Here are the top 136 hitters in fantasy baseball. Use it as a straight-up draft list, or use it as a rough guide. Adjust it to your liking. Just be sure to use a list!
Álex Rodríguez
Hanley Ramírez
José Reyes
Jimmy Rollins
Prince Fielder
David Wright
Alfonso Soriano
Grady Sizemore
Chase Utley
Matt Holliday
1-10. Some may ask, "Why should I take A-Rod first? It's such an obvious choice." Even if you don't like A-Rod, you should take him first. Trade him for a star player you do like, plus a quality starting pitcher. If you're lucky enough to get the top pick, get the maximum value possible. This year, there's only one choice.
Albert Pujols
Ryan Braun
Miguel Cabrera
Eric Byrnes
Carl Crawford
Carlos Beltrán
Lance Berkman
Carlos Lee
Mark Teixeira
Ichiro Suzuki
11-20. Pujols at No. 11. Is Fantasy Baseball Champ crazy? Not if you read what Pujols himself has said about the threat of his season being cut short this year. See "Fantasy Baseball Warning: Albert Pujols Injury Risk." Draft him at his usual high spot at your peril. Draft Byrnes at No. 14 and you'll likely be laughed at. In some ways, though, he's a safer bet than Phat Albert. This is a case of employing unconventional wisdom in order to win.
Ryan Howard
David Ortiz
Brandon Phillips
Vladimir Guerrero
Chipper Jones
Curtis Granderson
Adam Dunn
Carlos Guillén
Nick Markakis
Torii Hunter
21-30. Granderson has enormous buzz surrounding him this year and is not a safe bet to last until the third round, for anybody who's hoping to snag a "bargain." Dunn and Guillen are not always the sexiest fantasy baseball picks, but they're usually instrumental in winning leagues. Phillips and Markakis are the real deals.
Russell Martin
Bobby Abreu
Álex Ríos
Magglio Ordóñez
Corey Hart
B.J. Upton
Brian Roberts
Chone Figgins
Gary Sheffield
Garrett Atkins
31-40. This is an interesting group of players. Does Ordonez belong here after the season he had last year? Most would say no, but Fantasy Baseball Champ is reluctant to place him too high. Hart, Upton, and Atkins are all candidates to have much bigger years than their successful 2007 campaigns, and that's saying a lot. Choose wisely among these players and you could have a powerhouse team.
Derrek Lee
Victor Martinez
Troy Tulowitzki
Derek Jeter
Chris Young
Aaron Rowand
Adrián González
Vernon Wells
Carlos Peña
Justin Morneau
41-50. Martinez is a hot pick for catchers; he bounced back from a decent 2006 to have a very productive 2007. The hottest pick is Young. Despite his low average last year of .237, he managed to hit 32 homers and snag 27 stolen bases. The sky's the limit for him. Pena and Wells are a roll of the dice for different reasons.
Adrián Béltre
Aramis Ramírez
Paul Konerko
Travis Hafner
Ryan Zimmerman
Hideki Matsui
Jim Thome
Ian Kinsler
Brad Hawpe
Khalil Greene
51-60. This is an interesting group right here. Take note of the power that's available. Assuming most of these guys will be around in rounds 6 or 7, you can afford a little more risk with one of your earlier picks (e.g., starting pitchers, second-year players, one-year superstars). That said, you might go with a younger player here too, namely Kinsler or Greene.
Carlos Delgado
Mike Lowell
Orlando Cabrera
Jorge Posada
Michael Young
Brian McCann
Jeff Francoeur
Joe Mauer
Rafael Furcal
Ken Griffey Jr.
61-70. A lot of these guys are worth tens of millions of dollars on the field. But in fantasy baseball, we reduce players to some basic statistics and then evaluate them. For that reason, Fantasy Baseball Champ does not rank guys like Young and Mauer as high as other lists do. Young is coming in off three seasons of declining power, down to single-digit homers last year. In three seasons, Mauer has only hit double-digits in HR and batted over .300 once.
Édgar Rentería
Robinson Canó
Raúl Ibañez
Barry Bonds?
Shane Victorino
Manny Ramírez
Julio Lugo
Dan Uggla
Rickie Weeks
Miguel Tejada
Pat Burrell
Johnny Damon
Kevin Youkilis
Jermaine Dye
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Gary Matthews Jr.
Jason Bay
Plácido Polanco
Jack Cust
Josh Willingham
Nick Swisher
J.J. Hardy
Ty Wigginton
Jhonny Peralta
Hunter Pence
Andruw Jones
Kenji Johjima
Randy Winn
Coco Crisp
Juan Pierre
71-100. Each of the players in this group likely has a 50/50 chance of having a very good or great year. For one reason or another, there's higher than normal risk involved. Sometimes it has to do with injury (Bay), experience (Pence), an off year (Andruw Jones), off-field activity (Tejada), or age (Bonds). When your draft hits the middle rounds, don't forget these players. If you choose correctly, these are the players who can put you over the top.
Mark Ellis
James Loney
Matt Kemp
Alex Gordon
Billy Butler
Kazuo Matsui
Howie Kendrick
Jacoby Ellsbury
Felipe López
Troy Glaus
Kelly Johnson
Jeff Kent
Frank Thomas
Matt Stairs
Michael Cuddyer
Mike Cameron
Delmon Young
Todd Helton
Dustin Pedroia
Edwin Encarnación
Corey Patterson
Jason Varitek
Iván Rodríguez
José Guillén
Garret Anderson
Brian Giles
Jeremy Hermida
Stephen Drew
Kevin Kouzmanoff
Nate McLouth
Ryan Garko
Austin Kearns
Moisés Alou
Josh Fields
Mark Reynolds
Aaron Hill
101-136. What you see here are some of the highly-touted rookies from last year who did fairly well, including Gordon, Kemp, Butler, Kendrick, Drew, and others. Last year, they might have been drafted higher than deserved based on speculation. Ironically, some of the bigger names in this group might have seen some of their value drop, even though they're primed for a bigger year this year. If you can draft for value in those instances, score a victory for yourself.