Last week I highlighted the cream of the crop from the first half. Today I give you the players that were supposed to be in last week’s post, but have fallen quite short of the mark. These are the players that are likely hurting their fantasy teams because of the investment made in the player based on their draft position. Early round draft picks that don’t produce are a detriment success. The players listed below are all guys you’d be happy with when reviewing your team hours and days after your draft, but right about now you’re cursing them out.
Catcher
J.T. Realmuto – Realmuto’s biggest accomplishment so far this season has been to make sure that no one ever wastes a keeper spot on a catcher. Willson Contreras has aided him in that effort. Realmuto had an average draft position in the 5th round. Contreras was in the 6th. The more I evaluate J.T. the more I feel bad about crapping on him right now. He does have the third most points (153) amongst catchers. Only Salvador Perez (184) and Buster Posey (162) have more. But with Posey on the IL and Perez with an ailing back, Realmuto could leap frog both of them within a few games. Perez only has more points because he has 91 more plate appearances. So technically J.T. has more valuable plate appearances, but points are points and the player with more is the one you want on your team. Now that I’ve second guessed myself with regards to calling Realmuto a bust, I guess I can say the real bust is Willson Contreras and his 136 points.
First Base
Cody Bellinger – Is it fair for me to penalize Bellinger for missing eight weeks? Well everyone that drafted him in the second round has been penalized those points, so I’d say it’s fair. In the last six weeks (since returning the the Dodgers lineup), Cody has scored only 56 points. That’s just over nine points per week. That’s awful. Ohtani put up 44 points in week 14 alone. While I might be calling him a first half bust, I can see him being a second half stud.
Second Base
DJ LeMahieu – Must have been awesome drafting DJ in the second round. I wouldn’t know because there was no way I was willing to do that. LeMahieu is not even a top 12 2B at this point. His .271 batting average is not very LeMahieu-esque as of recent years.
Third Base
Anthony Rendon – More like Anthony Rendon’t. Early third round pick barely worth pennies on the dollar. With him currently nursing a hamstring injury I don’t see his situation getting better any time soon. I really wanted to give this honor to Eugenio Suarez. I hate him with a passion right now. But considering his ADP was the late 8th round, I couldn’t see him beating out Rendon. Despite his YTD performance Suarez is still on pace for 32 home runs and almost 100 RBIs. He’s also on pace for just under 200 strikeouts. Is Chris Davis wearing a Eugenio Suarez costume?
Shortstop
Francisco Lindor – This one really hurts me as he’s one of my keepers and I had high hopes for him this year. Here’s what I will say. I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel and Lindor is approaching said light. In fact, this past week has been his best of the season. I think Lindor has a decent chance of being one of the best second half players in points leagues. On the other hand, he could continue to suck.
Outfield
Christian Yelich – This is another guy that’s been the victim of injury, but like I said before, unless you’re drafting Byron Buxton, you’re not counting on an injury plagued season. Hey, remember when he hit 36 homers in 2018 and then followed it up with 44 the year after? Me neither. Yelich wasn’t right last season and he’s not right this season either. I can’t imagine having spent a second round pick on him. Not just in hindsight either. I wasn’t willing to do so on draft day either.
Bryce Harper – This clown isn’t even a top 25 outfielder right now. Allow me to give you a list of OF players with more fantasy points than Harper. Adolis Garcia, Robbie Grossman (that’s just gross) and his teammate Andrew McCutchen who is batting .228! There are currently 60 hitters with more points than Harper. I won’t bore you with a short list of players ahead of him. Another waste of a second round pick.
Marcell Ozuna – Would it be wrong to say his fantasy owners would like to strangle him right about now?
Starting Pitcher
Blake Snell, Luis Castillo and Jack Flaherty
Next week I hope to have my updated rest of season rankings. I better dust off my TI-84 and get cranking.
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