Middle infield rankings: Swinging away with Elvis Andrus in latest Shuffle Up
Here are your middle-infield prices. We’re taking our best swing at 5×5 value from this point forward. No debating the hurt.
Players at the same price are considered even.
[Fantasy Football is open! Sign up now]
Any time you’re ready, Machado.
Remember the golden rule, no one loses or gains fantasy value just because they’re on your roster. And if you’re going to disagree, have a reason. This game is about disagreement to begin with, the difference of opinion.
Want to spike me at second base? Catch me on Twitter.
$33 Jose Altuve
$30 Carlos Correa
$25 Daniel Murphy
$24 Robinson Cano
$22 Corey Seager
$22 Xander Bogaerts
$22 Elvis Andrus
$22 Trea Turner
$22 Manny Machado
Plate discipline is nice, but it’s not everything. Andrus’s career years has come despite the lowest walk rate and the worst strikeout rate of his career. But he’s on pace for .292-95-17-87-37, and this is someone who’s never hit double-digit home runs before. Sometimes being aggressive is actually the right answer . . . It’s a shame Bogaerts plays in Fenway Park, where stolen bases don’t have a tremendous value, because he could steal a lot more often if he wanted to. He’s actually the highest-rated base runner in the American League, per fWAR.
$21 Eduardo Nunez
$21 Dee Gordon
$19 Brian Dozier
$19 Matt Carpenter
$19 Francisco Lindor
$17 Jedd Gyorko
$17 Zack Cozart
$17 Starlin Castro
$15 Rougned Odor
$15 Jonathan Schoop
Castro came up at such a young age, it’s easy to forget he’s still just 27. Here’s a case of a breakout being more standard — Castro has upped his walks, trimmed his strikeouts, improved his hard-hit rate. And being in the loaded, deep Yankees lineup is a boost as well . . . I have to give Odor a little more time to break out of this; at least he has four homers this month . . . While I feel justified moving Lindor down this list, he could be a good buy-low, too. His BABIP sits at .259 despite an increase in hard-hit rate. Those two directions don’t make sense.
$14 Marwin Gonzalez
$14 *Jean Segura
$14 Ian Kinsler
$14 DJ LeMahieu
$14 Jose Ramirez
$14 Jose Peraza
$13 Hernan Perez
$13 Didi Gregorius
$13 Whit Merrifield
$12 Chris Taylor
$12 Josh Harrison
$12 Javier Baez
$12 Jason Kipnis
$12 Dustin Pedroia
It might be the empty-average stage of Pedroia’s career; given his body attrition, it doesn’t make sense for him to run any more, and he’s lost a major share of his power, too. Being in the Boston lineup has value, of course, and Pedroia will still give you a reasonable average. But if you have designs on winning, he better be your middle infielder, not your primary 2B . . . Merrifield finally got his just promotion to the leadoff spot, and while the Royals offense will never be great, it’s at least been league average in June. If it doesn’t work out for Merrifield, he can always go back to Duke and play point guard.
$11 Tim Beckham
$11 Jed Lowrie
$11 Chris Owings
$11 Andrelton Simmons
$11 Trevor Story
$11 Ben Zobrist
$10 Brandon Phillips
$10 *Jonathan Villar
$9 Howie Kendrick
$9 Dansby Swanson
$9 Aledmys Diaz
Story looks like a guy who’s lost his feel for the zone and his confidence, too. His line-drive clip has plummeted, and he’s making less contact. Any spot in the Colorado lineup is a favorable thing, but he’s probably going to slot seventh for most of the year.
$7 Jose Pirela
$7 Brandon Drury
$7 Yangervis Solarte
$6 Wilmer Flores
$6 Eric Sogard
$6 Brandon Crawford
$6 Adam Frazier
$5 Tim Anderson
$5 Kolten Wong
$5 Addison Russell
$4 Troy Tulowitzki
$4 Logan Forsythe
$4 *Neil Walker
Last year Tulowitzki turned into a guess hitter. This year, he’s making better contact but the power is completely gone. You have my permission to move on, if it makes sense to you . . . If Wong’s on a different team next year, make sure he’s on your sleeper list. They’ve messed his head up in St. Louis.
$3 Yolmer Sanchez
$3 T.J. Rivera
$3 Jordy Mercer
$3 Eduardo Escobar
$2 Scooter Gennett
$3 Derek Dietrich
$2 Chase Utley
$2 Chad Pinder
$2 Orlando Arcia
$2 Nick Ahmed
$2 Jorge Polanco
$2 Joe Panik
$2 J.T. Riddle
$2 Ian Happ
$2 Enrique Hernandez
$2 Cory Spangenberg
$2 *Devon Travis
$2 *Cesar Hernandez
$2 *Asdrubal Cabrera
$1 Taylor Motter
$1 Steve Pearce
$1 Jurickson Profar
$1 Josh Rutledge
$1 Jose Iglesias
$1 J.J. Hardy
$1 Daniel Descalso
$1 Alexi Amarista
$1 Alcides Escobar
$1 *Brad Miller
$0 Jose Reyes
$0 Freddy Galvis
$0 Danny Espinosa
More from Yahoo Sports:
