Updated First Base Rankings - Fantasy Baseball Mixed Leagues (July)

With Opening Day of the 2020 MLB season just a few weeks away, we have a new batch of updated fantasy baseball rankings for you here at RotoBaller. The unpredictable effects of COVID-19 and the implementation of the 60-game season will make the upcoming fantasy campaign the most unique we have ever seen. Not only because of the schedule structure, but because of the inevitable impact of the pandemic.

Drafting healthy players will be like walking through a minefield this year since we've already seen a wide range of players test positive for the virus. Even though these players should recover in time for the beginning of the campaign, the long-term impact could compromise their strength and endurance. The in-season struggle of maintaining the players' well-being will be a balancing act, so we can only hope all players and staff do their part to keep everyone healthy. With two-thirds of games now played within the division and the remaining third versus interleague counterparts, this setup gives some hitters in certain divisions advantages over others. Considering the effect of Park Factors and the pitching staffs they'll face within their division, factoring in these elements is essential in such a short season.

Don't forget to bookmark our main fantasy baseball rankings page which is loaded up with rankings, tiers, auction dollar values, player stats, projections, news and more for Mixed Leagues, H2H Points Leagues, Dynasty Leagues, 2020 Redraft Prospects, Dynasty Prospects and more! With that said, let's analyze the landscape of the shortstop position.

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• Fantasy Baseball live scoreboard, daily leaderboards

 

Updated First Base Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Leagues

In case you missed it, our very own "Big Pick Nick" Mariano was named the #1 overall most accurate industry expert ranker for the 2018 season. Be sure to follow his updated rankings all season long!

Rank	Tier	Player	Position	Nick M.	Nick G	Pierre	David	Riley
1	1	Cody Bellinger	1B/OF	5	3	3	3	4
2	1	Freddie Freeman	1B	30	26	51	25	17
3	2	Pete Alonso	1B	41	36	44	23	32
4	2	Matt Olson	1B	44	65	58	45	43
5	2	Jose Abreu	1B	55	69	31	70	54
6	3	Anthony Rizzo	1B	85	37	60	35	45
7	3	Paul Goldschmidt	1B	51	63	61	75	50
8	3	Josh Bell	1B	74	68	42	69	84
9	3	DJ LeMahieu	1B/3B/2B	64	82	123	86	80
10	3	Max Muncy	1B/3B/2B	96	96	77	78	82
11	3	Rhys Hoskins	1B	108	120	96	105	100
12	4	Carlos Santana	1B	116	95	109	116	126
13	4	Yasmani Grandal	C/1B	131	122	126	102	114
14	4	Miguel Sano	1B/3B	101	124	151	136	107
15	4	Edwin Encarnacion	1B	119	139	136	166	131
16	4	Danny Santana	CI/MI/OF	113	89	168	190	146
17	5	Ryan McMahon	1B/3B/2B	140	175	172	202	169
18	5	Yuli Gurriel	1B/3B	161	116	253	139	134
19	5	Hunter Dozier	1B/3B/OF	212	203	161	186	183
20	5	C.J. Cron	1B	185	173	201	172	207
21	5	Luke Voit	1B	136	244	152	123	163
22	5	Christian Walker	1B	192	205	166	203	184
23	6	Joc Pederson	1B/OF	218	222	230	157	226
24	6	Howie Kendrick	1B/2B/3B	183	131	306	181	240
25	6	Eric Hosmer	1B	171	219	233	258	200
26	6	Mark Canha	1B/OF	229	216	244	229	232
27	6	Renato Nunez	1B/3B	254	256	241	236	208
28	6	Brendan McKay	1B/SP	359	N/A	217	210	330
29	6	Joey Votto	1B	271	262	282	249	227
30	6	Justin Smoak	1B	237	269	214	338	280
31	6	Niko Goodrum	1B/MI/OF	235	251	340	284	310
32	6	Brandon Belt	1B/OF	288	320	328	275	374
33	6	Yandy Diaz	1B/3B	318	312	215	237	272
34	6	Daniel Murphy	1B	305	239	310	285	248
35	7	Miguel Cabrera	1B	232	270	358	410	279
36	7	Wil Myers	1B/OF	280	275	240	391	258
37	7	Christian Vazquez	C/1B	309	228	480	240	237
38	7	Nate Lowe	1B	428	404	341	235	389
39	7	Michael Chavis	1B/2B	361	430	432	242	301
40	7	Travis D'Arnaud	C/1B	440	305	534	257	407
41	7	Albert Pujols	1B	343	400	435	N/A	346
42	7	Jesus Aguilar	1B	409	453	344	323	363
43	7	Evan White	1B	405	351	438	267	357
44	7	Eric Thames	1B/OF	437	376	364	320	332
45	7	Rowdy Tellez	1B	529	465	317	316	449
46	7	Daniel Vogelbach	1B	451	485	390	297	376
47	8	Ronald Guzman	1B	349	393	497	N/A	366
48	8	Ji-Man Choi	1B	469	387	472	392	473
49	8	Garrett Cooper	1B	443	473	436	434	428
50	8	Chris Davis	1B	377	420	490	442	495
51	8	Mitch Moreland	1B	458	490	478	N/A	463
52	8	Marwin Gonzalez	1B/3B/OF	479	501	N/A	N/A	N/A
53	8	Dominic Smith	1B/OF	448	499	482	431	N/A
54	8	Jay Bruce	OF/1B	502	455	361	N/A	491
55	8	Jake Lamb	1B/3B	522	517	484	N/A	N/A
56	8	Kevin Cron	1B	504	574	504	N/A	N/A
57	8	Matt Adams	1B	593	N/A	N/A	440	N/A
58	8	Victor Caratini	C/1B	539	454	551	N/A	N/A
59	8	Matt Beaty	1B/3B/OF	525	571	N/A	N/A	496
60	8	Mike Ford	1B	555	562	495	N/A	469
61	8	Wilmer Flores	1B/2B	486	508	561	N/A	N/A
62	8	Jeimer Candelario	1B/3B	561	529	503	N/A	N/A
63	8	Ryan O'Hearn	1B	604	546	483	N/A	N/A
64	8	Ehire Adrianza	CI/MI/OF	N/A	N/A	538	N/A	N/A
65	8	Rio Ruiz	1B/3B	582	N/A	506	N/A	N/A
66	8	Colin Moran	3B/1B	600	542	491	N/A	476
67	8	Willians Astudillo	C/1B/3B	567	594	547	N/A	N/A
68	8	Jose Osuna	1B/3B/OF	N/A	554	544	N/A	N/A
69	8	Josh VanMeter	1B/2B/OF	581	567	528	N/A	483
70	8	Triston Casas	1B	N/A	N/A	554	N/A	N/A
71	8	Jake Bauers	1B/OF	605	548	527	N/A	N/A
72	8	Aledmys Diaz	1B/2B/3B	607	584	542	N/A	N/A
73	8	Ryan McBroom	1B	634	N/A	536	N/A	N/A
74	8	Seth Brown	1B/OF	667	N/A	532	N/A	N/A
75	8	Brandon Dixon	1B/OF	656	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
76	8	Ronny Rodriguez	1B/2B/SS	662	590	N/A	N/A	N/A
77	8	Sam Travis	1B	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
78	8	Neil Walker	1B/3B	673	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

 

Tier One

He may technically share the tier but Cody Bellinger is in a fantasy class by himself, finishing as the #3 overall player in 2019 according to the Fangraphs auction calculator. Bellinger was third in earnings but he was also within the tossup range of Acuna and Yelich; those three players made up a tier that had a distinct separation from the rest of the top-10:

Rank	Player	Position(s)	$ Value
1	Ronald Acuna Jr.	OF	$41.3
2	Christian Yelich	OF	$40.4
3	Cody Bellinger	1B/OF	$40.2
4	Rafael Devers	3B	$35.4
5	Anthony Rendon	3B	$35.1
6	Nolan Arenado	3B	$32.7
7	Mike Trout	OF	$32.1
8	Alex Bregman	3B/SS	$31.8
9	Freddie Freeman	1B	$31.3
10	Xander Bogaerts	SS	$29.8

Bellinger is a superstar in any format but has a profile that is particularly appealing to me in this 60-game season. For one, his fantasy game has no categorical holes and is elite everywhere, even in stolen bases when just comparing him to his peers. He hits for power and average and is hitting behind Mookie Betts in the middle of what should be one of baseball's best offenses.

What I really love is the upside in batting average. As I've mentioned before, I believe the ratio stats are going to carry more fantasy value in 2020 than they do in typical seasons. With that in mind, I'm giving more weight to players who are likely to shine in average and who've previously shown themselves capable of spiking big numbers over short periods. Like when Bellinger was hitting .370 after 60 games in 2019.

In many ways, Freddie Freeman is Bellinger-lite, posting a .295 AVG over 692 PA, with 38 HR, 121 RBI, 113 R, and 5 SB. Freeman is also due to hit in the middle of a top offense, with Marcel Ozuna being swapped in Josh Donaldson to hit behind him. However, we can't ignore the COVID-shaped elephant in the room.

Along with three teammates, Freeman tested positive upon intake into summer camp and is reportedly symptomatic, and not lightly. Manager Brian Snitker gave no timeline for his return but said Freeman is "not feeling great" and will be out a while. It's hard to speculate on what Freeman's status will be by Opening Day or how healthy he will be after he returns. But he's sick right now and is recovering from a disease whose long-term effects we don't yet understand. Especially how it might affect the performance of elite athletes. It's hard to spend a second-round pick on that much uncertainty.

 

Tier Two

The second tier consists of some players with similar molds. Big and beefy sluggers with serious pops. One has seen his third-round price stay mostly static through the extended offseason, while the other has seen a steady rise, going from a 63 ADP in January to a 43 ADP in the most recent drafts.

Do you believe in a repeat performance from Pete Alonso, or not? Nick M. and Pierre don't believe in the second-year slugger as much as me and the rest of the rankings team, putting him at #41 and #44 respectively. I have Alonso at #36, coveting the light-tower power that he brings to the table. He doesn't have the high average I'm coveting in this short season but he's not a total sink, hitting .260 last season and supported by a .257 xBA.

I still think his price is a little high considering how many first basemen there are down the line that I really like but Alonso should give you piles of counting stats and can set your team up with a solid base of HR, RBI, and R. He doesn't have many splits issues - with a .385 wOBA versus right-handers and a .381 wOBA versus lefties - and showed himself capable of a hot start in his rookie season. After 60 games in 2019, Alonso had hit 20 HR, with 45 RBI and 36 runs scored.

Moving over to the west coast, Matt Olson brings a lot of the same skills as Alonso does, albeit a bit lighter on the power. What Olson does bring more than Alonso is a longer track record; he hit 24 HR in just 216 PA in 2017, 29 HR in 660 PA in 2018, and a career-high 34 HR last season. But Olson hit those 34 bombs in just 547 PA, missing two months with a broken hamate bone.

The problem, as it often is, is the price. Olson was a solid value at his early-season draft prices but a 43 ADP is a stiff price to pay when his batting average is going to top out around .260. Like Alonso, he can give you a solid base of counting stats and comes at a discount compared to his counterpoint in New York. However, first base is pretty deep in my view and I'd rather look elsewhere.

 

Tier Three

Tier 3 is jam-packed with varying profiles and prices. It's also home to what I see as some of the bigger value at the position, as well as the top-100 overall.

After translating the recent ATC 60-game projections to dollar values using z-scores and comparing rankings to recent ADP, boring, old Anthony Rizzo looks like one of the best values on the board. Nothing about his line jumps off the page; Rizzo is projected for a .284 AVG in 239 PA, with 10 HR, 34 RBI, 33 R, and 2 SB. While not flashy, those are solid contributions in every category with an average that's a big jump up from most of the sluggers at the position.

Comparing him to Olson, both will give you similar totals in R+RBI when looking at projections. So, would you rather have the four more home runs that Olson is being projected for or the 30-more points of batting average that Rizzo is projected to give you? Give me the average all day long. Especially since Rizzo has had a 71 ADP since July 1, nearly 30 spots after Olson is being taken.

Everything I just said about Anthony Rizzo can basically run back verbatim for Paul Goldschmidt. In fact, the only significant difference between what ATC is projecting for the two is one more home run for Goldschmidt and seven less points of batting average. Like Rizzo, Goldy doesn't have flashy power but he'll get you double-digits in home runs while giving you a much bigger chunk of average. Even better is a price that continues to drop; Goldschmidt now has a 77 ADP and is being drafted as the 53rd hitter overall. Bring me some more of your boring and steady. I welcome them to my shores.

And now for the hat trick! As Goldschmidt is to Rizzo, so is Bell to Goldschmidt. Bell gives you a little more power than the previous two, with ATC projecting him for 12 home runs, and a little less average, as Bell clocks in with a projected .271 AVG. And staying on-trend, Bell also has an even cheaper price, being drafted around pick 93 in drafts since July 1. I know that Pittsburgh is going to be a dumpster fire of a team but Bell has a premium eye, across the board skills, and a price that keeps going down.

Confession time; I need to move D.J. LeMahiue up...Is something I would've said before it was announced that he had tested positive for COVID on July 8. It wasn't just his skills I coveted but also the multi-eligibility that has taken on increased importance in this COVID-reality. However, now LeMahiue has been struck down for the time being and a timeline for his return is yet unknown.

Putting his illness aside, I believe in the career-year that LeMahiue just put up, setting new highs in home runs, RBI, and runs scored, with his highest batting average since 2016. His fantasy stats were off the charts but so was his statcast performance; LeMahiue had a career-high 91.7 mph EV that was in the top-8% of baseball and a 47.2 hard-hit rate that was in the top-10% of the league and was his highest since 2016.

When healthy, LeMahieu will bat at the top of a Yankee lineup that's overpowered when it's all there. He's set to be followed by Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez; runs should not be an issue. LeMahieu also has the batting-average ability I'm looking for, giving you a solid floor but with skills that are capable of putting up a big number in only 60 games. He put up a .327 AVG in 2019 that was second only to Tim Anderson's .335 AVG and backed that average up with a .322 xPA that was in the top 1% of baseball.

I have Rhys Hoskins the lowest among our rankers, clocking in for me at #120, with the rest of the group placing him between #97-108. While I like him for a bounceback, I hate him for anything resembling a decent average. Hoskins posted just a .226 AVG in 2019, with a .221 xBA that was in the bottom-4% of baseball. Perhaps more troubling was a 9.7% Brl% and 38.7% hard-hit rate; both rates have now decreased two years in a row.

 

Tier Four

Edwin Encarnacion gets no respect from the ageist crowd, with the 37-year-old currently carrying near a 160 ADP a year after hitting 34 HR in just 486 PA. However, his Statcast profile doesn't seem to think he's trending down, as old Edwin seems to be much the same as he's ever been:

Season	Brl%	EV	LA	xBA	xSLG	wOBA	xwOBA	xwOBAcon	Hard%
2015	10.7	90.2	16.8	0.276	0.540	0.391	0.387	0.418	44.3
2016	12.3	90.8	15.7	0.266	0.537	0.373	0.383	0.436	40.6
2017	10.6	89.2	16.7	0.266	0.535	0.373	0.393	0.443	42.0
2018	11.7	89.9	18.1	0.249	0.492	0.346	0.362	0.428	41.4
2019	12.6	90.0	22.5	0.242	0.513	0.362	0.360	0.409	42.0

He might not give you a batting average in the .260-.270 range anymore but the power hasn't slowed down; Encarnacion has averaged 37 HR over the last eight seasons, never hitting fewer than 32 over that period. Besides the actual home runs, his HR/PA rate has also stayed steady:

Season	Team	G	PA	HR	HR/PA
2012	Blue Jays	151	644	42	0.065
2013	Blue Jays	142	621	36	0.058
2014	Blue Jays	128	542	34	0.063
2015	Blue Jays	146	624	39	0.063
2016	Blue Jays	160	702	42	0.060
2017	Indians	157	669	38	0.057
2018	Indians	137	579	32	0.055
2019	2 Teams	109	486	34	0.070

Besides the consistency, I love the lineup that he's in, being preceded in the White Sox Order by Yasmani Grandal, Jose Abreu, and Yoan Moncada. And if the hard-hitting Moncada isn't ready for Opening Day after his positive COVID announcement, then it'll likely be the electric Luis Robert who will bat second for the White Sox. That's a lot of possible ducks on the pond for Encarnacion to drive in. And don't forget that he'll be facing a bunch of suspects pitchers, with a great many of the White Sox games coming against the Royals, Tigers, and Pirates.

Ranking him significantly higher than the rest of our team - save my fellow Nick - it looks like I'm the king of Danny Santana Hill. But wait; aren't I the guy that preaches to not pay for a player's best year and to listen to the guidance of proven projection systems? Well, Santana certainly had his best season in 2019 and the major projection systems don't seem to be buying a repeat in 2020, at least not in terms of his per/PA production rates and batting average:

Season		PA	HR/PA	R/PA	RBI/PA	SB/PA	AVG	wRC+
2019	Rangers	511	0.055	0.159	0.159	0.041	0.283	111
2020	THE BAT	206	0.039	0.126	0.112	0.029	0.242	76
2020	ATC	199	0.040	0.136	0.131	0.035	0.251	81
2020	Depth Charts	210	0.038	0.129	0.133	0.033	0.259	88
2020	Steamer	203	0.034	0.113	0.128	0.030	0.250	79
2020	ZiPS	179	0.045	0.145	0.140	0.039	0.268	96

And this isn't a case of a line being more valuable than meets the eye; running Santana's ATC projections through the Fangraphs auction calculator results in the 143rd-highest earnings. Not exactly horrible, given his draft price has been running around a 140 ADP, but certainly not enough to justify my ranking of 89th-overall.

Projections, though, are looking at the career of Santana while I'm only looking at 2019. I don't think I'm betting on a flukey season that's unrepeatable; I just think the 2019 version of Santana is new, improved, and not going to change back to what we've seen before. Rare though they be, baseball players can have a late-career breakout, and now we have the data to sort the wheat from the chaff.

After an impressive rookie year in 2014, Santana floundered from 2015-18, being traded by the Twins and released by the Braves before signing a minor-league contract with the Rangers in January of 2019. Here's the thing, though; Santana had started ending his malaise in 2018 with Atlanta. He easily handled Triple-A (Gwinnett) that season, hitting 16 home runs and stealing 12 bases in 342 PA, posting a .264 AVG. And while he only hit .179 in his 32 PA for the big club, the way  he was hitting the ball was totally different than he had done previously:

Season	PA	Brl%	EV	LA	wOBA	xwOBA	xwOBAcon	Hard%
2015	277	0.5	82.3	2.4	0.231	0.224	0.284	23.5
2016	248	3.9	85.9	5.7	0.265	0.292	0.353	33.9
2017	178	4.7	84.8	3.4	0.254	0.275	0.337	32.3
2018	32	11.8	91.0	9.4	0.259	0.326	0.449	41.2
2019	511	9.5	91.4	13.5	0.352	0.338	0.463	43.6

In his short appearance with Atlanta, Santana had dramatic increases in his average exit-velocity, barrel-rate, hard-hit rate, and launch angle, as well as his wOBA, xWOBA, and xwOBAcon. That teeny-tiny sample doesn't mean much in a vacuum, however, they took on more meaning after Santana posted near-identical marks in 130 games for the Rangers. When it comes to looking for a sustainable breakout, Santana checks the boxes you're generally looking for.

Santana will strike out a ton and basically refuses to take a walk but has the siren's song of speed and power combined, at a position where generally only the latter is available. You already know about the speed potential but I'm taking his power seriously. Looking at per/PA rates among first baseman, Santana's 0.055 HR/PA was tied with Freddie Freeman for 6th-highest, finishing only behind Bellinger, Alonso, Olson, Bell, and Muncy.

 

Tier Five

Stop. Cron-time. Detroit's new first baseman will finally get his chance to shine after somewhat breaking out for two seasons as a not-quite full-timer for the Rays and Twins. Cron hit 25 home runs in 499 PA for Minnesota last season, a year after hitting 30 home runs in 560 PA down in Tampa, and now moves into his new role as the Tigers starter at first.

The batting average isn't impressive, with Cron doing his best Khris Davis imitation by hitting .253 in back-to-back seasons, but the underlying metrics are. His .277 xBA was solid but his .548 xSLG was in the top-9% of baseball and his 15.0% Brl% was the top-5%. And this was a year after posting a 12.2% Brl% (top-10%) in 2018. Dropping barrels like that is certainly sexy but Cron also had a 44.6% hard-hit rate that was an eight-point increase from the year prior.

Woof. I'm not just the low-man on Luke Voit; I'm the get-low, get-looow man:

Rank	Player	Nick M.	Nick G.	Pierre	David	Riley
157	Luke Voit	136	244	152	123	163

I'm low on Voit relative to my fellow rankers, as well as compared to his current 187 ADP in NFBC leagues. I suppose it's because I just don't see what you're really getting from Voit that will be better than his peers; for example, Cron from above. Looking at ATC, Cron is projected to hit one more home run, score 2 more runs, and have five more RBI, while posting the same batting average. Voit is hitting in a better lineup but will bat in the lower-third while Cron is going to hit cleanup. Plate-appearances will take on a bigger import in a 60-game season and Voit won't have as many opportunities barring injuries that allow him to slide up the order.

But it's not just liking someone else at a better price that's making me shy away from thinking Voit will put up value. It's also the greatly diminished average exit-velocity from 2019. Voit had a 91.3 mph EV in a limited 2017 and a blistering 93.0 mph EV in 2018 but dropped to just 89.7 mph in 2019. His hard-hit rate consequentially dropped almost 14-points from the year prior, finishing with a 40.4% Hard%. In terms of his exit velocity, that's like going from Christian Yelich to Jackie Bradley Jr.

 

Tier Six and Below

The long wait is over; let's talk about Howie Kendrick. More specifically, my ranking of #131. That's right; #131. Boom! Eat it, nerds. I kid, I kid. But seriously, about that Kendrick ranking. It's surely aggressive but keep in mind that this isn't a draft guide. I'm not drafting Kendrick there (though I'm not waiting that long ; ) but I do think that's in the range where his value could end up landing. It could also go horribly wrong because his value for me is directly tied to how much I think he'll play and the batting average I think he'll put up. If one of those tanks then so will this rank. But I think there are reasons to believe.

First, there's the sea of red on his baseball savant page, with Kendrick posting career-highs in average exit-velocity, hard-hit rate, and Barrel%, as well as finishing in the top-1% of xBA and top-2% of xSLG. That was coupled with career-high 32.9% FB% and a 34.1% Pull% that was his highest since 2009. All in all, he hit the ball harder, in the air more, and with more barrels than he ever has before.

He also put up a career-low 13.2% K-rate that was in the top-9% of baseball and supported it with a career-low 7.4% SwStr%. Besides the decrease in whiffs, Kendrick was far more selective at the plate. His 33.1% O-Sw% was a seven-point drop from the year prior while his 71.9% O-Contact was over a four-point increase. In short, he swung less at balls outside the zone but made more contact when he did swing at them.

All of the above makes Kendrick one of the best candidates to spike a big average in 60 games. But will he play enough to matter? Well, Kendrick hitting .344 in only 370 PA was still good enough to be the 107th-highest hitting according to the Fangraphs auction calculator in 2019. And that was playing in 3/4 of the Nationals games, a percentage I believe he'll top in 2020.

Along with Kendrick, the Nationals have four other players (Asdrubal Cabrera, Carter Kieboom, Eric Thames, and Starlin Castro) to fill four spots (1B, 2B, 3B, DH). Unlike his competition, Kendrick can play at all of the positions needed and doesn't have any splits issues. Castro for his career has batted 20-points less versus right-handers and was at 80-points less in 2019. Thames has a lifetime .197 AVG versus lefthanders and Carter Kieboom is no guarantee after falling flat on his face in his 2019 debut. Cabrera doesn't have any splits issues but he also saw his exit-velocity, barrel-rate, and hard-hit rate all fall in 2019. Maybe I'm crazy but I don't think that Kendrick will often be the odd man out in the Nationals infield rotation.

What lives on the west coast and is being projected just like Luke Voit but going 60 picks later? Mark Canha. Canya dig it? A waiver-wire darling in 2019, Cahha hit 26 HR in 497 PA, with 80 runs and a.273 AVG. He's now slated to bat 5th in the middle of a dangerous lineup, being followed by Khris Davis and preceded by Olson, Chapman, Laueranco, and Semien. That's a lot of power and OBP he's being surrounded by and I like Canha to give a really high floor at a pittance of a draft price.

I didn't mean to be the lowest on Christian Walker - ranking him at #205 overall - but here we are. I see Walker as a slightly lesser version of Cron but with less fantasy upside. And with his current ADP hovering around pick 192, I think the price is about right. However, some bad news did just hit on the injury front, with Walker suffering a groin strain on July 12. Even minor injuries at this point of summer camp could greatly impact overall playing time and groin injuries have a reputation for lingering. That makes Walker a trickier proposition for me, particularly with so many other appealing options hanging around his part of the draft.

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