Shuffle Up: Who is Jason Heyward?
Here's the latest Shuffle Up in our series, the outfielders. Marinate over them.
What's happened to this point is an audition, only. We're trying to figure out how to rank the players going forward. Assume a 5x5 scoring system, and players at the same cost are considered even.
And remember the golden rule – a player doesn't gain 15-20 percent of bonus value simply because he's on your roster.
Injured players have their own listing at the very bottom. I didn't consider anyone in the minors. (And yes, I'd try to sell Gregory Polanco the day he's recalled. Runaway optimism is your best friend.)
$32 Mike Trout
$30 Giancarlo Stanton
$30 Carlos Gomez
$30 Andrew McCutchen
$29 Yasiel Puig
$28 Carlos Gonzalez
$26 Jose Bautista
$26 Adam Jones
$24 Ryan Braun
$23 Shin-Soo Choo
$22 Matt Kemp
$21 Justin Upton
$21 Hunter Pence
$21 Jacoby Ellsbury
$20 Charlie Blackmon
$20 Jayson Werth
$20 Yoenis Cespedes
$19 Nelson Cruz
$19 Matt Holliday
$18 Michael Brantley
$18 Alex Rios
If you ranked all the outfielders strictly on their road games thus far, Cruz has the best 5x5 numbers. It's a damn good thing, because he's been a mess in Baltimore thus far: .217/.289/.478. See the Camden sample for what it is, a fluke. Cruz's pull-happy ways are going to make Baltimore fans happy by the end of the year.
A thousand things have gone wrong for the Indians this year, so let's appreciate what Brantley is doing right. He's kept his plus average but added power to the mix as well, and he's on pace for double-digit steals. Lefty-righty, it doesn't matter, he's rocking against all kinds of pitching. The biggest chunk of his production has come at home, but that's unlikely to have any significance to it. Brantley deserves to bat third for the rest of the season.
$17 Allen Craig
$15 Austin Jackson
$15 Melky Cabrera
$15 Brandon Moss
$15 Wil Myers
$15 Brett Gardner
$15 Billy Hamilton
$15 Angel Pagan
$14 Jason Heyward
$14 Christian Yelich
Before you flip out over Gardner's .394 BABIP, remember two things: he has elite wheels, and he's ripping the ball at a 25.0 line-drive rate. This is making your own luck. Gardner has also nudged his ground-ball rate forward, which will help average, and his infield pop rate is the lowest of his career.
While Heyward's been a little unlucky with a .274 BABIP, it's not the crime of the century. Line drives are down a little, strikeouts up. A .327 slugging percentage is a nightmare, obviously. At least he's walking plenty and running liberally; a .323 OBP on the Braves is better than average, and marks your spot in the leadoff position. Maybe it's time to stop accepting a possible star, and simply accepting Heyward as an OF3.
$13 Torii Hunter
$13 Starling Marte
$13 Coco Crisp
$12 Alex Gordon
$12 Michael Morse
$12 Alfonso Soriano
$11 Emilio Bonifacio
$10 Dayan Viciedo
$10 Rajai Davis
$10 Desmond Jennings
$9 Leonys Martin
$9 Matt Joyce
$9 Marlon Byrd
$9 Nick Markakis
$9 Dexter Fowler
$8 Eric Young
$8 George Springer
$8 Martin Prado
$7 Ben Revere
$7 Curtis Granderson
$7 B.J. Upton
$7 Nick Swisher
$7 Shane Victorino
$6 Gerardo Parra
$6 David Murphy
$6 Seth Smith
$6 Dustin Ackley
$6 Khris Davis
$6 Michael Bourn
$6 Marcell Ozuna
$6 AJ Pollock
$6 Domonic Brown
Springer has been better of late, but with a 34.8 percent strikeout clip, he better do a ton of other things right. When will he have confidence on the bases? He's just 1-for-3 in that department through 30 games.
Health concerns keep the Victorino rank this low. He admitted his offseason thumb surgery really didn't fix anything, and he's already had one DL stint this year (hamstring).
I'd love to go all in with the Pollock story, it's just a matter of the Snakes buying in as well. Pollock's collected 130 at-bats through the first quarter of the year, with 43 of them in the crummy 8-9 slots in the order. There's always been a pedigree here: he was the 17th overall pick in the 2009 draft. It's not like Arizona is loaded with outfield studs. A .315-18-5-11-6 line deserves a regular lineup spot.
$5 Carlos Quentin
$5 Josh Reddick
$5 Carl Crawford
$5 Lorenzo Cain
$5 Cameron Maybin
$4 Chris Colabello
$4 David DeJesus
$4 Garrett Jones
$4 Junior Lake
$4 Norichika Aoki
$4 Nick Castellanos
$3 Corey Dickerson
$3 Alejandro de Aza
$3 Lucas Duda
$3 Craig Gentry
$2 Drew Stubbs
$2 Chris Young
$2 Jason Kubel
$2 Grady Sizemore
$2 Ichiro Suzuki
$2 Will Venable
$1 Chris Denorfia
$1 Collin Cowgill
$1 Sean Rodriguez
$1 Denard Span
$1 Brandon Barnes
$1 Andre Ethier
$1 Jonny Gomes
$1 Chris Carter
$1 Michael Saunders
$1 Ryan Ludwick
$1 Jarrod Dyson
$1 Kelly Johnson
$1 Steve Pearce
$1 Chris Parmelee
$1 Delmon Young
$1 James Jones
$1 Nate Schierholtz
$1 Tyler Colvin
$0 Reed Johnson
$0 Juan Lagares
$0 Jackie Bradley
$0 Jon Jay
$0 Josh Harrison
$0 Peter Bourjos
$0 Chris Heisey
$0 Raul Ibanez
$0 Stefen Romero
$0 Jose Tabata
Say this for Colvin, he's taken good swings in his first San Francisco week, and now he gets some time in his old Colorado stomping grounds. In deeper pools, it's worth a short-term tire kick.
Injury Courtesy Ranks - Not for debate
$15 Josh Hamilton
$15 Michael Cuddyer
$14 Bryce Harper
$13 Jay Bruce
$12 Ben Zobrist
$12 Mark Trumbo
$10 Carlos Beltran
$9 Colby Rasmus
$7 Kole Calhoun
$4 Adam Eaton
$2 Josh Willingham
$1 Nyjer Morgan
