The following players are relatively highly ranked and viewed in the fantasy baseball community, but with drafting them comes a substantial amount of risk – risk that must be addressed.
His performance in the World Baseball Classic aside, Perez is on my “do-not-draft” list for 2023. He’ll turn 33 during the second month of the season, which isn’t exactly the end of the line, but it’s not prime real estate for a catcher. one of two. Speaking of which, being ranked so high by Perez sounds more like a name-recognition/how-weak-to-hold-position-deal to me. His numbers were down from the previous season, which was probably his back-to-back above-average campaigns. I don’t expect another jump with him as part of a year-old and weak Royals lineup. I want to take my chance with a young catcher on a better team.
Similar to Salvi (though Goldie is not on my do-not-draft list), I worry that Goldschmidt is going to age this season. This concern is exacerbated by the fact that he had better than all of his expected numbers in his NL-MVP-winning season the previous year; His .368 BABIP was his highest since 2014. I understand why he’s an easy top-five ranked first baseman even at age 35, but as Scott Pianowski says: “Goldschmidt was one of baseball’s luckiest hitters that year … I doubt that.” Goldschmidt is having a slight regression year and doesn’t earn enough to justify his top-20 Yahoo ADP.”
Merrifield’s numbers dropped across the board last season and he turns 34 in January. Sure, his BABIP was low by his standards and he’s on a much better team this season than he has been for most of his career, and he’s expected to start second for Toronto. but the glory is full And deep. If Merrifield struggles, be it due to natural regression or some other reason, I would be surprised if Toronto hesitates to move him down in the lineup. And I can’t help thinking that his 40 stolen bags in 2021 was a last hurray of sorts.
It’s risky to call Merrifield, who not too long ago was one of the safest options in fantasy. Still, I’ll go short at 2B this season over Merrifield.
I firmly believe that Fernando Tatis Jr.’s ceiling is the best player in MLB. But I can’t ignore his injury and off the field issues. I’m officially in stay-away mode until he drops in the draft.
This one’s easy for me: I’d rather see Henderson deliver a top-10 fantasy season before I draft him as such (and knowing how vulnerable the third base position is this year).
Risk with Alvarez goes hand in hand with Tatis Jr. Will the injury derail what could be a future Hall-of-Fame career? He has missed games every season of his youth stint, and I fear what that could mean. Although he is already struggling with a hand injury Alvarez expects himself to be ready by Opening Day,
It’s no surprise that the naysayers on Strider are pointing to the fact that he only throws two pitches. And while those two pitches proved to be uber-elite in his first full season as a starter in the majors, how far will they take him? Strider is being drafted at the start of the second round; A high price for a pitcher who, no matter how talented and proven he is, has played just one actual Major League season.
Williams is being groomed as a top-10 reliever, and I believe that’s the right fit for him. their advance numbers are *kiss the king* But I can’t help but look at his walk rate from last season. This was his second season with a BB/9 above 4.00, which begs the question: What if he loses more control of that airbender – which already puts him at risk for injury? I’d like to let other drafters find out.