking all that money in free agency but I do blame him for being utterly useless during his tenure as he dealt with weight and health problems.  However entering 2017 Sandoval came into camp in the obligatory “best shape of his life” and had quite an impressive Spring Training which had some in Red Sox Nation hopeful for a bounce back season after the team traded Travis Shaw to the Brewers which meant the starting hot corner was Sandoval’s to lose and boy did he lose it.  In 76 games this season with the Red Sox and Giants Sandoval is hitting just .215 with 25 runs, eight home runs and 29 RBI.  He is hitting just .193 in the month of September with an OPS of .623.

Brad Miller, TB-  I was not buying into the power numbers that Miller put up in 2016 but I also did not foresee him being THIS BAD as the Ray’s infielder is hitting just .199 with 42 runs, eight home runs and 36 RBI over 108 games.  This is the same Brad Miller that hit .243 with 73 runs, 30 home runs and 81 RBI last season for the Rays in what was a career year.  Fantasy owners who bought into Miller’s power surge really bit the bullet on this one and likely dropped Miller after a disappointing first month.

Jonathan Lucroy, TEX/COL- Yikes!! While I may be Cpt. Hindsight here but drafting Lucroy this season turned out to be a BIG swing and a miss.  Many had Lucroy ranked among their top three catchers heading into the season as nobody predicted that he would be hitting just .261 with 41 runs, six home runs and 39 RBI over 119 games this season.  Lucroy was a big deadline acquisition for the Rangers in 2016 and he finished last season hitting .292 with 67 runs, 24 home runs and 81 RBI.  Who knows what happened this year but Lucroy has been one of the bigger fantasy busts in recent memory given his ADP.

Carlos Gonzalez, COL-  In 2016 CarGo hit .298 with 87 runs, 25 home runs, 100 RBI and an OPS of .855.  Pretty decent numbers and similar to those that we saw during his prime years in the early part of the decade.  So, it was certainly disappointing for his fantasy owners to see him completely drop off the map in 2017 as he is hitting just .255 with 67 runs, 13 home runs and 54 RBI over 133 games.  Gonzalez hit just .221 prior to the All-Star break and while he has redeemed himself a bit in the second half of the season there is a good chance that none of his original owners are benefiting from that right now.

Top Stocks to Watch For 2018

Rafael Devers, BOS- Devers is ranked among the Top 10 prospects by Baseball America and in his short sample size at the major league level he is proving scouts correct as he is hitting .291 with 33 runs, 10 home runs and 26 RBI over 54 games.  Devers is just 20 years old but given his upside he figures to be one of the bigger sleeper candidates heading into the 2018 fantasy baseball season.

Yoan Moncada, CWS- It took a little bit for the White Sox to call up Moncada from Triple-A and then it took him a few weeks to adjust to the major league game but if the month of September is any indication of things to come then Moncada will be a special fantasy player to own as he is hitting .291 with five home runs, 11 RBI and two stolen bases over 79 at bats.  At the Triple-A level this season Moncada hit .282 with 57 runs, 12 home runs, 36 RBI and 17 stolen bases over 80 games.  Look for Moncada to be another late round sleeper pick in 2018 fantasy owners look to capitalize on his power/speed upside.

Luke Weaver, STL- Aside from his last start where he gave up eight runs to the Cubs over three innings Weaver has been lights out for the Cardinals pitching staff.  Between the time he was called up and his last start Weaver posted a 2.27 ERA while striking out 62 over 47.2 innings of work.  Heading into 2017 Weaver was ranked as the 46th best prospect in baseball by Baseball America and the No.2 prospect in the Cardinals organization.  With top pitching prospect Alex Reyes undergoing Tommy John surgery before the season began Weaver has positioned himself nicely for a potential rotation spot in 2018.