Fantasy Baseball: The 25 Most Powerful Hitters Who Didn't Reach 30 Homers in 2017
It's hard to beat the value a home run brings to the table in fantasy baseball.
If we're talking about standard 5x5 leagues, a single home run makes an impact in four different categories (batting average, homers, RBI, and runs scored). They're always valuable, but they're also easier to find than ever these days. After all, more homers were hit during the 2017 regular season than ever before in baseball history.
Grabbing a hitter with the potential of slugging 20-plus dingers used to be a big deal. However, since there were 117 players to reach that benchmark this past year, it's not hard to load up on power. With this in mind, it's important to find ways to differentiate these players and potentially uncover some hidden value.
That's why we're going to use Isolated Power (ISO) as a barometer here. ISO shows a hitter's extra bases per at-bat, giving us a glimpse at their raw power. If we specifically look at hitters qualified for the batting title with 20-plus homers who failed to reach the 30-homer plateau in 2017, who were the most powerful, depending the least on homers to prop up their ISO? It's worth noting that this list shouldn't necessarily be taken in absolutes since ISO isn't a park-adjusted stat, but it's still something interesting to keep in mind as we slice and dice player performances with an eye towards 2018.
The following 25 players posted an ISO of at least .200 without the luxury of collecting 30 dingers.
