Fantasy Baseball 2019: PlayDraft MLB Post All-Star Break Best Ball Rankings

Why do you need another DFS site? Because DRAFT combines the excitement of a season-long draft into one set of games! Newly available for all of your Fantasy Baseball 2019 desires from now until the MLB All-Star Break are more “Best Ball” drafts from PlayDraft, and to help you get ready, we have our MLB Post All-Star Break Best Ball Rankings. 

Welcome to a mid-season special edition of Fantasy Baseball 2019, covering MLB Post All-Star Break best ball drafts on DRAFT.com from FantasyCPR. My plan here today is to discuss some of my favorite targets the second half of the MLB season, and their relative ADP’s. Then I will wrap it up with my current personal top 180 Best Ball rankings.

I play quite a bit on DRAFT, and have always been a big fan of the snake draft format. They offer 3-man, 6-man, and 10-man best ball drafts, that start upon filling. In the DRAFT lobby, you will find me mostly in the 6-man and 10-man best ball drafts. The DRAFT app can be downloaded to your mobile device through your app store, or you can access the desktop site here.

I have currently finished a handful of MLB post All-Star Break best ball drafts, including two entries into the Post-ASB Best Ball Championship. This is a 5000 max player tournament that if you want to, you can enter up to 150 times. It is a $12 entry with a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool, and $10K up top. Win your ten man league, with scoring counting from July 12th to Aug 18th, and move on to the playoffs.

If you successfully win your original draft, you are guaranteed a $25 payout. Playoffs run two weeks each, and you are dropped in new leagues with others who have advanced. From that point on, a top-3 finish will get you to the next round, and at that point you have secured a minimum of $75. For full details on the Post-ASB Best Ball Championship, here is a link.

With that said, before we hit the top 180 Best Ball Rankings, let’s find out who I have targeted the most in my drafts up to this point, and who I have multiple shares of. These are of course my favorite targets for any point in the draft, and not just the top players in the game. Following each player will be a number, which is that players current ADP. (Average Draft Position) For full rules of Best Ball drafts in general for those unfamiliar, here is a link to those as well. To proceed to the targets and rankings, please click the slide below.

MLB Post ASB Best Ball Rankings: Top Pitcher Targets

Chris Sale – Boston Red Sox – (10.9)

Before I dig right into why I want Sale on my team, let’s talk a little bit about what I am noticing with pitchers in these best ball drafts so far. First of all, make sure you look really hard at scoring for pitchers in the rules I posted on the previous slide, because it will be different from anything you are used to.

Even the daily drafts on DRAFT have lighter scoring for pitching, but the reason for this is to give quite a bit more value to your pitchers for the long haul of a best ball season. As an example, Sale threw a six inning, 10 strikeout game with two earned runs allowed, a win and a quality start against the Orioles a few starts ago, and that was good for 52 points in a best ball. Every start from your pitchers will be worth around double what they would be for a normal daily draft, so to make long story short, do not wait too long to draft pitchers.

I will target a pitcher without a doubt in rounds 1-4, and with the lack of infield depth, I have been a putting a priority on two pitchers and two infielders in my first five rounds. It all depends on draft slot of course, and the top four picks are pretty much a lock in every draft. You have Max Scherzer and the big three outfielders going in those spots, and then after that is when it usually gets interesting.

Trevor Story and Nolan Arenado will follow shortly after, and the next pitcher in line is usually Sale. I am writing him up here because I have a few shares, and have grabbed him as early as the seventh pick. The Red Sox are certainly having a down year for their standards, but after a slow start Sale is looking as healthy and dominant as ever as of late. Even his strikeouts were down to start the season, and that has completely flipped as well, as he has notched 28 K’s in his last 17 innings over three starts. If you miss on Sale and Scherzer will likely happen, just follow my rankings if you want an idea of I like in the next couple rounds.

Mike Minor – Texas Rangers – (77.5)

One good thing about writing this article for me personally, is that I am getting a really good look at how much this ADP is changing. When the drafts first went live, Minor could be had in the 9th or 10th round pretty easily with an ADP near 100. Now he just got another bump up from 81.7, so I may have to reach a round earlier than normal.

Minor has been phenomenal this season for the Rangers, and while I am guessing many think regression is coming and will pass on him, I am making it a priority to land him as my third starter. I had been waiting until the 8th round to take him on average, but if you are in a comfortable enough spot with your bats at this point you your draft I would not argue against drafting him a little earlier considering his ADP is on the rise, but it all depends on what pitchers are still on the board as well.

With a revamped change-up, Minor found himself a strikeout pitch, and it would almost seem criminal if he did not make the American League All-Star Game pitching staff at this point. He as racked up 110 strikeouts in 112.2 innings, and carries one of the best ERA’s in the league for starters at 2.40.

Noah Syndergaard – New York Mets – (86.3)

Thor has had a down year. While there is talk he could end up on a new team, which would likely significantly boost his fantasy prospects considering it would be to a contender, I just do not think the Mets will be selling on anything this season. I think Syndergaard will be a Met for the rest of the season, and he is set to return from an injured hamstring well before your league will start.

His strikeout numbers are still good, but he is getting hit this year with a 4.55 ERA. He was just starting to come around a bit before the injury, so I think at this ADP he is worth a shot in the ninth round or so, especially if you still need a third pitcher. At this point in the draft you will already be looking at guys like Robbie Ray and Jake Odorizzi as your next best options, so once again, make sure not to sleep on pitching.

Max Fried – Atlanta Braves – (204.4)

Speaking of sleeping on pitching, I must be the only person on the planet that thinks Fried can continue to pitch well. He is on a good team for starters with a good offense which always helps, and for a guy who is basically getting no draft consideration from anyone but me it seems, I am happy to continue to land him with my last pick.

The ERA is a little high at 3.96 but finding one that low this late in the draft is not easy. I especially like the fact that Fried has decent strikeout stuff with 84 K’s in 88.2 innings pitched to go along with his 9-3 record. He is also a walking quality start, with 10 in 16 starts.

The only concern is that he is young and may get shut down early, but if this team is in contention I do not see that happening. His innings are pretty reasonable up to this point, so the fact that he has all of them quality starts speaks volumes to me. You can do much worse with your last pick I think. A couple of other guys I have my eyes in the late rounds should I get sniped here are Griffin Canning and Domingo German, who could step right back into a big role with the news that Luis Severino suffered a setback, and will not return until mid-August.

MLB Post ASB Best Ball Rankings: Top Infielder Targets

Pete Alonso – New York Mets – (28.7)

Any chance you read and remember my preseason article for the full season of best ball? Whether you did or you did not, Cody Bellinger was my lock third round pick, as his ADP had him down a bit after his sophomore slump last season. Now we are at the midway point of the season, and Pete Alonso is the new Bellinger in this draft slot for me. Whether I have picked late or early in the order, I have drafted this electric rookie in 83% of my drafts, all in the third round, and I can only hope he avoids the rookie wall or has an unfortunate injury.

Even if he does hit a wall, Alonso is already a lock for the National League rookie of the year. He is hitting .280 with 28 home runs and 62 RBI’s up to this point, and with how hard he hits the ball it seems every time he is at the plate, I have this kid locked in this third round slot and have yet to waver. I have him ranked 17th overall, but with his ADP close to 30, I have sweated out the wait to the third round successfully more often than not.

Max Muncy – Los Angeles Dodgers – (65)

Muncy is going in the fifth or sixth round right now, and is someone I would like to get more shares of as I do more drafts. I thought I had more, but I have just 17% at this point, but at least I know why. More often than not, I already have two infielders by the time Muncy is about to go. While taking a third infielder that early is certainly not a bad strategy with the lack of overall depth at the position, I have just been putting a priority on having two players at each position through the first six rounds of the draft, just to keep it balanced.

I have Muncy ranked 43rd at the moment, but again most of the infielders all have a slight boost in my rankings if I like them because of the depth. He got off to a slow start, but has been raking as of late and had a huge second half last season. Muncy is currently hitting .285 with 20 homers and 57 RBI’s, and I truly think he is a steal at his ADP.

Fernando Tatis Jr. – San Diego Padres – (111.3)

Another ADP steal here if I ever did see one, and if you want to take advantage of it you better get in that draft room soon. It almost feels like the ADP is changing over on draft every five minutes, and Tatis Jr. just keep getting drafted earlier and earlier. When I started this article yesterday, it was 116.9, and today it sits at 111.3.

I have Tatis ranked 80th overall right now, and if he ends up my third or fourth infielder by round ten then I have accomplished one draft goal of mine. Another rookie who is raking, Tatis is hitting .327 on the season now, with 10 home runs and 12 stolen bases. Now that he is in a groove at the major league level, the sky is the limit here, as Tatis Jr. is a rare five-tool complete prospect. By the time the 4th of July holiday has passed and the draft room is starting to get more traction, my guess is the ADP here will be higher than my current ranking.

Carlos Correa – Houston Astros – (140.6)

Well I will admit I have gotten burned a little bit already as something can be said about drafting too early, so I want to be especially cautious with Correa here. In my opinion, if there is word Correa will be healthy before the end of August, I think he could end up another ADP steal.

Truth be told, I had Cole Hamels and Luis Severino as pitching targets all set to go, and had to erase them because Hamels just landed on the IL with no word on severity of injury yet, and Severino just had that setback which pushes him out until the playoffs of the best ball championship. Those that thought getting Severino in the 15th round (like me) might have thought Severino was the golden ticket, however, injuries will always be a part of the game that nobody can predict, and those teams that already drafted him are stuck with it.

We really have no word or actual return date for Correa that I can find, but before he was injured in late May, he was hitting .295 on the season, with 11 homers and 35 RBI’s. He has been running, and we should get word soon on when he is expected to return. My belief is that is that he is not too far out. My plan of attack with him is if he is still there in the 12th round and I still need a fourth infielder I might be in trouble, but this is where I have landed him.

MLB Post ASB Best Ball Rankings: Top Outfield Targets

Cody Bellinger – Los Angeles Dodgers – (3.9)

Obviously I am a big fan of the third overall pick. Don’t take that wrong way, I would gladly select Mike Trout with the number one pick as he is still the best player on the planet. The reason I am writing up Bellinger here though, is that I will take him as well ahead of Christian Yelich, and here is why.

There is no right or wrong answer here really, that is actually why, as all three top options will be fine if they stay healthy. Trout actually has the worst numbers of the three at this point, and even though Yelich has the highest ADP, I prefer Bellinger.

The numbers between the two are almost identical between the two, except for the fact that Belly has the higher batting average, and Yelich has the stolen base upside. I was on Bellinger in season-long best ball, and I have no problem doubling down here.

Joey Gallo – Texas Rangers – (47.8)

I am not a big Joey Gallo fan, but home runs are fantasy points and this slugger is getting drafted way too late for this ADP. His ADP was over 54 yesterday, and I saw somebody draft Gallo in the second round today, so expect that number to keep creeping lower.

There is injury risk as Gallo has missed some time this season, but his batting average is way higher than expected at .279, and he has 19 home runs. I like him a bunch if he sneaks out into the fifth round or so, but the fact that his ADP is climbing and I also have my eyes on some later round guys, I may let him pass from here on out.

Yordan Alvarez – Houston Astros – (89.8)

Maybe it is this minor injury he is dealing with right now, but Alvarez continues to slip to me right when I want him in the 8th round. This is a very important area for me in drafts, because I am usually sitting with three or four pitchers, three or four infielders, and just one or two outfielders. I love this range, and Alvarez just highlights the list of about six guys I like to target from this round and for the next few.

Alvarez burst onto the scene after his call-up to the bigs, but has come down to earth a bit as can be expected. He currently has a batting average of .298, and has hit 7 home runs so far while driving in 18 runs in just 15 games. With this lineup about to get Correa back as well, Alvarez could put up some serious RBI numbers with who will be hitting ahead of him.

Let’s back to those outfielders I like in this range before I get to my favorite 16th round pick quick. I have missed on Alvarez a few times as he is no secret, but some other guys I like such as Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler have slipped a bit in some drafts, and I have been able to grab them a bit later than their current ADP. Trey Mancini is another big bat having a great year that is going around the ninth round, and after him we still have some power bats to sort through like Shohei Ohtani, Nelson Cruz, and Braves rookie Austin Riley.

Franmil Reyes – San Diego Padres – (167.2)

Am I the only person that puts a premium on home runs in these things? Reyes is another young power bat, and it does not look like anything will stop this kid from quietly hitting 40 home runs this season. Even with pitcher friendly Petco Park as his home turf, the 23-year-old has hit 13 of his 22 home runs so far this season home.

It was long thought this guy was a lefty specialist, as he spent most of his rookie season last year platooning and only facing lefties for the most part. Now this season in an every day role, he has proven he can mash any pitchers, as 20 of his 22 home runs this season have come off of righties now that he has settled into an everyday role. I am at 50% on Reyes right now, and I will continue to target him with my last outfield spot.

MLB Post ASB Best Ball Rankings: Top 60 Pitchers:

Each Players Best Ball Ranking will be followed by two numbers. The first number is my current overall ranking for that player, and the second is their current ADP

1. Max Scherzer – (4) – (5.7)

2. Chris Sale – (9) – (10.9)

3. Justin Verlander – (13) – (10.6)

4. Gerrit Cole – (16) – (15.3)

5. Jacob deGrom – (19) – (23.6)

6. Trevor Bauer – (20) – (21.3)

7. Stephen Strasburg – (31) – (33.6)

8. Charlie Morton – (32) – (28.5)

9. Walker Buehler – (33) – (37.9)

10. Blake Snell – (35) – (40.2)

11. Hyun-Jin Ryu – (36) – (34.2)

12. Jose Berrios – (40) – (55.9)

13. Lucas Giolito – (48) – (43.2)

14. Zack Greinke – (51) – (56.1)

15. Patrick Corbin – (52) – (69.3)

16. Clayton Kershaw – (63) – (58)

17. Matthew Boyd – (64) – (61.6)

18. Luis Castillo – (65) – (63.5)

19. James Paxton – (66) – (59)

20. Shane Bieber – (67) – (47.8)

21. Aaron Nola – (76) – (74.5)

22. Mike Minor – (77) – (77.5)

23. Brandon Woodruff – (78) – (71.1)

24. Robbie Ray – (79) – (79.5)

25. Cole Hamels – (82) – (90.2) – (Recently Injured! Check Status)

26. Noah Syndergaard – (85) – (86.3)

27. Jake Odorizzi – (86) – (94.6)

28. German Marquez – (96) – (100.5)

29.  Andrew Heaney – (99) – (41.5)

30. Madison Bumgarner – (104) – (100.1)

31. Mike Clevinger – (114) – (98.3)

32. Chris Archer – (115) – (50.9)

33. Ryan Yarbrough – (118) – (81.7)

34. Felix Pena – (119) – (121.4)

35. Jack Flaherty – (124) – (109.1)

36. Zack Wheeler – (125) – (116.3)

37. David Price – (126) – (121.1)

38. Joe Musgrove – (127) – (123.4)

39. Luis Severino – (128) – (169.3) – (Just suffered a setback – mid-Aug target return)

40. Mike Soroka – (130) – (152.8)

41. Chase Anderson – (131) – (91.4)

42. Masahiro Tanaka – (132) – (128)

43. Tyler Skaggs – (141) – (111.4) (RIP Tyler. You still live on in my rankings)

44. Max Fried – (143) – (201.8)

45. Lance Lynn – (144) – (124)

46. Yu Darvish – (145) – (174.9)

47. Miles Mikolas – (146) – (144.7)

48. Caleb Smith – (147) – (146.1)

49. Griffin Canning – (148) – (189.8)

50. Chris Paddack – (149) – (169.4)

51. Joey Lucchesi – (150) – (156.5)

52. Yonny Chirinos – (151) – (200)

53. Eduardo Rodriguez – (152) – (141.8)

54. Domingo German – (159) – (171)

55. Marcus Stroman – (160) – (155.2)

56. Dakota Hudson – (169) – (132.7)

57. Jon Gray – (170) – (169.7)

58. Kenta Maeda – (171) – (180.5)

59. Kyle Gibson – (174) – (190.9)

60. Brad Peacock – (176) – (171.8)

MLB Post ASB Best Ball Rankings: Top 60 Infielders:

1. Nolan Arenado – (5) – (5.8)

2. Alex Bregman – (6) – (9.2)

3. Anthony Rendon – (11) – (19)

4. Trevor Story – (12) – (8.8)

5.  Freddie Freeman – (14) – (11.5)

6. Josh Bell – (15) – (19.8)

7. Pete Alonso – (17) – (28.7)

8. Francisco Lindor – (18) – (29.4)

9. Anthony Rizzo – (21) – (19.2)

10. Trea Turner – (22) – (22.6)

11. Xander Bogaerts – (23) – (39.7)

12. Javier Baez – (26) – (34.4)

13. Ketel Marte – (27) – (48.9)

14. Rhys Hoskins – (29) – (45.1)

15. Eduardo Escobar – (34) – (39.8)

16. Jorge Polanco – (39) – (51.4)

17. Luke Voit – (41) – (50.7)

18. Kris Bryant – (42) – (27.8)

19. Max Muncy – (43) – (65)

20. Mike Moustakas – (44) – (49.3)

21. Manny Machado – (45) – (55.2)

22. Adalberto Mondesi – (46) – (61.2)

23. Edwin Encarnacion – (54) – (69.2)

24. Carlos Santana – (58) – (64.9)

25. Jose Altuve – (68) – (70.7)

26. Gary Sanchez – (72) – (70.7)

27. Paul Goldschmidt – (73) – (65.7)

28. Rafael Devers – (74) – (76.3)

29. Gleyber Torres – (75) – (79.4)

30. Fernando Tatis Jr. – (80) – (111.3)

31. D.J. LeMahieu – (87) – (91.1)

32. Yoan Moncada – (89) – (113.4)

33. Jose Abreu – (90) – (84.2)

34. Matt Chapman – (92) – (90.2)

35. Elvis Andrus – (94) – (127.4)

36. Josh Donaldson – (95) – (108.4)

37. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – (98) – (105.7)

38. Ozzie Albies – (101) – (115.3)

39. Dansby Swanson – (102) – (110.5)

40. Paul DeJong – (103) – (99.7)

41. Jose Ramirez – (105) – (91.2)

42. Carlos Correa – (106) – (140.6)

43. Eugenio Suarez – (107) – (97)

44. C.J. Cron – (109) – (146.8)

45. Jonathan Villar – (112) – (145.9)

46. Marcus Semien – (116) – (131.7)

47. Matt Carpenter – (134) – (137.8)

48. Yasmani Grandal – (135) – (123.1)

49. Corey Seager – (136) – (157)

50. Brandon Lowe – (137) – (153)

51. Justin Turner – (153) – (145.9)

52. Daniel Murphy – (154) – (127.6)

53. Tim Anderson – (158) – (165.2)

54. Matt Olson – (163) – (167.7)

55. Jean Segura – (164) – (187.9)

56. Hunter Dozier – (168) – (192.6)

57. Christian Walker – (172) – (191.2)

58. Yandy Diaz – (175) – (214.8)

59. Derek Dietrich – (179) – (209.2)

60. Michael Chavis – (180) – (215.3)

MLB Post ASB Best Ball Rankings: Top 60 Outfielders:

1. Mike Trout – (1) – (2.1)

2. Cody Bellinger – (2) – (3.9)

3. Christian Yelich – (3) – (1.4)

4. Ronald Acuna Jr. – (7) – (9.3)

5. Charlie Blackmon – (8) – (15.3)

6. Mookie Betts – (10) – (8.2)

7. Aaron Judge – (24) – (20.4)

8. J.D. Martinez – (25) – (24.2)

9. Bryce Harper – (28) – (29.6)

10. George Springer – (30) – (36.6)

11. Juan Soto – (37) – (40.1)

12. Whit Merrifield – (38) – (38.7)

13. Joey Gallo – (47) – (47.8)

14.  Max Kepler – (49) – (55.1)

15.  Eddie Rosario – (50) – (59.7)

16. Nick Senzel – (53) – (71.6)

17. Austin Meadows – (55) – (82.9)

18. Marcell Ozuna – (56) – (38.4)

19. Yordan Alvarez – (57) – (89.8)

20. Andrew Benintendi – (59) – (71.2)

21. Tommy Pham – (60) – (70)

22. Shin-Soo Choo – (61) – (65.9)

23. Starling Marte – (62) – (79.9)

24. Michael Conforto – (69) – (81)

25. David Dahl – (70) – (84.9)

26. Giancarlo Stanton – (71) – (53.1) (May be out until August!)

27. Shohei Ohtani – (81) – (105.8)

28. Trey Mancini – (83) – (84.5)

29. Austin Riley – (84) – (115.5)

30. Michael Brantley – (88) – (87.9)

31. Kyle Schwarber – (91) – (113)

32. Nelson Cruz – (93) – (113.1)

33. Gregory Polanco – (97) – (108.6)

34. Domingo Santana – (100) – (93.8)

35. Hunter Renfroe – (108) – (117)

36. Byron Buxton – (110) – (155.9)

37. Jorge Soler – (111) – (136.8)

38. Khris Davis – (113) – (99.9)

39. Jay Bruce – (117) – (146.6)

40. David Peralta – (120) – (131.2)

41. Joc Pederson – (121) – (120.6)

42. Daniel Vogelbach – (122) – (142.5)

43. Scott Kingery – (123) – (173.2)

44. Franmil Reyes – (129) – (167.2)

45. Justin Upton – (133) – (117.2)

46. Alex Gordon – (138) – (141.6)

47. Hunter Pence – (139) – (157.1)

48. Kole Calhoun – (140) – (141.2)

49. Eloy Jimenez – (142) – (143.3)

50. Nomar Mazara – (155) – (155.4)

51. Lorenzo Cain – (156) – (152.3)

52. Adam Eaton – (157) – (173)

53. Nick Markakis – (161) – (174.8)

54. Avisail Garcia – (162) – (191.3)

55. Aaron Hicks – (165) – (158.9)

56. Victor Robles – (167) – (187.2)

57. Lourdes Gurriel Jr.– (168) – (193.9)

58. Oscar Mercado – (173) – (183.7)

59. Nicholas Castellanos – (177) – (152.7)

60. Yasiel Puig – (178) – (111.7)

That will be all for the top 180 rankings for MLB best ball drafts on DRAFT. We have right around two more weeks to draft our teams as drafts lock on July 12th, so if you have any questions about this Fantasy Baseball 2019 article, give me a follow on Twitter with the link on the top of the page, and feel free to ask.

You can also leave a question right here in the comments, and I will do my best to respond. Always stay tuned to FantasyCPR as we have you covered for all things fantasy sports!