Dansby Swanson and Julio Rodriguez Among Overrated Fantasy Baseball Players
Morgan identifies some overrated fantasy baseball players as the All-Star break approaches.
After looking at some underrated fantasy baseball hitters and pitchers, let's now go over some overrated players.
I'll be using fantasy point totals from ESPN to help put together my list. I'll be approaching things with a standard 10-member league in mind.
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Overrated Catchers
Salvador Perez is the ninth-ranked catcher so far in points leagues, but he's still owned in 95% of fantasy leagues.
He's been better of late and is trending up, but is owned in too many leagues. Perez should see his own percentage keep rising now, instead of sinking any lower.
Yainer Diaz is in a similar boat. He's ranked 11th overall and has an 89% own mark.
He's trending up as well, but was probably owned in too many leagues before his bat got going a bit. If you aren't sold on Perez or Diaz, selling them soon could be a sell-high situation.
Overrated First Basemen
Freddie Freeman has struggled over the past month or so, and now he's more an overrated fantasy asset. He's owned in all leagues, yet is outside the top-10 fantasy first basemen for the season.
Freeman still has good numbers on the season, and is a buy-low trade candidate for a lot of people. He's still overrated now in my eyes, so that might wipe out the buy-low trade situation you think he's in.
Bryce Harper is trending toward being overrated as well. He's also owned in all leagues yet.
He's sitting around 30th among first basemen in points leagues right now. Some of that has to do with being injured on and off this season, but he's underperformed this season and has been a draft bust because of it. He's still got great trade value because of his big name, and if you need a jolt on your roster, swapping Harper out could actually help improve your team in the long run.
Overrated Second Basemen
Ozzie Albies is still overrated, despite dropping down to 85% owned.
He is outside the top 20 fantasy second basemen this season, and shouldn't have nearly that high an own percentage. Albies is overrated because of his big name and past seasons, but really is a better deep-league asset right now.
Jackson Holliday is a bit overrated in my eyes. He's at 77% owned and ranks 17th in points leagues this season.
Holliday has really stepped things up of late and is trending in the right direction, but his overall season numbers shouldn't result in an own mark that high. He could be worthy of that own mark with more strong hitting going forward, but that would probably just move the own mark up, so until he sustains this level of play a while, I'm calling Holliday a bit overrated in the fantasy world.
Overrated Shortstops
Dansby Swanson is an overrated shortstop in my eyes. He's at 86% rostered but sits 14th overall this season. He's a long way off from the 10th slot too.
He's a bigger name and is being overvalued based on past seasons. Swanson also has improved his marks of late, but he's definitely not worth rostering in that many leagues.
Gunnar Henderson is on the overrated shortstop list as well. He's No. 20 in points leagues for the season and is still at 100% rostered.
Henderson battled an injury to start the season, so he's missing a few fantasy points from that. He's underperformed based on his preseason hype though, and I'm surprised he hasn't been dropped in many leagues yet. He's struggled at the plate of late, and more struggles should eventually mean his own percentage starts dropping.
Overrated Third Basemen
Austin Riley is the biggest overrated third baseman. He's sitting at No. 15 among third basemen, yet is still owned in all leagues.
He is getting close to being a drop candidate and hasn't been showing great signs of turning things around, especially over the past week. Riley still should have some good trade value based on his big name, so it's worth throwing him on the trading block to see what kind of offers trickle in.
Matt Chapman is another overrated third baseman in my eyes. He's two spots behind Riley, although Chapman is fresh off a stint on the injured list.
Chapman is still at 94% rostered, and he hasn't been that level of fantasy asset this season. He doesn't have the trade value some of these other hitters we discussed have, but his bigger name should get you a solid return if you are looking to move on from him.
Overrated Outfielders
Julio Rodriguez is an overrated outfielder to me. He's still owned in all leagues, but is barely hanging on to a top-30 spot in points leagues at the outfield position.
Rodriguez's big name gives him more fantasy value, and should help you net a great trade return if you are looking to trade him. He's underperformed and been a draft bust to this point of the season though.
I don't mean to pile on to the Seattle outfielders, but Randy Arozarena is also overrated to me. He's outside the top-30 fantasy outfielders in points leagues, yet is owned in 94% of leagues.
Arozarena has been overrated for a couple years really, and he rarely lives up to the preseason hype he gets. He fills the stat sheet well, but a lower average and big strikeout totals really deflate his fantasy value.
Oneil Cruz is a big overrated outfielder as well. He's at 96% rostered despite barely being a top-50 outfielder right now.
Like Arozarena, Cruz fills the stat sheet well, but big strikeout totals and a low average hurts the Pirates' outfielder. I'd trade him, as you are likely to get a better player or return for him.
Overrated Starting Pitchers
There's a bunch of pitchers who I would consider to be overrated.
Like we did in the underrated story, I'm just going to list a bunch of pitchers instead of diving into any of them.
Some starters who I think are overrated and are owned in too many leagues are: Dylan Cease, Jesus Luzardo, Dustin May, Aaron Nola, Roki Sasaki, Sandy Alcantara, Bailey Ober, Tanner Bibee and Chris Bassitt.
A lot of those guys are big enough names where they should have some real fantasy trade value still. You could flip them and still get a really good return, even though they haven't pitched well most of the season. Injuries have derailed a few of their seasons.
Some might view a few of those pitchers as buy-low targets, but I think their bigger names will make their trade values higher than they should be. I'd be more inclined to trade them, as I think the value will be better that way.
Overrated Relief Pitchers
There's also a number of relief pitchers who I think are overrated, or are simply owned in too many leagues.
That list includes: Tanner Scott, Emmanuel Clase, Felix Bautista, Jhoan Duran, Mason Miller, Ryan Helsley, Devin Williams and Ryan Walker.
All of those guys have served as their team's closer at one point or another this season. Most have underwhelmed, and most are outside the top 10 in points leagues, when factoring in just relief pitchers. Scott is the only one in the top 10, but he's overvalued because he's on the Dodgers.
You'd be better off looking to trade those assets away, because their trade value is higher than their actual fantasy player ratings in most cases.