Fantasy Baseball: Where Will Hanley Ramirez Have the Biggest Impact?

Colorado Rockies

Look, it's hard to be delicate about this so let's be blunt: Ian Desmond has been downright awful since signing with the Colorado Rockies before the 2016 season. This year, in 184 plate appearances, he has the 2nd-lowest fWAR in baseball (-1.0) with a slash line of .181/.234/.374. He has 8 homers, 23 RBI and 21 runs scored, walking in just 5.4% of his plate appearances and striking out 26.1% of the time. To make things worse, Desmond's .263 wOBA is also second-worst in the league.

These are all surprising numbers for a ballpark that is usually a paradise for hitters. This year, Denver's Coors Field is the second-friendliest to offenses, behind only Cleveland's Progressive Field. Like most hitters out there, Ramirez has outstanding career numbers at Coors -- a .364/.428/.612 slash line and 1.040 OPS, his highest of any park in baseball. And that comes on a super-productive 36.0% hard-hit rate, 33.3% fly-ball rate and 18.9% home-run-to-fly-ball rate.

The Rockies' offense has been among the worst in the Majors this year, ranking 24th in runs scored and 10th in doubles. Yes, they could call up prospect Ryan McMahon from the minors, but he's struggled to a .253 wOBA through 84 plate appearances in his short Major League experience. With the NL West wide open, the Rockies could make a play for Ramirez which, from a fantasy perspective, would be the best landing spot for him.