Blue Jays: Early Fantasy Baseball Outlook for 2019

So you have decided that you want to draft Vlad Guerrero Jr on your fantasy baseball roster in 2019. The first thing you should do is get in line, because everyone and their mother is thinking the exact same thing.

It isn’t just the Blue Jays fans from around Toronto you have to worry about trying scoop up Vladimir Guerrero Jr, as his talents and potential are well-known by the entirety of baseball. You can expect that fantasy managers from all around the world will be vying to draft him in their respective leagues.

Going into the 2019 fantasy baseball season: mlb.com, espn.com, and fantasypros.com have Vlad Guerrero Jr ranked at 66th, 82nd, and 76th in their early pre draft rankings. He is the highest ranked Blue Jays player on all three websites lists.

If you average out the three rankings, it places Vlad Guerrero Jr at the 75th draft spot. If that were the case he would be drafted in the 8th round in 10 team leagues and the 7th round in 12 team leagues.  If you are drafting near the end of those rounds, you may want to consider moving on Vlad Jr a round earlier.

What about the other Blue Jays players?

Well Ken Giles is the next highest ranked Blue Jay, although we will have to wait and see if he is still on the team come spring training, as there has been interest by other teams for his services. His three pre-rankings have him placed at: 109th, 150th, and 147th respectively. Because Giles saw a resurgence at the end of the season, and can be counted on to notch some saves for whomever he is playing for in 2019, he may be appealing as a later round pick for some fantasy managers.

Justin Smoak is the agreed upon third most coveted Blue Jay for fantasy purposes in 2019. Smoak was ranked: 173rd, 189th, and 217th by the three websites. He looks to be projecting as a fantasy flex/bench player in 2019, likely being drafted in the 17th to 20th rounds in most leagues. If he were to be traded to a contending team and placed in a good position in the batting order his numbers could improve, making him a more viable pick for fantasy managers.

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Surprisingly Danny Jansen was able to crack all three of the websites pre-rankings with respectable positions of: 213th, 284th, and 234th for 2019. The rookie may be worth a look in later rounds as a lottery ticket pick. If he were to perform well out of spring training and into the regular season, Jansen may have a chance to solidify his spot as the starting Blue Jays backstop. If his offensive numbers are comparable to last season’s he could contribute to fantasy teams in a back-up catcher capacity.

There were some Blue Jays who made some, but not all websites pre-rankings. Randal Grichuk, Kevin Pillar, and Kendrys Morales cracked two out of the three lists, with all three failing to make  fantasypros.com pre rank. Marcus Stroman was the only Blue Jays starter to make any of the lists, ranking 223rd on mlb.com. Stroman may be worth a late round draft pick for managers looking for a bounce back year from the former Gold Glove winner.

The three websites had a split on who was the top overall pick with mlb.com and fantasypros.com putting Mike Trout atop their respective lists, while espn.com has Mookie Betts penciled in at #1 overall.

Other notable former Blue Jays average rankings from the three websites are listed below:

Roberto Osuna # 88

Edwin Encarnación # 90

David Price   #91

J.A. Happ      #102

Josh Donaldson #144

Brandon Morrow #156

Bo Bichette is the #5 American League fantasy prospect listed on rotowire.com, however he has not yet made the top 300 on any websites fantasy pre rankings for next year. Bo likely can be had at the very end of drafts to stash in case he has a breakout year in 2019, although it is very likely that he starts the beginning of the2019 season in Buffalo.