Jose Ramirez

Player Rater Report Each week this season, I have looked at ESPN’s Player Rater for the past 15 days to identify players surprisingly performing above expectations and to analyze the reasons for and sustainability of their overperformance. With the season all but complete, and nine of the ten postseason spots locked down, this presents a good opportunity to look back at the league’s top players this year as a whole.As for the predictive value of this exercise, it is worth noting that the position most accurately…

It can often be difficult to place into context how well (or how poorly) certain players have performed recently. A glance at ESPN’s Player Rater, which attempts to quantify a player’s overall fantasy value by analyzing their performance in each facet of the game, can focus targets for fantasy owners looking for help on the waiver wire. Of course, when dealing with small sample sizes, a player’s results can be fluky, but placement at or near the top of these lists could be indicative of a substantive change to a player’s…

Last week we took a quick break from baseball and detailed how some of the big NBA offseason moves affect the upcoming fantasy basketball season. Don’t worry, though. We’re back to baseball this week.There have been so many breakout players this season that I had to break this up into two separate articles. Today we’ll go over the breakout players in the AL and how to value them moving forward. We'll tackle the Senior Circuit next Saturday.A lot of times it can be difficult to figure out if a player's breakout is for…

Last week in Dynasty Dugout, we ranked the top 50 fantasy baseball prospects. This week we begin our mid-season rankings for keeper and dynasty leagues.Third base is full of great options and intriguing top prospects. The studs are still holding down the top of these rankings, but there are several new additions to the top 10. Between the new emerging stars and aging former stars, there has been plenty of movement at this position this season. For 1st base rankings, click here.Rank Player Age Team…

It's easy to overlook a player like Jose Ramirez of the Indians. He's not a prolific power hitter, and seems like a part of the Indians success while not garnering headlines like Aaron Judge or Cody Bellinger this year. Yet, at the All-Star break, Ramirez finds himself ranked 14th overall, according to the ESPN Player Rater. While the rankings on ESPN can be flawed, his present status means the perception of Ramirez being a valuable "real-life" player over a fantasy one is misguided.Taking a five part look at his season to…