2021 Fantasy Baseball Batting Awards

We've put a bow on the 2021 season, with the Braves finishing off their surprising season with a World Series victory over the Astros. That leaves fantasy baseball managers to eagerly await an offseason of hot stove rumors and draft prep. Before all that takes place, it's only right to pay tribute to the players who represented the highest of highs and lowest of lows throughout the MLB season.

In this piece, we will highlight players who may not earn postseason accolades from Major League Baseball but deserve recognition from the fantasy community for their contributions. This is my version of an awards show for the most notable hitters in the fantasy world.

If you missed the 2021 Fantasy Baseball Pitching Awards, you should give it a read after you are done here.

Best Draft Value

The sleeper that woke up. The breakout performer of 2021. The mid-to-late rounder that produced like a first-rounder. That's the kind of value we're talking about.

Austin Riley, Atlanta Braves
Marcus Semien, Toronto Blue Jays
Ryan Mountcastle, Baltimore Orioles

The fact that Marcus Semien was drafted 132 overall makes it debatable whether he is the best value of these candidates. Semien finished fourth in the majors with 46 home runs, fifth with 115 runs scored, 15th with 102 RBI, and stole 15 bases. Filling in at either middle infield position, Semien was an anchor for many league-winning teams.

Mountcastle was terrific in his official rookie season, swatting 33 homers and driving in 89 runs despite playing for a team that lost 110 games. He was available about 20 spots later than Semien but that's not enough to bridge the gap.

That leaves Austin Riley, who also went deep 33 times but drove in 107 for the newly-minted world champs. His .303 average was 38 points higher than Semien and 50 points higher than Mountcastle. He didn't steal any bases like Semien but the fact he was selected outside the top 200 overall picks and slots in at third base, which is now a thinner offensive position than shortstop, seals the deal. The Braves just can't stop winning.

Here is your nightly @austinriley1308 home run highlight ?#ForTheA pic.twitter.com/6EWK3aqAqB

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 29, 2021

Biggest Draft Bust

Players who were injured for the majority of the season won't be considered. It may have ultimately been a wasted pick to select Ronald Acuna Jr. or Mike Trout but the term 'bust' implies a player who disappointed based on expectations. We're looking at guys who actively tanked your standings in roto leagues by dragging down batting average without contributing much in the counting stats.

Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers
Cody Bellinger, Los Angeles Dodgers
DJ LeMahieu, New York Yankees

Sorry to dredge up awful memories from draft day (and all season long) but this might be a good spiritual purging experience.

Yelich had a terrible 2020 but so did a lot of players. He batted .205 which was extraordinary considering he was a career .301 hitter going into the season and coming off a season where he led the league with a .329 average. Fantasy managers brushed it off and made him a consensus first-round pick anyway. What happened was more of the same. He finished with a mediocre .248/.362/.373 slash line, nine homers, and nine steals over 475 plate appearances. His .382 xSLG was by far the worst of his career. The Brewers' regular-season success came largely in spite of Yelich, not because of him. To some extent, he gets a pass because a back injury limited him to 117 games. Mostly though, he doesn't claim this dubious award because someone was just plain worse.

It's easy to forget how disappointing LeMahieu was since expectations weren't quite as high and he's not the only Bronx Bomber to let down in '21. Still, he was a top-25 pick in most leagues and supposedly as safe as they come in the early rounds. He lasted nearly the whole year, accumulating 597 AB, but that's almost worse because he sucked up a roster spot while not contributing nearly enough. I realize 2020 is a small sample but it's hard to believe his average dropped almost 100 points from 2020 (.364) to 2021 (.268) and he hit the same amount of home runs (10) in 400 fewer at-bats. At least he crossed the plate 84 times, which can't be said for our "winner."

Will the real Cody Bellinger please stand up? He went from NL MVP and five-category stud in 2019 to absolute bust two years later. Bellinger slashed an atrocious .165/.240/.302 with 10 bombs and just three steals over 350 plate appearances. True, injuries robbed him of nearly half the season, but when he was in the lineup he was an absolute drain on fantasy rosters and he is too talented to drop so he clogged up a valuable bench or IL spot for most of the year. Let's hope we see a better Belli next season.

Best Waiver Wire Pickup

For this category, we will only consider players that were outside the top 250 overall ADP through the month of March. Obviously, ADP data varies across platforms and league size affects availability so there will be players that were added in some leagues that weren't available in others. The intent here is to identify a player who was an afterthought in the preseason that became an integral part of winning rosters.

Adam Duvall, Atlanta Braves
Brandon Crawford, San Francisco Giants
Bryan Reynolds, Pittsburgh Pirates
Cedric Mullins, Baltimore Orioles
Tyler O'Neill, St. Louis Cardinals

More candidates this time because there are too many standouts to ignore. Maybe this one shouldn't be easy but for me it's obviously Cedric Mullins as the runaway winner. He was dominant from the jump, hitting .337 in April to capture our attention. He stole 15 bases in the first half while batting .314 but that wasn't enough so he cranked up the unexpected power more in the second half. By year's end, the 5'8" outfielder who posted lowly expected stats in 2020 had launched 30 HR to accompany 30 SB.

His ascent was truly astounding, especially the spike in slugging. He had never posted a barrel rate higher than three but raised it to 8.1  in 2021 while his expected slugging surged by 143 points.

Whether this was a late-age breakout at 27 or a fluke season is something to be determined on draft day next March. For now, let's stand back and recognize how impressive Mullins was despite very little in the way of lineup protection.

Late-Season Savior

These pitchers may have been late-season pickups, bench stashes who suddenly became must-starts, or simply guys who turned it on at the right time with a blazing September to help fantasy teams down the stretch.

Andrew Benintendi, Kansas City Royals
Frank Schwindel, Chicago Cubs
Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs

We should rightfully give this award to Marcus Semien or Tyler O'Neill but they were already rostered everywhere by this point. The players nominated for this category had been abandoned by fantasy managers earlier the year or, in Schwindel's case, were complete unknowns until after the trade deadline.

How much of a surprise was Frank Schwindel? His ADP is non-existent because nobody knew who he was. An 18th-round pick of the Royals back in 2013, he took the long road to the majors. He officially debuted for 15 plate appearances in 2019 at age 27 and didn't get back to the pros until  June 30, the day after his 29th birthday. After gaining three hits in 21 PA for Oakland, he made his way into the post-deadline starting lineup for the Cubs and was reborn. Schwindel hit .342 with 13 HR, 40 RBI, 42 R, and a pair of steals over 239 plate appearances in August and September, winning over the hearts of happy fantasy managers who plucked him off the wire. It's a great story but unless we happen to be dealing with the next Max Muncy, it will probably be short-lived.

Although Schwindel is the best story, teammate Ian Happ was truly more valuable. He was drafted just before Shohei Ohtani based on preseason ADP. Let that sink in... That has more to do with people worrying about Ohtani's health than anything but it goes to show that there was optimism that Happ could parlay his power/speed skillset into fantasy value. Why was he widely available on waivers by midseason? Try a .183 average, modest power numbers, and one stolen base throughout the first half.

Once the Cubs went into rebuild mode, so did Happ. Once he was established as the No. 3 hitter most nights, he found a groove. Happ hit .273 from the third spot but .225 or lower in every other spot other than ninth. He thrived in September, batting .323 with seven HR, 22 RBI, and six SB. For that reason, he earns the nod in this category.

MVP

Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels 
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto Blue Jays

The final award is also the most difficult to decide. Each player was emblematic of the type of superstar a major sport league needs. Ohtani is an international sensation that comes along once every generation. Tatis and Guerrero, both MLB legacy players, are just 22 years old and are ushering in the next generation of young stars. But enough hyperbole, let's get to the decision.

The numbers speak for themselves. There's no need to weigh advanced metrics or Statcast figures here because it's all about fantasy value.

Shohei Ohtani should be the unanimous American League MVP, no questions asked. The issue becomes more complicated in fantasy, though. Most platforms list Ohtani as two separate players, a pitcher and a hitter. So you would have to select just one of those individuals as a candidate. Since I've chosen to separate hitters and pitchers for these awards, that leaves Ohtani's offensive achievements to stand on their own merit.

Ultimately, this may come down to a debate on how much steals should factor into the equation. A quick comparison of every other category leaves Vladito as the clear winner. Both Tatis and Ohtani have a 20-steal advantage over him, though. How to choose?

In the end, I'll split the difference in batting average, take the 25 SB, and go with Fernando Tatis Jr. If we take playing time into consideration, Tatis appeared in 130 games for 546 PA while Guerrero played almost every single game at made 678 PA. That gives the edge to Tatis because the time during his IL stint allowed for a replacement to add more counting stats. It also makes his final stat line that much more impressive.

Now, let the debate begin about who should be the #1 overall pick in fantasy drafts for 2022!

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