The RotoWire Roundtable: Midseason Rankings

The RotoWire Roundtable: Midseason Rankings

This article is part of our RotoWire Roundtable series.

RotoWire Roundtable: The Summer Update

It's around this time of year that people always seem to forget just how long the baseball season is. Baseball has twice as many regular season games as hockey and basketball, and ten times as many as football. The baseball season starts in the beginning of March and wraps in the end of September. It's long.

It's for this reason we've decided to put out a mid-season top 200 list - a guide to help you a) realize there's still a lot of baseball to be played and b) separate what's happened in the first 81 games from what we expect to happen in the last 81 games. As the saying goes, past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

You'll notice a fair amount of variation on the list to follow - much more so than in our pre-season rankings. Mid-season rankings are notoriously hard to do because you have to forecast both on overall player skill sets and the season that is already unfolding. That's why you'll see wide spreads, like we have below on Alejandro De Aza or Domonic Brown. These rankings were assembled for 12-team, 5x5 mixed leagues that start two catchers per team (thus there is a positional scarcity component added for catchers). We used five rankers: Jeff Erickson, Derek VanRiper, Michael Rusignola, Kevin Payne and Jason Collette. The rankings were provided completely blinded - none of the rankers saw any of the

RotoWire Roundtable: The Summer Update

It's around this time of year that people always seem to forget just how long the baseball season is. Baseball has twice as many regular season games as hockey and basketball, and ten times as many as football. The baseball season starts in the beginning of March and wraps in the end of September. It's long.

It's for this reason we've decided to put out a mid-season top 200 list - a guide to help you a) realize there's still a lot of baseball to be played and b) separate what's happened in the first 81 games from what we expect to happen in the last 81 games. As the saying goes, past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

You'll notice a fair amount of variation on the list to follow - much more so than in our pre-season rankings. Mid-season rankings are notoriously hard to do because you have to forecast both on overall player skill sets and the season that is already unfolding. That's why you'll see wide spreads, like we have below on Alejandro De Aza or Domonic Brown. These rankings were assembled for 12-team, 5x5 mixed leagues that start two catchers per team (thus there is a positional scarcity component added for catchers). We used five rankers: Jeff Erickson, Derek VanRiper, Michael Rusignola, Kevin Payne and Jason Collette. The rankings were provided completely blinded - none of the rankers saw any of the other rankings before the publication of this article.

And on with...

The List

RankFull NamePosEricksonVanRiperRusignolaPayneColletteMedian
1Miguel Cabrera3B111221
2Mike TroutOF232112
3Carlos GonzalezOF3233193
4Chris Davis1B744434
5Paul Goldschmidt1B5555225
6Robinson Cano2B47127257
7Clayton KershawSP6127898
8Joey Votto1B1082110710
9Yasiel PuigOF4142691010
10Andrew McCutchenOF111022121111
11Yu DarvishSP211111114611
12Jose BautistaOF91813141213
13Prince Fielder1B1692813513
14Edwin Encarnacion1B131414192014
15Adam JonesOF151315164815
16Jason Kipnis2B142916171616
17David Wright3B121519271717
18Giancarlo StantonOF2016731517220
19Jean SeguraSS17223163022
20Evan Longoria3B22630183422
21Stephen StrasburgSP232339203523
22Adrian Beltre3B182123237323
23Albert Pujols1B48252639426
24Jacoby EllsburyOF265117341826
25Buster PoseyC273832241427
26Matt HarveySP35248287728
27Cliff LeeSP31399442631
28Jay BruceOF283148299931
29Bryce HarperOF81744324332
30Jose ReyesSS372625753232
31Dustin Pedroia2B243333263833
32Carlos GomezOF492743332433
33Felix HernandezSP343050372134
34Max ScherzerSP302034517234
35Justin UptonOF192853364936
36Yadier MolinaC333537488237
37Adam WainwrightSP251940417840
38Hanley RamirezSS384310NR19043
39Ian Kinsler2B974441355344
40Craig KimbrelCL563660451545
41Joe MauerC46592055846
42Allen Craig1B294652306046
43Justin VerlanderSP475546713347
44Shelby MillerSP7448454619948
45Troy TulowitzkiSS454955259049
46Everth CabreraSS42454914110749
47Madison BumgarnerSP5040478010250
48Matt HollidayOF405751563951
49Chris SaleSP534738635151
50Brandon Phillips2B326858215252
51Matt KempOF528418388452
52Adrian Gonzalez1B396754602354
53Alex RiosOF547365534554
54David OrtizDH5732278215757
55Shin-Soo ChooOF785891542858
56Nelson CruzOF596559614759
57Yoenis CespedesOF666124624061
58Ian DesmondSS755386436161
59Ryan Zimmerman3B4462804712162
60Matt CainSP625494905562
61Starling MarteOF716362317663
62Wilin RosarioC639399596363
63Domonic BrownOF51646922NR64
64Ryan BraunOF6569424013465
65Freddie Freeman1B4334826717967
66Aroldis ChapmanCL733783526868
67Carlos SantanaC685068876268
68Carlos BeltranOF589535688168
69Mark TrumboOF815270507070
70Jordan ZimmermannSP677129709670
71Mike NapoliC10110736731373
72Alex GordonOF5574641017474
73Josh Donaldson3B64108727416774
74Anthony Rizzo1B6975150NR4275
75Aaron Hill2B14066747614076
76Manny Machado3B3683774215277
77Jason GrilliCL777789648677
78Michael CuddyerOF7078569811578
79Desmond JenningsOF7611078728878
80Hisashi IwakumaSP7991665812579
81Mat LatosSP6180901086780
82Hunter PenceOF8879618112981
83Dexter FowlerOF82109115572982
84Jason HeywardOF8341NR7810683
85Josh HamiltonOF9913771855885
86Gio GonzalezSP72828510013785
87Ben Zobrist2B11511275887588
88Mariano RiveraCL10460140894489
89Michael BournOF90121811153690
90Coco CrispOF9512363918791
91Cole HamelsSP93561161175793
92Kenley JansenCL1307687949393
93Billy Butler1B8694112799594
94David PriceSP60812009610196
95Aramis Ramirez3B96961116918696
96Jeff SamardzijaSP126929692NR96
97Howie Kendrick2B80979212412397
98Jose Altuve2B11198100655698
99Joe NathanCL87104118996699
100Austin JacksonOF9210057107128100
101Alejandro De AzaOF118NR6710227102
102CC SabathiaSP89102120NR31102
103Matt Carpenter3B1028512293NR102
104Jered WeaverSP9112410311150103
105Sergio RomoCL1098810413979104
106Starlin CastroSS8487187104159104
107Jonathan PapelbonCL1068912713537106
108James ShieldsSP1077076113124107
109Mike MinorSP85114102110127110
110Chase Utley2B1131111268498111
111Elvis AndrusSS1148695112146112
112Pablo Sandoval3B108119117109131117
113Edward MujicaCL11611813916483118
114Brian McCannC119130NR9597119
115Brett GardnerOF1541221101366122
116Johnny CuetoSP16772121122NR122
117Torii HunterOF1341637912389123
118Kyle Seager3B12312810983NR123
119Rafael SorianoCL12410517114465124
120Kris MedlenSP103146124116139124
121Greg HollandCL12513213377122125
122Salvador PerezC182148101114126126
123Addison ReedCL143103NR12669126
124Asdrubal CabreraSS11212784138145127
125Zack GreinkeSP12712519816954127
126Nick MarkakisOF12899108142148128
127Adam LaRoche1BNR90128118156128
128Matt WietersC13912913010580129
129Glen PerkinsCL158131141125104131
130Jimmy RollinsSS131140NR9764131
131Patrick CorbinSP14611513486197134
132Homer BaileySP121134169133196134
133Daniel Murphy2BNR113125134NR134
134Hiroki KurodaSP135126106165181135
135Shane VictorinoOF136NR113130138136
136Grant BalfourCL15313313716194137
137Pedro Alvarez3B9414114549164141
138Lance LynnSP98145142103175142
139Ryan Howard1B145142164128111142
140Jonathan LucroyC142143152168117143
141Chase Headley3B10514414966160144
142Ervin SantanaSP188101119146NR146
143Jose FernandezSP120158147121161147
144Hyun-Jin RyuSP13814793160198147
145J.P. ArencibiaC148NR19613192148
146Anibal SanchezSP18615097120NR150
147Alexei RamirezSS132NR165150114150
148Kendrys Morales1B129160156151150151
149Norichika AokiOF14115217415241152
150Matt MooreSP100153NR106171153
151Miguel MonteroC151169154NR100154
152Yovani GallardoSPNR154175155120155
153J.J. HardySS163156135119170156
154Victor MartinezC147183157NR91157
155Eric Hosmer1B157NR15518285157
156Doug FisterSP159135107NR168159
157Jim JohnsonCL161155NRNR108161
158Matt JoyceOFNR161123147NR161
159Justin Morneau1B133172163156163163
160Justin MastersonSP137165181140185165
161Clay BuchholzSP15616698185NR166
162Adam Lind1B181106131167NR167
163Nick SwisherOF168120146188174168
164Nate McLouthOF169NR159NR105169
165Mark Reynolds1B110NR170149NR170
166Wil MyersOF171149132171NR171
167Derek HollandSP172116NR148NR172
168Erick AybarSS173NR138NR173173
169R.A. DickeySP122174NR163NR174
170Francisco LirianoSP175159NRNR130175
171David Freese3B176176193145NR176
172Jayson WerthOF166NRNR127177177
173A.J. BurnettSP155157NR177NR177
174Koji UeharaCL179117129178NR178
175B.J. UptonOFNR173NR179112179
176Josh WillinghamOFNRNR88181109181
177Jed LowrieSSNR136183158NR183
178A.J. PierzynskiC165NR143NR183183
179C.J. WilsonSP152189190184151184
180Todd Frazier3B185186NR172165185
181John LackeySP164NRNR187158187
182Adam Dunn1B144NR188200144188
183Huston StreetCL178188NRNR133188
184Carl CrawfordOF198139148189NR189
185Matt GarzaSP189NR189NR143189
186Mike MorseOFNRNR186159189189
187Curtis GrandersonOFNR138105190NR190
188Casey JanssenCL190NR160NR119190
189Paul Konerko1B19119919918359191
190Jhonny PeraltaSS200151144191NR191
191Mitch Moreland1BNR191173143NR191
192Bartolo ColonSP174NR191NR180191
193Jake PeavySP192167NR186NR192
194Rickie Weeks2BNR185NR195132195
195Bobby ParnellCL195187NRNR136195
196A.J. GriffinSPNR196153NR176196
197Nick FranklinSS197NR114175NR197
198Martin Prado3B160198NR129NR198
199Fernando RodneyCL117NRNRNR135233.5
200Neil Walker2B149NRNRNR116233.5
NR = Not RankedAbst = Abstained from RankingPlayers with the same median were ranked secondarily by their average ranking. Players who were not ranked were assigned a ranking of 233.5 (the midpoint between 201 and 267, the total number of ranked players) for the purpose of computing the median and average.

NR = Not Ranked
Abst = Abstained from Ranking
Players with the same median were ranked secondarily by their average ranking. Players who were not ranked were assigned a ranking of 233.5 (the midpoint between 201 and 267, the total number of ranked players) for the purpose of computing the median and average.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jeff Erickson
Jeff Erickson is a co-founder of RotoWire and the only two-time winner of Baseball Writer of the Year from the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. He's also in the FSWA Hall of Fame. He roots for the Reds, Bengals, Red Wings, Pacers and Northwestern University (the real NU).
Michael Rusignola
Michael Rusignola has been covering fantasy baseball for RotoWire since 1998. He roots for the NY Mets and SF Giants, his two hometown teams.
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