Detroit Tigers: Which Tigers do you want on your fantasy team?

Fantasy baseball season is upon us, and despite a rebuilding period the Detroit Tigers still have plenty of players worth a spot on your fantasy roster.

The Detroit Tigers are in rebuilding mode, and that has led to the loss of many high-profile players. Justin Verlander, J.D. Martinez, Justin Upton, Ian Kinsler and Justin Wilson were all extremely talented players – and phenomenal assets on fantasy baseball teams.

Still, despite the loss of many great players, there are still plenty of Tigers for fans to roster on their fantasy baseball teams this season.

There are literally thousands of ways to play fantasy baseball. ESPN, Yahoo, CBS and FanTrax are some of the more popular fantasy baseball outlets, but they certainly aren’t all of them. Likewise, fantasy leagues can be set up with hundreds of different scoring metrics.

The most common scoring system is called rotisserie scoring. Rotisserie (or roto for short) is when categories are selected, and fantasy owners get points based on where they are in the rankings for each category. Traditional 5×5 includes five categories for pitchers and five for hitters. They are: runs, home runs, RBI, stolen bases and batting average for hitters, and wins, strikeouts, saves, ERA and WHIP for pitchers.

Other categories can be substituted in as well, with on-base percentage, holds, quality starts, slugging percentage and  K/9 being popular alternatives.

‘Head-to-head’ scoring is quite popular as well. Similar to fantasy football, head-to-head involves playing another opponent each week. Whichever team scores more points wins the week. The team with the best record at the end of the season wins the league.

For the purposes of our fantasy baseball guide, we will evaluate Tigers players based on a traditional, 5×5 rotisserie scoring league. The rankings that we display come from fantasy baseball site RotoBaller.

Here are Detroit’s best fantasy assets, and a rough estimate of where you should draft them.

Miguel Cabrera

Rotoballer Rank: 81 Target Round: 9

Despite being one of fantasy baseball’s biggest disappointments last year, Miggy remains a hot commodity in all fantasy formats. At 35 years old and coming off the worst season of his career, it is understandable that fantasy owners may be hesitant to spend a high draft pick on Cabrera. However, Cabrera is absolutely worth the investment starting around the seventh round.

In 2017, Cabrera quite literally limped to a .249 average with 16 home runs and 60 RBI. He played the entire season injured, and was going through personal issues as well. While that’s not an excuse for his performance, it is an encouraging sign that Miggy may return happier and healthier in 2018, with much better results to boot.

That makes him a great gamble in rounds 7-10 in all fantasy formats. FanGraph’s STEAMER projects Miggy to hit .289 with 24 home runs and 80 RBI. While that kind of production is still lower than what Tigers fans are used to, it is still very useful in fantasy baseball.

Miggy’s fantasy value will hinge largely on how the rest of the Tigers offense performs, which is cause for concern. He will likely be protected in the lineup by breakout slugger Nicholas Castellanos, which should help Miggy score more runs. However, the top of the lineup may struggle without veteran Ian Kinsler. That will limit Miggy’s opportunities for RBI’s, which in turn hurts his fantasy value.

Factor all of that in when you are considering Cabrera for your fantasy team. It’s okay to have sentimental value picks, but avoid reaching for Miggy in the first few rounds. If he falls into the 7-10th round range, owners should happily snatch him up and hope his health helps him return to form.

Fantasy team name idea: Gettin’ Miggy with it.

Nicholas Castellanos

Rotoballer rank: 132 Target round: 14

Nicholas Castellanos had a stellar fantasy season last year, hitting .272 with 26 home runs, 101 RBI and 73 runs scored. It was a true breakout season for the slugger, who was in the midst of a breakout in 2016 before breaking his wrist and missing a huge chunk of the season.

There is plenty of reason to assume Castellanos’ power is legit. His 43.4% hard-contact rate was elite last season, placing him tenth in the league. He cut his strikeouts down to 21.4%, the lowest mark of his career.

Castellanos has all the tools of a fantasy darling. However, the Tigers offense could impact Castellanos as well. If the players around him are struggling to get on-base, Castellanos may see a dip in his runs and RBI numbers. However, hitting behind Cabrera (as he is expected to do) should help Castellanos see better pitches and hopefully drive in more runs.

FanGraph’s ZiPS projections give a lot of love to Castellanos heading into 2018. They project him to hit .285 with 28 home runs, 97 RBI and 67 runs scored. Those type of numbers would make Castellanos easily one of the top-100 fantasy players of the season. For that, he is absolutely worth a look in the 12-15 round range.

The move to right field may challenge Castellanos, but his offense is already at above average levels and shows no sign of slowing down. Draft Casty with confidence as a fantasy baseball asset.

Victor Martinez

Rotoballer rank: 241 Target round: 25

Victor Martinez, like Cabrera, is an aging slugger who had one of the worst seasons of his career in 2017. While Cabrera’s downfall last season was cause for concern, Martinez’s looked like the end of the line for the 38-year-old. He managed to hit just .255 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI, making him fantasy irrelevant in most formats.

However, there is more to the story than what meets the eye with V-Mart. Martinez’s walk-rate and strikeout-rate each stayed roughly the same between 2016 and 2017. Additionally, his percentage of hard-hit balls and medium-hit balls went up, while his soft-hit rate went down. That typically points to a breakout season, but the opposite happened.

The primary reasoning was that V-Mart, while he was hitting the ball harder, was hitting way too many ground balls. Martinez doesn’t exactly light it up on the basepaths, and a slow runner like him needs to hit more fly balls and line drives in order to find success.

Fortunately, V-Mart has typically hit more balls in the air in years past, and 2017 may have just been an anomaly. If the switch-hitting DH is able to drive more balls in the air next season, we could be looking at another season like he had in 2016: .289, 27 home runs and 86 RBI.

While expecting those numbers may seem a bit ambitious, there is plenty of reason to expect V-Mart to have a much better season in 2018 than he did last year. For that reason alone, he is worth taking at the very end of your fantasy draft. If he is not able to perform, he can be dropped for a variety of players that went undrafted.  But if he can return to form, he is an absolute steal in the 25th round.

Fantasy team name idea: Attention V-Mart shoppers

Most standard fantasy baseball leagues have ten teams with 25 man rosters, meaning 250 players are rostered at a time. However, many deeper leagues have more owners or bigger rosters. Additionally, AL-only leagues only allow players from American League teams in their leagues. The following Tiger players may not be worth owning in most ‘standard’ fantasy leagues, but could help out fantasy owners who play in deeper leagues.

Jeimer Candelario (Rotoballer Rank: 285)

Candelario burst onto the scene in Detroit, hitting .330 after coming over to the Tigers in a midseason trade. While he is no doubt the Tigers third baseman of the future, his fantasy value is limited. His .330 average was held up by an unsustainable .351 BABIP, and his strikeout numbers and high rate of ground balls will likely catch up with him. Steamer projects a .250 average, 15 home runs and 61 RBI for Candelario. In AL-only formats or deep leagues, he’s worth a look as a third baseman. In standard formats, he’s a late-round flyer at best.

Shane Greene (Rotoballer Rank: 301)

Greene locked it down last year to the tune of a 2.66 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and a stellar 9.71 K/9. He also chipped in 14 holds and nine saves. He is in line to be the closer in Detroit this season, which makes him an appealing late round fantasy target. However, the Tigers may not be in too many save situations, limiting Greene’s appeal. Factor in his ugly 4.52 BB/9 last year and you have a low-end closing option at best.

Mikie Mahtook (Rotoballer Rank: 372)

His first season as a full-time player should help Mahtook amass double digit home runs and steals. That type of production is always helpful in fantasy formats. He is unlikely to get more than 15 or so home runs and 10 steals however, which limits him to deep leagues and AL-only formats. He will still need to fend off JaCoby Jones and Victor Reyes as well, which could cost him at-bats if he does not perform.

James McCann (Rotoballer Rank: 419)

Even though catcher is a very shallow position, McCann’s 13 home runs and 49 RBI from last season make him a bottom of the barrel catching option. In AL-only leagues and leagues that feature two catchers, McCann is worth a look simply because of the volume of at-bats he gets. However, McCann is one of those players who is far more valuable in real life than in fantasy baseball.

Mike Fiers (Rotoballer Rank: 447)

Fiers will likely slot in as the Tigers #3 starter. He is useful in very deep leagues because of his durability. However, he does not post great strikeout numbers and has not posted an ERA below 4.40 since 2015. He will be a solid innings-eater for the Tigers, but is not a reliable fantasy asset.

Leonys Martin (Rotoballer Rank: 455)

Martin’s only redeeming asset from a fantasy perspective is his speed. If he gets regular playing time in Detroit and is hitting near the top of the order, he has the potential to steal 15-20 bases. More than likely he will split time in center field and will hit #9 in the order, which all but eliminates his fantasy value.

Jordan Zimmermann (Rotoballer Rank: 468)

Zimmermann just has not had it since signing with the Tigers before the 2016 season. His 6.07 ERA and 1.55 WHIP were awful last season, and he should not be targeted in any fantasy formats. If he is able to regain some of the form that made him an elite starter in Washington, he could be a nice midseason pickup.

Next: Using Baseball-Reference to predict Tigers 2018 performance

The fun part about fantasy baseball, and baseball in general, is that anything can happen. While the Tigers have a few quality fantasy baseball options, it is entirely possible that someone (Christin Stewart, Dixon Machado, JaCoby Jones) comes out of the woodwork and becomes a fantasy superstar. The Tigers have a lot of young talent brimming just under the big league surface. This could be the year we see that talent make its way into the Motor City.