If you managed to avoid Corbin Carroll, Julio Rodriguez, and Trea Turner with your first-round pick in your fantasy baseball league, then you're likely in good shape as the rest of the top hitters that were taken early have produced in a big way so far.
I suppose we could add Yordan Alvarez, Matt Olson, Freddie Freeman, and Austin Riley to that list of moderately disappointing performances thus far for early-round picks spent on hitters with illustrious track records.
But it's a long season, and the reality is that we are only one-third of the way through it. Which hitters who are off to elite starts can stick in the top 10 all season and which others will move up before the fantasy baseball season is over?
Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball lineup tools and weekly lineup resources:- Fantasy baseball injury reports
- Fantasy baseball trade analyzer
- Daily MLB starting lineups for fantasy baseball
- Fantasy baseball BvP matchups data (Batter vs. Pitcher)
- Fantasy baseball PvB matchups data (Pitcher vs. Batter)
- Who should I start? Fantasy baseball player comparisons
- Fantasy baseball closer depth charts, bullpens, saves
- Fantasy Baseball live scoreboard, daily leaderboards
Current Top 10 Hitters Fantasy Baseball
According to Yahoo's player rankings, here are the top 10 most valuable hitters in 5x5 roto leagues right now.
Hitter | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG |
Bobby Witt Jr. | 52 | 9 | 42 | 17 | 0.314 |
Shohei Ohtani | 41 | 14 | 38 | 14 | 0.326 |
Jose Ramirez | 44 | 16 | 57 | 9 | 0.276 |
Juan Soto | 43 | 15 | 50 | 4 | 0.316 |
Aaron Judge | 42 | 21 | 47 | 2 | 0.282 |
Gunnar Henderson | 42 | 18 | 41 | 7 | 0.258 |
William Contreras | 48 | 8 | 44 | 4 | 0.322 |
Kyle Tucker | 39 | 19 | 40 | 9 | 0.262 |
Elly De La Cruz | 37 | 9 | 24 | 32 | 0.238 |
Marcell Ozuna | 33 | 17 | 53 | 0 | 0.313 |
Hitters one through five are no surprise as all of them were expected to return elite value this season. Jose Ramirez might be the best story right now as he slipped into the second round of some drafts, yet is having one of the best starts to a season of his great career.
MARCELL OZUNA LEADS THE NATIONAL LEAGUE WITH 17 HOME RUNS, 51 RBI AND A 1.009 OPS‼️ pic.twitter.com/1gT7CnMThh
— Kevin Keneely (@KevinKeneely1) June 1, 2024
In the bottom half of this list we have Gunnar Henderson coming through in a big way for Baltimore and the two biggest surprises have to be Contreras and Ozuna who were drafted somewhere around the 5th-7th rounds of drafts. Ozuna is getting it done for Atlanta at the age of 33 and proving that last year's 40 HR, 100 RBI campaign was no fluke.
Projected Top 10 Hitters for Fantasy Baseball
Using a blend of ATC projections, Nick Mariano's projections, and my own opinions - here is my projected top-10 finish for hitters in the 2024 fantasy baseball season.
- Shohei Ohtani
- Bobby Witt Jr.
- Kyle Tucker
- Juan Soto
- Mookie Betts
- Aaron Judge
- Jose Ramirez
- Gunnar Henderson
- William Contreras
- Bryce Harper
Ohtani is the ultimate 5-category contributor and is hitting between two future Hall-of-Famers in Betts/Freeman. He's on pace for just an incredible fantasy season and I think he overtakes Witt Jr. for the top spot.
I love what Kyle Tucker is doing in Houston, too, and if he is able to pick that average up into the .280 range or better, he's going to make a run at a top-3 finish.
Mookie Betts is currently right on the outside of the top ten looking in, but I think we see another surge of power at some point as his low home run total is really the only thing holding him back right now.
I have Elly De La Cruz and Marcell Ozuna dropping out of the top ten. Ozuna is still going to finish in the top 25 and be a great value this season, but EDC is really struggling to make contact over the last month. The stolen bases from him are the only thing keeping his ranking up this high as he really had his offensive production fall off in a big way during the month of May.
Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App
Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy baseball app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, sleepers, prospects & more. All free!