The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa

With the season reaching the halfway point I figured it would be fun to take a look back to see who have been the most valuable fantasy baseball performers so far.  Justin Verlander and Matt Kemp have been two players grabbing a lot of headlines this season with their play, so it should come as little to no surprise that they rank first and second in the standard 5×5 mixed league format through yesterday’s games.  Here are the lists of the top ten hitters and pitchers through the games of Saturday, July 2nd (Total Sherpa Points based on a max of 5.00, which would be a player’s score if he led the league in all five hitting or pitching categories):

Top 10 Hitters

1. Matt Kemp (3.81) - 293 AB, .331 AVG, 22 HR, 63 RBI, 22 SB, 52 R
2. Adrian Gonzalez (3.42) - 327 AB, .352 AVG, 16 HR, 71 RBI, 1 SB, 56 R
3. Ryan Braun (3.42) - 299 AB, .321 AVG, 16 HR, 60 RBI, 19 SB, 57 R
4. Jose Reyes (3.38) - 344 AB, .352 AVG, 3 HR, 32 RBI, 30 SB, 65 R
5. Jose Bautista (3.24) - 261 AB, .326 AVG, 24 HR, 52 RBI, 5 SB, 61 R
6. Curtis Granderson (3.14) - 294 AB, .276 AVG, 21 HR, 56 RBI, 14 SB, 70 R
7. Miguel Cabrera (2.99) - 280 AB, .332 AVG, 17 HR, 56 RBI, 1 SB, 60 R
8. Prince Fielder (2.86) - 285 AB, .302 AVG, 21 HR, 69 RBI, 0 SB, 49 R
9. Paul Konerko (2.84) - 293 AB, .321 AVG, 21 HR, 61 RBI, 1 SB, 39 R
10. Jacoby Ellsbury (2.83) - 323 AB, .300 AVG, 9 HR, 40 RBI, 25 SB, 55 R

Granderson, Konerko, and (to a lesser extent) Ellsbury are the biggest surprises on this list - before the season you would have expected to see some combination of Albert Pujols, Hanley Ramirez, Carlos Gonzalez, Joey Votto, Troy Tulowitzki, and David Wright taking up three of the spots in a season-to-date top ten list.  It will be interesting to see how much Jose Reyes’ latest injury affects both his fantasy value and his real-life trade value.

Top 10 Pitchers

1. Justin Verlander (3.93) - 135.2 IP, 11 W, 0 SV, 2.32 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 130 K
2. Jared Weaver (3.42) - 123.1 IP, 9 W, 0 SV, 1.97 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 106 K
3. Roy Halladay (3.33) - 127.1 IP, 10 W, 0 SV, 2.40 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 123 K
4. James Shields (3.27) - 128.2 IP, 8 W, 0 SV, 2.45 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 127 K
5. Cole Hamels (3.15) - 116.0 IP, 9 W, 0 SV, 2.41 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 110 K
6. Cliff Lee (2.97) - 122.0 IP, 9 W, 0 SV, 2.66 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 119 K
7. Clayton Kershaw (2.84) - 116.2 IP, 8 W, 0 SV, 2.93 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 128 K
8. CC Sabathia (2.67) - 129.2 IP, 11 W, 0 SV, 3.05 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 106 K
9. Dan Haren (2.65) - 116.2 IP, 8 W, 0 SV, 2.85 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 98 K
10. David Price (2.52) - 118.0 IP, 8 W, 0 SV, 3.43 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 116 K

Can’t say that any of the names on the pitchers’ list are a surprise except for James Shields.  Most people thought he would bounce back from a 2010 season that wasn’t as bad as his fantasy stats would indicate, but I don’t think anyone (or at least not anyone I know) predicted he would be a top ten pitcher at this point, much less a top five pitcher.  And fear not, Phillie fans - even without Roy Oswalt, your team still has plenty of pitching left to run away with the NL East and beat any team in either league in a playoff series.

Hope you’re enjoying your 4th of July holiday weekend!

The Sherpa

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Hi everyone,

Here are the Top 10 performers through April for a Mixed League 5×5 format.  The leader in each category is given 1.00 Sherpa Points; all other players’ scores in that category are based on their results relative to the category leader’s (e.g. - if the league-leader has hit 9 HR, then a player with 3 HR would be given a score of 0.33 Sherpa Points).  The maximum Total Sherpa Points is equal to the number of categories (i.e. - 5.00).

1. Zack Greinke (KC, SP) - 36.0 IP, 5 W, 0 SV, 0.50 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 44 K, 3.79 Total Sherpa Points
2. Albert Pujols (StL, 1B) - 83 AB, 8 HR, 28 RBI, 4 SB, .337 AVG, 22 R, 3.74 Total Sherpa Points
3. Ian Kinsler (Tex, 2B) - 86 AB, 7 HR, 20 RBI, 7 SB, .326 AVG, 18 R, 3.40 Total Sherpa Points
4. Raul Ibanez (Phi, OF) - 78 AB, 7 HR, 17 RBI, 3 SB, .359 AVG, 20 R, 3.17 Total Sherpa Points
5. Evan Longoria (TB, 3B) - 84 AB, 6 HR, 24 RBI, 1 SB, .369 AVG, 17 R, 3.12 Total Sherpa Points
6. Adrian Gonzalez (SD, 1B) - 81 AB, 9 HR, 20 RBI, 1 SB, .333 AVG, 19 R, 3.09 Total Sherpa Points
7. Aaron Hill (Tor, 2B) - 101 AB, 5 HR, 20 RBI, 1 SB, .376 AVG, 16 R, 3.04 Total Sherpa Points
8. Johan Santana (NYM, SP) - 32.2 IP, 3 W, 0 SV, 1.10 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 44 K, 2.99 Total Sherpa Points
9. Chase Utley (Phi, 2B) - 73 AB, 7 HR, 20 RBI, 2 SB, .342 AVG, 18 R, 2.94 Total Sherpa Points
10.  Dan Haren (Ari, SP) - 35.0 IP, 2 W, 0 SV, 1.54 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, 36 K, 2.92 Total Sherpa Points

If you’re interested in more details, here’s a description of our In-season Updates to Player Projections & Rankings.  These are the only rankings in the industry that are updated daily throughout the season - our Remainder-of-Season rankings reflect injuries, minor league call-ups, and role changes (e.g.- new Closers)!  If you’d like to see the top performers by position, change the scoring categories, or change the league type, here’s a demo of our In-season Updates to Player Projections & Rankings.

Enjoy!

The Sherpa

FantasyBaseballSherpa.com

Hi everyone,

Here are the Top 10 performers through April for an NL-only 5×5 format.  The leader in each category is given 1.00 Sherpa Points; all other players’ scores in that category are based on their results relative to the category leader’s (e.g. - if the league-leader has hit 9 HR, then a player with 3 HR would be given a score of 0.33 Sherpa Points).  The maximum Total Sherpa Points is equal to the number of categories (i.e. - 5.00).

1. Albert Pujols (StL, 1B) - 83 AB, 8 HR, 28 RBI, 4 SB, .337 AVG, 22 R, 3.95 Total Sherpa Points
2. Johan Santana (NYM, SP) - 32.2 IP, 3 W, 0 SV, 1.10 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 44 K, 3.38 Total Sherpa Points
3. Raul Ibanez (Phi, OF) - 78 AB, 7 HR, 17 RBI, 3 SB, .359 AVG, 20 R, 3.38 Total Sherpa Points
4. Adrian Gonzalez (SD, 1B) - 81 AB, 9 HR, 20 RBI, 1 SB, .333 AVG, 19 R, 3.26 Total Sherpa Points
5. Dan Haren (Ari, SP) - 35.0 IP, 2 W, 0 SV, 1.54 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, 36 K, 3.24 Total Sherpa Points
6. Chase Utley (Phi, 2B) - 73 AB, 7 HR, 20 RBI, 2 SB, .342 AVG, 18 R, 3.12 Total Sherpa Points
7. Jorge Cantu (Fla, 1B/3B) - 63 AB, 7 HR, 22 RBI, 1 SB, .365 AVG, 15 R, 3.01 Total Sherpa Points
8. Chad Billingsley (LAD, SP) - 33.2 IP, 4 W, 0 SV, 2.14 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 34 K, 3.00 Total Sherpa Points
9. Alfonso Soriano (ChC, OF) - 88 AB, 7 HR, 14 RBI, 4 SB, .284 AVG, 21 R, 2.86 Total Sherpa Points
10. Manny Ramirez (LAD, OF) - 78 AB, 5 HR, 15 RBI, 0 SB, .372 AVG, 19 R, 2.81 Total Sherpa Points

If you’re interested in more details, here’s a description of our In-season Updates to Player Projections & Rankings.  These are the only rankings in the industry that are updated daily throughout the season - our Remainder-of-Season rankings reflect injuries, minor league call-ups, and role changes (e.g.- new Closers)! If you’d like to see the top performers by position, change the scoring categories, or change the league type, here’s a demo of our In-season Updates to Player Projections & Rankings.

Enjoy!

The Sherpa

FantasyBaseballSherpa.com