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Nick's updated top 300 fantasy baseball rankings for roto leagues as of Week 18 (July 26, 2023). Check out his rest-of-season rankings and projections for hitters and pitchers.
Welcome back, RotoBallers! We are a few days away from the beginning of August and two months from the regular season being over. The MLB trade deadline is Monday, as some teams will make major moves to gear up for a World Series run. It's time for another rankings check-in. Below is another edition of Nick Mariano's updated 2023 fantasy baseball rankings and tiers for roto leagues (5x5 mixed leagues) as of July 26, 2023. These rankings are being released in July and are looking at rest-of-season fantasy baseball rankings and player values for the rest of this MLB season. There are many interesting storylines we are following closely, which are all baked into these updated rankings.
We have recently seen some top prospects called up to the big leagues, such as Cincinnati Reds infielder Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick, and San Francisco Giants shortstop Marco Luciano. At the same time, fantasy managers patiently wait for the call-up of Detroit Tigers third base prospect Colt Keith, who has collected a hit in four of his last six games with Triple-A Toledo, while St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn is slashing .471/.518/.980 with five home runs, 17 RBI, 19 runs, and one stolen base over his last 11 games with Triple-A Memphis.
Los Angeles Dodgers' top pitching prospect Gavin Stone has rebounded in Triple-A Oklahoma City after being lit up for 17 earned runs over 12 innings across three big league starts. Since being sent back down in early July, the 24-year-old bounced back with a 3.18 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 9.5 K/9 across 17 1/3 innings in his previous three outings. Chicago Cubs first base prospect Matt Mervis has also bounced back after a disappointing MLB debut (hitting .167 over 27 big league games). Since being optioned to Triple-A Iowa on June 15, Mervis is slashing .343/.500/.429 over his last 11 contests.
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July Top-300 Updates
Injuries continue to pile up; New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge (toe) went through a simulated game at the Yankees' spring training complex in Florida. The Yankees plan to activate Judge from the injured list ahead of Friday's game against the Orioles. Los Angeles Angels star outfielder Mike Trout (hand) went through some running drills but is still weeks away from returning after undergoing hamate bone surgery in early July. Baltimore Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins (groin) will do some light running but remains without a timetable for a return.
Some notable recent performances include Minnesota Twins second baseman Edouard Julien, who is batting .447 (21-for-47) with three doubles, one triple, five home runs, and a stolen base over his last 16 games. San Francisco Giants infielder Wilmer Flores has been red hot lately, slashing .407/.485/1.074 with five home runs, eight RBI, and eight runs scored over his last nine games. Minnesota Twins right-handed pitcher Kenta Maeda has been rolling in July, posting a 2.78 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, and a 32:7 K/BB across 22 2/3 innings over his last four starts.
Some players are off to a terrific start in the second half, while some have struggled mightily after the All-Star break. Which of these hot streaks do we take seriously, and which do we put less stock into? Is it time to raise our expectations on certain players and elevate touted prospects into a higher tier for fantasy baseball leagues? How much patience must we show for highly-touted players who have struggled recently, especially veterans with proven track records?
Hopefully, the rankings below will give you some perspective on our thoughts on these topics and help you assess the strength of your rosters going forward. Let's see where players such as Edouard Julien, Sal Frelick, Gunnar Henderson, Kenta Maeda, Wilmer Flores, Mitch Keller, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Ezequiel Tovar, Alex Kirilloff, CJ Abrams, Kevin Ginkel, Triston Casas, Michael Lorenzen, Nick Pivetta, Tarik Skubal, Wander Franco, Jesus Luzardo rank, all of who have had an interesting start to the second half of the season.
Top 300 Fantasy Baseball Rankings - Week 18 Update
These rankings will be updated every week throughout the season, so some of these situations are very fluid. It's not panic time yet, and we may not be ready to elevate hot-starting players into the elite yet either, but it's certainly a good checkpoint for the long fantasy season.
As always, be sure to stay on top of all the MLB news with our running list of 24x7 fantasy baseball news and injuries. And if you don't yet have our free mobile app, be sure to download it and stay on top of all the MLB news and analysis with our free push notification alerts.
Nick Mariano's ranks are as of July 26, 2023. They are for 5x5 category mixed roto leagues and will be updated regularly on our main fantasy baseball rankings dashboard all season long. Be sure to read our daily fantasy baseball analysis articles as well.
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