Top 10 Franchise Players

Top 10 Franchise Players

            With the draft coming this Friday and ESPN has just done its Franchise Draft I figured I’d throw my hat into the ring and give my personal 10 players I would build a team around.  Basically the stats will help but this is a list of players that I’d start a team from scratch with and make the latchkey of the team.  So lets get started with number 1.

1)   Mike Trout: Really no surprise here.  He’s young, fast, hits well, plays defense and the list goes on.  Trout is smart enough to try and make adjustments and can recognize when he’s having a problem area.  If you wouldn’t want him as your star player its just cause your not a fish fan.

2)   Yasiel Puig: Wow what a 180 from the beginning of the season.  Not only has this guy blown every prediction that I made for him out of the water but I’ve been hard pressed to find a non-Dodger fan that hasn’t been claiming “they said this was coming.”  Much like Trout he’s showing an ability to adjust on the fly and it’s made a massive difference in his game.  When it comes to the most talented players in baseball he’s right below Trout in my eyes and at the beginning of the season he wasn’t even in my top 30 so that’s a lot of crow I’m eating right now.

3)   Miguel Cabrera: Not a difficult choice to put him up here since his numbers can speak for themselves.  The fact that he’s older than most of the others on this list and he’s this high shows how good of a hitter he really is.  If there’s a downside to Miggy it’s the simple fact that his defense is sub par but that bat is well worth the occasional error.

4)   Giancarlo Stanton: The young Miguel Cabrera and one that can play defense.  He’s the strongest batter in this game hands down and this year he’s showing that he’s no fluke and hitting for a high AVG as well.  This guy isn’t a complete package like Trout, his defense is average to slightly above average but that arm is a cannon unlike any other.  Bottom line there’s few pure power guys like Stanton.

5)   Bryce Harper:  This is the hardest one to defend at this point since to be honest he’s never done anything super special.  Every time he starts to heat up he seems to get hurt and then goes on a major slump.  But that talent he has is rivaled by very few.  When it comes to pure talent Trout Puig and Harper are in a class all to themselves and in terms of batting skills Harper has the edge over both of them.  It’s a gamble to rely on him but if he pans out the payout could be like nothing else.

6)   Andrew McCutchen: He’s Trout light and slightly older.  Really what you get from Trout is what you get from McCutchen and if you had to start a team around anyone you could do far worse.  He’s not as fast as Trout and his defense aren’t to Trout’s level but these are both plus skills and not to be looked down at.

7)   Paul Goldschmidt: A guy that took some time to come into his own but man what a transformation.  With impressive glove skills and wont hurt your team on the field.  He can however hurt teams with his bat and has done just that the last few years.  Very much a threat to any team with great bat speed and great contact skills no team would be better without his skills.

8)   Manny Machado: Much like Harper Machado hasn’t really done anything to prove his skill.  The one thing he has proven so far is his defensive skills, easily one of the best gloves at the hot corner in the short time he’s been in the majors.  Also like Harper Machado has been injured a few times in his career that seems to have stopped him right as he was getting hot.  Still one of the best young players in the game and easily one of the best options to start a team around.

9)   Clayton Kershaw: Really hard to say anything better to promote this guy.  Arguably the best pitcher in baseball and he earns this title with impeccable accuracy and overwhelming power.  Overall there’s no pitcher that you’d want to start a team around than this guy.

10)         Masahiro Tanaka: A remarkably smart pitcher and someone that has defiantly opened eyes this year.  He doesn’t overpower batters with a 99 MPH fastball but he can touch 96 when needed but averages around 93-92.  What makes him so dangerous is the ability to pin point such nasty pitches like the Splitter and Slider mixing them all together to keep batters confused and guessing.  Did I mention that Splitter?