ESPN Releases Top 300 Fantasy Baseball Players List

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Baseball season is fast approaching (finally) and that means fantasy baseball is back as well.

ESPN.com recently released their Top 300 Fantasy Baseball Players list. Included in this list is a statistical projection of how each player will perform in 2014.

As expected, Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera take the top two spots while Clayton Kershaw is the highest-ranked pitcher, coming in at 10th.

11 Brewers made the list, including five in the top 100. Below is where each player ranked along with their projections

15th Ryan Braun: .273, 30 HR, 98 RBI, 18 SB
17th Carlos Gomez: .260, 23 HR, 68 RBI, 36 SB
73rd Jean Segura: .268, 9 HR, 45 RBI, 34 SB
79th Aramis Ramirez: .294, 23 HR, 90 RBI, 4 SB
91st Jonathan Lucroy: .292, 16 HR, 82 RBI, 6 SB
169th Matt Garza: 12-7, 3.84 ERA, 151 K
191st Khris Davis: .262, 25 HR, 69 RBI, 6 SB
199th Marco Estrada: 10-7, 3.98 ERA, 141 K
220th Jim Henderson: 34 S, 3.29 ERA, 71 K
228th Yovani Gallardo: 12-9, 4.16 ERA, 173 K
257th Kyle Lohse: 12-11, 4.06 ERA, 127 K

While I agree with most of the rankings, I think the projections are ludicrous.

Thinking Braun will hit as low as .273, when his career average is .312, is silly. ESPN is putting too much merit on his use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Gomez’s projected batting average might be a little low, but his home run, RBI and stolen base numbers seem to be on par. Let’s hope he builds on his terrific 2013 campaign.

I believe that Segura is capable of competing for a batting title, maybe not now, but at some point in his career. He hit .294 in his first full season — dropping down to .268 is a little absurd. I expect to him to hit somewhere around .290 again.

If Ramirez even comes close to his projected numbers, then hallelujah. The Brewers need him to produce.

ESPN seems to agree with me that Gallardo has lost his edge, but Lohse’s ERA is far too high. He turned his career around in St. Louis and had another strong season with the Brewers in 2013. There’s no reason he shouldn’t continue his success.

25 home runs is a little high for Davis. Yes, he has monster power but I believe once pitchers start to see him more, they’ll figure him out.

Those are my thoughts on ESPN’s rankings. What are yours?

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