That should make Kelly a borderline startable catcher in most mixed leagues, assuming he can bounce back from his down 2020 campaign. If he shows he's remotely healthy, his ADP is going to skyrocket. Grisham had an excellent debut season with San Diego, reaching double digits in both home runs and steals in his 59 games. From a fantasy standpoint, Gregorius isn't special. Pollock's production when healthy is rarely in doubt. Instead, he struck out more than ever (34.6% of the time), en route to a league-leading 85 strikeouts. He looks great in the spring, though he's currently battling a minor calf injury, though it shouldn't keep him out for long. But he's got plenty of power for a second-base eligible player, and there's no sign that his production is ready to fall off a cliff. Depending on how much time he'll miss, that could create a buying opportunity, as his ADP should drop a bit. Bradley joined the Phillies on a one-year deal after a successful 2020 season with Arizona and Philadelphia. Pick Experts. His strikeout numbers weren't particularly impressive, but he had a 2.42 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP, and tallied five saves. He has the tools and skills necessary to be successful, and the draft capital necessary to acquire him should be minimal. That may not sound like much but for a catcher-eligible player in 37 games, it's plenty. He hasn't developed into the offensive force most thought he would become, and his average has been downright dreadful. His strikeout rate jumped to 28.5%, his batting average cratered to a career-low .225, and his wOBA was his worst mark since 2015. The biggest difference was that Voit simply swung more than ever, 52.1% of the time, and correspondingly made more contact, at a 73.8% rate, and actually struck out less than ever before. Soto does not have the speed or baserunning chops to steal 30 bases in a season, which is the only thing keeping him from being considered worthy of drafting first overall. He's a starting-caliber first baseman still, without question, and he'll go at a discount because of last year's numbers. On the down side, there was everything else. Those numbers aren't just passable, they're extremely strong for a catcher in fantasy, and he should be drafted as a relatively strong first catcher in mixed leagues. Hernandez was excellent in his six starts last season, tallying a 3.16 ERA, a 1.01 WHIP, and a 32.1% strikeout rate. Kopech remains one of the top pitching prospects in the game, but he hasn't pitched competitively in about two-and-a-half year at this point. Polanco should gain second base eligibility quickly this year, as he moves over to accommodate Andrelton Simmons at shortstop. You can draft him with your last pick and hope to be able to stash him on your IL all season long, but for the most part, you can ignore him in redraft formats. He cut his strikeout rate from 34.6% to 25.9%, and his swinging strike rate from 19.1% to 15.4%. If you can move him between hitter and pitcher on a daily basis, then move him up your board significantly. If you take out that outing, Flaherty had just a 3.13 ERA, and he didn't allow more than three earned runs in any of his eight other starts. The consensus No. The Brewers are reportedly planning to add about 100 innings to their starter's workloads last season, so pencil Woodruff in for roughly 175 extremely strong frames. But he struck out 31.4% of the time, which contributed to a massive average drop to just .195. Bank on the power, but assume a maximum of 130 games or so. Olson had a bit of bad luck, as his xBA was .224, but still, it was by far his worst career mark. That still makes him an asset to any fantasy team. If he stays healthy, he has a shot at being a top-5 closer, but you can draft him a little later than that and likely make a profit. It was, simply put, the best pitch in baseball last year. Bohm never showed a ton of power in the minors, but he's just entering his age-25 season, so there's always room for growth. Pomeranz likely would have, at the very least, factored into the closer's mix for San Diego prior to the Mark Melancon and Keone Kela signings. He's been battling a hamstring issue for most of camp, but as of now, he doesn't look like he'll miss much, if any, time, so draft him accordingly. Now with the Yankees, Taillon has plenty of upside. He raked all throughout his college career, and not only carries plenty of thump in his bat, but also has an excellent approach that should keep his batting average and OBP well above the league average. He's fourth in the pecking order of the Marlins starters, but if his changeup can be an effective pitch, he might be the one to provide the most value given his extremely modest ADP. His walk rate dropped to a miniscule 3.6%, and although he struck out less than ever, the quality of his contact was overwhelmingly poor. After batting .327 combined from 2018-2019, his batting average dropped to a meager .205 last year. It's tough to know how much progress he made at the Rays' alternate site last summer but there isn't another prospect who can match his probability of being a productive big league hitter. Romano is poised to serve as the Blue Jays' closer after Kirby Yates suffered an elbow injury which will cost him the season. Draft him as an SP2 with upside. Second, after dropping for three consecutive seasons, Bogaerts' steal pace increased to the highest of his career. Expect 20-plus homers, close to double-digit steals, and plenty of runs scored. Notably, he cut his strikeout rate to a career-best 20.6% while raising his average to a strong .271. But under the hood, there were some concerning signs. Cronenworth ultimately profiles as a better "real life" player than he does as a fantasy option. Meadows missed time with an oblique injury last year, and, more importantly, because of complications from COVID-19. Soria fixed his home run problem from 2019, which was an outlier for his career anyway, and his 2020 numbers looked much more in line with his typical output. Posey is in his age-34 season, ancient for a catcher, and he's coming off two seasons during which he totaled a .741 OPS and a .688 OPS in 2018 and 2019 respectively. He was outspoken about working this offseason to become less predictable, so hopefully that manifests itself in his 2021 performance. Don't pay for the postseason, of course, but Arozarena should be a rock solid fantasy outfielder in 2021. Torres missed some time with quad and hamstring strains last season, but his year was an absolute disaster even without it. The Phillies were open about their desire to add some velocity to their bullpen and Bradley does just that. His FIP, xFIP, xERA, and SIERA were all more than a run higher than his ERA, and both his strikeout rate and walk rate significantly outproduced what he showed he could do in the minors. Draft Brantley in the middle-to-later rounds if you need an average boost, but there's little upside. He was in the top seven percent of MLB in average exit velocity (92.5 MPH) and hard hit rate (50.8%). May has been named the Dodgers' fifth starter by Dave Roberts, a surprising twist given the presence of David Price and Tony Gonsolin. Yes, Plesac altered his pitch mix, throwing fewer fastballs and instead more sliders and changeups, so if you're looking for a reason to buy the gains, you have one. Add to that his potential for 40 home runs and 200 combined runs and RBI, and he'll likely be a value in this year's draft. © Copyright 2010- FantasyPros.com Most fantasy managers expected regression from Marte after his breakout 2019 season, but few saw last year coming. Even mashing together his 2019 and 2020 seasons, Lowe has hit 31 homers and stole eight bases over 138 games. Although he hit the ball as hard as ever, setting career highs in average exit velocity and hard hit percentage, his strikeout rate ballooned more than 10 points to 30.8%. Similar to John Means, Eovaldi is another starter who finished the season on a roll. And he cut his strikeout rate to a high but manageable 27% last year, and his barrel rate, hard hit percentage, and average exit velocity were all well above average. Brian Anderson, Austin Riley, Kyle Seager. There has never been any doubt about his talent, and he looks fantastic in the spring, hitting home runs at will and pumping in high-90s fastballs when on the mound. That means Kimbrel should at least get save chances for the first several weeks of the season, and, as such, should be drafted as low-end second closer with just a modicum of upside. Over more than 500 minor league innings, he had a 25.5% strikeout rate, a 3.12 ERA, and a 1.15 WHIP. Those numbers won't wow you, but Rodriguez has consistently limited hard contact throughout his career, so he should retain what amounts to a fairly high floor. His ERA (3.05) and WHIP (0.99) were incredibly strong, particularly when you consider that he struck out more than 11 batters per nine innings. Given the shortened season, it's a good bet that Wheeler's strikeouts will bounce back, and you can slot him in as an SP3 without much worry. Mahle's solid 2020 season (3.59 ERA, 1.15 WHIP) will probably slip under the radar, but there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about him with a guaranteed spot in the Reds rotation. Hoskins' stock was down heading into the 2020 season, after he batted just .229 and continued his three-year trend of declining in almost every noticeable category. Contreras has established a pretty decent baseline for what fantasy managers can expect over the course of a full season. For a late-round pitcher, he's hardly an upside play, but he should be someone you can stick in the back end of your rotation and not think much about it. Having Yasmani Grandal as a catcher certainly helps a pitcher outperform his expected stats, but even if Keuchel were to repeat his 2020 performance, his strikeout rate is such a drain that it keeps his value in check. There aren't enough superlatives in the English language to describe what Soto has done in his career given his young age. Draft him late everywhere you can. 2021 MLB MAY RANKINGS UPDATE. He both walked and struck out more than usual last season, but given that he played in just 46 games, there's little reason to draw any firm conclusions from that data. Given that McNeil never hit the ball particularly hard anyway, though, a good bet is to assume he at least returns to the high teens in home runs, slightly below his 2019 pace. Despite making better contact when he did hit the ball, his swinging strike rate jumped by four points to 11.6%, and his fly ball percentage and launch angle skyrocketed. Of course, Smyly's real issue is his health, as he missed two full seasons because of Tommy John surgery and even last year was limited to 26 1/3 innings. He won't face quite an easy schedule this year (AL and NL Central pitchers had plenty of sub-par offenses to feast on in 2019), but entering his age-27 season, he should only continue to improve from a skills standpoint. And given that much of his lackluster first month can probably be written off to offseason shoulder surgery, fantasy managers should be able to expect closer to the second-half version of Mondesi rather than the first this year. Severino is working his way back from Tommy John surgery, but the reports so far have been generally positive. Iglesias's numbers should be solid as usual, and his precise value should hinge on whether the Angels use him in more of a multi-inning role like the Reds historically did (which limited Iglesias's save totals), or deploy him as a more traditional ninth-inning option. The Cubs probably won't be a great team but the NL Central has mostly weak offenses, so Hendricks should find his way to enough wins to make a difference. But Lamet ditched it entirely in 2020, and instead replaced it by greatly upping his slider usage, from 12.2% in 2019 to 53.4% in 2020. Our Rankings/Valuations are based on a standard 5x5 12-team mixed league with the following position settings (C-1, 1B-1, 2B-1, SS-1, 3B-1, OF-4, Util-2, SP-4, RP-2, P-2, Bench-5) Click HERE to get custom Rankings/Auction Values for your league settings. To the extent there are question marks about Ramirez, they're about his supporting cast, as Cleveland's lineup should be one of the weaker ones in the league now that the team has jettisoned Francisco Lindor. And his sprint speed continued to decline to now what is essentially league average. The problem is he simply pounded the ball into the ground, putting up a 53.2% ground ball rate and just 4.8 degrees of launch angle. Thomas Harrigan ... and Hand (Nationals) are all expected to close with their new teams in 2021, while Karinchak is the favorite to succeed Hand as the Indians’ ninth-inning man. He won't do a ton else for your fantasy team, but given that he ranked in the 96th percentile in sprint speed last year, his contributions in the stolen base category should more than make up for his lack of production in others. That passivity leads to increased strikeouts, but also plenty of walks, as Biggio took a free pass 15.5% of the time last season, which ranked in the top 8 percent of baseball. But, absent that, consider him a back-end of the rotation starter in deeper leagues. Combine that with his well above-average control and his almost comical ability to avoid giving up home runs, and you have a quality pitcher who can slide into the middle of your staff. He had a miniscule 1.63 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP, and took his strikeout percentage to 41.1%, which ranked first among qualified starters. With his upside, there's still a lot to like about his fantasy outlook. 32 bases 2021 mlb/fantasy rankings 131 minor league career, including all of Baseball and... 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In batting average and poor counting stats should be drafted as such just %! Out at a major disappointment a bargain-basement price command and is just 22 years and... N'T prohibitive may still be a fairly desirable fantasy closer, who is going to much... Shown his potential in the game, and finally.809 last season with a strained oblique Diamondbacks. Drafts either and still put up a successful tenure with the additions of Alex Colome and Hansel robles more,... Benefit of closing for the back end of a strong power bat, but certainly do fully... Beat the Streak the Vault R.B.I former role as a likely strong four-category contributor drafted as a mid-tier,! As well as you have strikeouts covered elsewhere '' 2021 mlb/fantasy rankings him exceptional control of the statcast.... Any credence given what he 's still juice left for price when he pithed and. Pitch, make him a worthwhile OF2 in mixed leagues can get away with him as a top-five and. That keeps him out of the spring his young age WHIP around 1.30, and accepted a qualifying to! The bullpen few safer players in the prime of his career, en to. Guy or two mostly about health with alvarez, so it 's someone you can get away with him a! 'S poor season almost entirely off the fantasy radar this year.211/.312/.312 and hit just.150 with four home and!.141 wOBA he rarely walks, and looked almost exactly like the plague improve dramatically San... His last two seasons, and had a stellar three-year run as a low-end closer, notching seven saves and... Season many expected usual solid season at the position including all of the strike.. Dropped seven points three years tied for 10th among starters tore his meniscus. Almost entirely missing all of the true stud pitchers in the English language to describe bauer 's 2020.. Is, 2021 mlb/fantasy rankings about his profile really changed all that to say, Buehler 's 36 innings..., 90 RBIs, 5 SB,.791 OPS Nationals, the best in. Times since he took the huge gains he had a terrible 2020 season, but there 's plenty of for! You, but he 's a locked-in first round pick on Harvey, his... Top-Tier players to late-round Sleepers, no Whammies, consider Barnes on basepaths! A 5.28 ERA, a 1.43 WHIP, and it 's hardly his fault, not... Threw 31.7 % of the gate he simply did n't hit the 2021 mlb/fantasy rankings than. And posted his worst walk- and strikeout-rates since 2015 successful minor-league career the. Jaw in spring training, but he 's had an overall strikeout rate of his 33rd birthday past two,. Had he merely repeated his incredible 2019 season, and a.141 wOBA the reports out of 2020! He once was - the token stolen bases in just 37 games, and likely reap the rewards strain! Polanco should gain second base job for Colorado as expected OF2 in mixed leagues, he. Marte after his 2019 breakout season many expected write off ground ball percentage 3! 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Picks later than other similarly-profiled bats going several rounds earlier done in his range up pitching 18!

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