Last week we featured some pitching pairs; this week we’re running it back with batters.
Rest of season, would you rather roster: Elly De La Cruz, Bobby Witt Jr. or Gunnar Henderson? Freddie Freeman or Bryce Harper? Alec Bohm or Jose Ramirez? Jeremy Pena or Francisco Lindor? Teoscar Hernandez of Randy Arozarena?
Derek Carty (RotoGrinders, @DerekCarty): Witt, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Teoscar
Fred Zinkie (Yahoo/Rotowire, @FredZinkieMLB): Witt, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Teoscar. Witt was the only one of the five that I really debated.
Howard Bender (Fantasy Alarm, @RotoBuzzGuy): Witt, Harper, Ramirez, Lindor, Teoscar
Grey Albright (RazzBall, @razzball): Witt, Harper, Ramirez, Lindor, Teoscar
Chris Clegg (Pitcher List, @RotoClegg): Witt, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Teoscar
Tristan H. Cockcroft (ESPN, @SultanofStat): Witt, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Arozarena, with the first basemen and the outfielders the closest for me. This question does get tricky with the different scoring formats, but for here, I’m taking a standard roto 5×5 approach.
Mike Podhorzer (Fangraphs, @MikePodhorzer): Elly, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Arozarena
Brian Walton (CreativeSports2, @B_Walton): Witt, Harper, Bohm, Pena, Teoscar. In the three middle cases, I go with the younger player. Witt is oldest in his group, but not by much. Randy seems to have hit the wall hard, while Teoscar is right on his career norm.
Eric Samulski (Rotoballer, @SamskiNYC): Bobby Witt, Bryce Harper, Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Randy Arozarena. Elly is great, but he’s striking out over 31% of the time, is hitting .222 in May and has real splits issues. I can’t choose him over Witt.
Rick Graham (Pitcher List, @IAmRickGraham): Witt, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Arozarena. I’ll take Witt with his higher floor over Elly and his slightly higher ceiling. Leaning towards Freeman over Harper but it depends on team need (Harper for better power numbers, Freeman for everything else). Also leaning Arozarena as he’s trending the right way.
Michael A. Stein (Fantasy Judgment, @FantasyJudgment): Witt, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Teoscar. Lindor can’t be this bad, right? Right?????
Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis): Witt as he is on a recent tear and was a top 5 draft pick to start the season. Freeman as Harper can go through prolonged slumps. Ramirez, Lindor, Teoscar.
Dr. Roto (DrRoto.com, @DrRoto): Witt (I regret not taking him #2 overall in LABR), Harper, Ramirez, Lindor, Teoscar
Doug Dennis (BaseballHQ, @dougdennis41): EDLC, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Arozarena
Frank Stampfl (SportsGrid, RotoExperts, @Roto_Frank): Witt, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Hernandez… Harper has significantly closed the gap with Freeman. It’s basically a coin flip but I’ll take the batting average upside with Freeman. Arozarena’s plate discipline has me a touch worried and Teoscar Hernandez has looked great so far in that Dodgers lineup.
Patrick Davitt (BaseballHQ, @patrickdavitt): Gunnar, for added positional flex over Witt; Freeman, a bit less injury risk; J-Ram for more counting stats; Lindor, ditto plus like someone said, he can’t keep being this bad; Teo for BA but Arozarena for speed.
Mike Gianella (Baseball Prospectus, @MikeGianella): Witt, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Arozarena
Ryan Boyer (Rotowire, Baseball Prospectus, @RyanPBoyer): Witt, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Hernandez.
Sky Dombroske (Fantistics Insider Baseball, @SkyDombroske): Witt, Harper, Ramirez, Lindor, Arozarena. When in doubt with these pairings, I’m going with speed.
Erik Halterman (Rotowire, @erik_halterman): Witt, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Arozarena. Witt: others have closed the gap on him, but no more than that. Freeman: basically tied since he isn’t running like last year, but his durability keeps him slightly ahead. Ramirez: Bohm is having a career year, but I wouldn’t put him in this conversation yet. Lindor: Pena is doing a nice Lindor impression, but Lindor should be mostly fine. Arozarena: still have him ahead here for his speed and because he hasn’t started losing at-bats yet, but I’m nervous.
Bret Sayre (Baseball Prospectus, @BretSayreBP): Witt, Harper, Ramirez, Lindor, Arozarena.
Matt Cederholm (Baseball HQ, @TheBigHurtHQ): Gunnar, Freeman, J-Ram, Lindor, Teoscar
Vlad Sedler (FTN Fantasy, @rotogut): Witt, Harper, JRam, Lindor, Teoscar
Jeff Zimmerman (Fangraphs, @jeffwzimmerman): Witt, Freeman, Bohm and Ramirez are split. In most point formats it’s Bohm. Ramirez’s SB push him up in roto. Lindor (closer than expected). Hernandez with the blowout.
Paul Sporer (Fangraphs, @sporer): Elly v. Witt is really tough, and Gunnar isn’t far behind either… I think I’d lean Elly just for the endless # of SBs, from there it’s Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, & Teoscar
Joe Orrico (Fantasy Pros, @JoeOrrico99): Witt pretty easily for me here. I think there’s a good chance he ends up as the #1 overall player in 5X5. I’d take Harper over Freeman but it’s essentially a coin flip for me. Jose Ramirez very easily over Alec Bohm, regardless of format. Still riding with Lindor over Pena. It’s only a matter of time before he picks things up. Randy’s struggles coinciding with the resurgence of Teoscar makes this a lot closer than it probably should be, but my gut says to stick it out with Arozarena here.
Dave Adler (Baseball HQ, @daveadler01): Witt over De La Cruz or Henderson; combo of BA/HR/SB puts him a bit above the other two. Freeman/Harper pretty close; I’ll go with Freeman due to a more likely better BA/OBP moving forward. J. Ramirez big over Bohm; J-Ram’s low BABIP should correct, and higher OBP and speed give him the edge. Lindor over Pena; his .220 BABIP should get better while Pena’s .350 BABIP should ergress. J-Ram also projects for more SB. Arozarena big over Teoscar; again, big difference in BABIP, and Randy with much more speed.
Corbin Young (Baseball HQ, Rotowire, @corbin_young21): Bobby Witt and Gunnar Henderson for the safety and upside, but Elly De La Cruz is doing something special in 2024. Prefer Bryce Harper over Freddie Freeman since I don’t expect Freeman to run like last year. Jose Ramirez slightly but Alec Bohm plays well in OBP and points leagues. Francisco Lindor over Jeremy Peña because hasn’t shown the ceiling of Lindor yet. My gut says Randy Arozarena over Teoscar Hernandez, but Arozarena’s plate discipline struggles of lower contact rates in 2024 looks concerning, so maybe it’s smarter to stick with Hernandez instead of buying low on Arozarena.
Lauren Auerbach (Fantrax, @lkauerbach): Witt, Freeman, Ramirez, Lindor, Arozarena
Joe Gallina (Fantasy Alarm, @joegallina): Bobby Witt Jr., Bryce Harper, Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Teoscar Hernandez
Summary (including the results of social media polls.)
