One could certainly argue that shortstop was the strongest position in the 2019 fantasy drafts, but if early results are any indication, the position is even stronger than expected. Looking at the leaderboards at the end of week three, every relevant category is heavy with shortstops, and they aren’t the ones that most would have expected.
Top 12 ADPs among shortstop eligible players in 2019:
Francisco Lindor (5)
Trea Turner (9)
Alex Bregman (12)
Manny Machado (14)
Javier Baez (15)
Trevor Story (20)
Carlos Correa (45)
Adalberto Mondesi (46)
Xander Bogaerts (50)
Gleyber Torres (56)
Jean Segura (72)
Cory Seager (76)
Now take a look at who the leaders are among shortstops in the various hitting categories, at this point in the season. (ADPs in parenthesis). Even with the injuries to Lindor and Turner, this is still surprising.
Runs
Marcus Semien (216) – 15 (5th Overall)
Paul DeJong (176) – 14
Nick Ahmed (468) – 13
Tim Beckham (488) – 13
Segura (72) – 12
RBI
Dansby Swanson (377) – 18 (4th Overall)
Elvis Andrus (176) – 12
Beckham (488) – 12
Freddy Galvis (538) – 11
Mondesi (46)– 11
Amed Rosario (170) – 11
Fernando Tatis Jr. (285) – 11
HRs
Galvis (538) – 5
Tatis Jr. (285) – 5
Beckham (488) – 4
Story (20) – 4
Swanson (377) – 4
AVG
Tim Anderson (130) – .429 (1st Overall)
Andrus (176) – .414 (3rd Overall)
Jorge Polanco (216) – .383
Galvis (538) – .351
Beckham (488) – .339
Semien (216) – .338
SBs
Anderson (130) – 5
Mondesi (46) – 5
Turner (9) – 4
Andrus (176) – 4
OPS
Polanco (216) – 1.125
Anderson (130) – 1.093
Andrus (176) – 1.089
Galvis (538) – 1.068
Beckham (488)– 1.053
Swanson (377) – .995
Obviously, it is early in the season, but it will be interesting to watch how many of these leaderboard surprises can continue to perform at a high level.
Fantasy owners who nabbed some of those late rounders like Swanson, Galvis, and Beckham have got to be smiling.
Anthony Rendon
In my reading of various fantasy articles discussing players who are on fire early, like Bellinger, Kris Davis, etc., seldom do I see any mention of Anthony Rendon. Not that this is too surprising since he seems to be one of those players who consistently flies under the radar. However, so far in 2019, his numbers are pretty spectacular. Here is how he ranks after week three:
Runs – 18 (Second)
RBIs – 17 (Tied for Fifth)
HRs – 6 (Tied for Fifth)
Avg – .400 (Fifth)
OPS – 1.333 (Third) Trails only Bellinger & Trout.
I know that I’m happy to have him rostered on two of my fantasy teams, and can only wish I had him more.
Fantasy Roster Representation by Team
Each year when I have completed all my drafts, I like to do a recap of how many times I own particular players, a subject I discussed in my last column. In doing so, I find it interesting to see how many players I have from each MLB team. In some cases, it might be a barometer as to what I expect from a team in the coming season, and in others just the circumstances of the draft.
This year, when all six drafts/auctions were in the books, I found that the Washington Nationals were the most represented team with 12, followed by Cincinnati with 11, Tampa Bay with 10, and Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Boston with nine each. While having 12 Nationals is more than likely a good thing, that number is somewhat distorted by the fact that I picked up Anabal Sanchez as a late round sleeper on four teams and Kurt Suzuki as a backup catcher on three teams. Ending up with 11 Reds was a surprise to me. Anthony DeSclafani, another of my late round sleeper starters accounted for three of those. Unfortunately, I picked up Scooter Gennett twice, but won’t get to appreciate him for about eight to 10 weeks.
Having 10 members of the Rays on my various rosters was definitely a reflection of my feeling as to how good that team will be this year. I wish I had more. Pitchers Craig Morton, Blake Snell, Ryan Yarbrough Jose Alvarado account for seven of those, but I also expect their hitters like Austin Meadows, Yandy Diaz, Tommy Pham, Brandon Lowe, and even Ji-Man Choi will be valuable fantasy assets.
Having nine Red Sox is not a surprise, it seems that I usually end up with more than that. Eovaldi is the only one who is on two teams, and the jury is still out on the wisdom of owning him twice. Unfortunately, I have Porcello once, and he is killing me. Can a pitcher turn it around after being that bad? Having nine members of the Brew Crew is also no surprise. Fortunately, I ended up with Christian Yelich on two squads. Being very high on Brandon Woodruff accounted for four of Milwaukee’s roster spots.
Finally, Pittsburgh’s nine was distorted by the fact that I have Francisco Cervelli on four teams, which was the result of me waiting on catching. I wish I owned more than one share each of Jamison Taillon, Trevor Williams and Felipe Vasquez.
On the other end of the spectrum, I only rostered one player each from Arizona (David Peralta), the Angels (Felix Pena) and Baltimore (Renato Nunez). Colorado was only represented twice (Daniel Murphy both times). In the past, I’ve been much more heavily invested in Arizona, but outside of Peralta, and possibly Nick Ahmed and Ketel Marte, I wasn’t very interested this season. However, I have since added free agents Ahmed and Christian Walker.
As far as the Angels are concerned, if I couldn’t get Mike Trout or maybe Justin Upton, not much else interested me. Baltimore is no surprise, and the lack of Colorado hitters has more to do with the way the various drafts/auctions evolved.
Seldom do I ever even look at Colorado pitchers.
The Evolution of Starters
In my previous column I included a box score from a 16-inning 1963 game between the Braves and the Giants where both starters, Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn, went the distance and the Giants won 1-0 on a Willie Mays home run. Besides the entertainment value, the purpose was to give an example of how far the role of starting pitchers has evolved. Below I’ve included three interesting box scores, as well as some facts about complete games, to further point out the extreme differences between now and the past.
First, some facts; Cy Young holds the record for the most complete games in a career with an astounding 749, and the record for the most complete games in a single season is held by Jack Chesbro of the New York Highlanders, who went the distance 48 times in 1904 and won a remarkable 41 games. To put that in perspective, six pitchers tied for the MLB complete game lead in 2018 with only two apiece, and there were just 33 complete games in all of the Major Leagues last season.
The box scores included below, which include an 18-inning complete game shutout by Carl Hubbell, further illustrate the disparity in the use of starting pitchers today as opposed to the past. In this current era of increased home runs and strikeouts, the low number of Ks in these box scores is also surprising, especially since they highlight some of the most dominant pitchers of their time, like Walter “Big Train” Johnson, Hubbell and Babe Ruth.
