Is Kris Bryant Overvalued in Fantasy Baseball?

Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant is a consistent player but is he worthy of a fourth round average draft position?

When it comes to Kris Bryant there’s a lot to like when it comes to his stats for fantasy baseball. He has a decent On-base percentage (.348) and solid On-base plus slugging (.900). But some fantasy baseball players may be overvaluing him based on name-value. Bryant is currently the 45th player coming off the board which given his stats is somewhat of a high price, especially when other MLB players with similar stats are coming off the board much later.

SI fantasy baseball analysts Jaime Eisner and Shawn Childs joined Corey Parson to discuss Bryant’s fantasy baseball value for the 2020 MLB season. 

Read the full transcript from the interview below: 

Corey Parson: Hey, what's up, it's Corey Parson from SI.com. The smell of the grass, the crack at a bat could soon be returning. That means fantasy baseball should also be on the way back. Joining me to talk some Chicago Cubs is SI fantasy and gambling analysts Jaime Eisner and Shawn Childs. Shawn, last season, well, not last season, two years ago, Kris Bryant had a subpar season. Last season, he rebounded nicely. What do you think about him this season?

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Shawn Childs: He's been a really, really frustrating player. I liked him a lot in his career and he's underperformed. He came out of college with this massive contact batting average with a few too many strikeouts and he looked like he was going to be a guy that could potentially hit 45 home runs, hitting him in the middle of the batting order. But over the last three seasons, his RBI rate, which has been under the league average, which the league average is about 15%, he's underperformed. He struggles to drive in runs and they push him higher up in the batting order. So RBI tends to be a problem. Yet, he has the skill set to really, really pop one season. He could potentially hit well over 300. He could hit well over 30 home runs and well over 100 RBI if he could slip the third or fourth in the batting order. The trick here is last year he was probably going around pick 30 and he had a pretty good season. Now this year, because of all the other players did really well, he's going to go almost two rounds later. So he is kind of a discount. So I think he's a really, really attractive player on the 4-5 turn and 15 team leagues maybe a little later in the twelve teamers, but he's a guy that I would target, especially if I cheat in the third base position going into those rounds.

Jon Durr-USA TODAY Sports

Corey Parson: Good stuff, Shawn. Jaime, when you look at the rankings at third base, what do you see for Bryant, and do you think he can get to continue building off that success from last season?

Jaime Eisner: I'm actually going the opposite way, I'm a little lower on Kris Bryant than most. He's at my no. 9 third baseman, no. 21 outfielder for those that have dual eligibility. Luckily, he can provide elite run production for you. I think he can get you over 100 runs again. But, you know, he had 31 homers last year. But I think you're looking at more like the upper 20s is the most likely given a full season. His RBI rate is a concern. His per 162 RBI rate over the last three years is around 80, which is a concern for where you're taking in a lot of leagues where he's going 45th or 50th overall, top 50 bat. You're going to want at least a higher RBI total, considering he doesn't get it not can provide you many steals. I have him around 274 batting average, so he's a really good player. You're splitting hairs when you're talking about some of the best players in the league, but I don't think you're getting top 50 value for him anymore. Even if he does have the ability to spike if at some point he moves down in the order.

Corey Parson: All right. Good job. Thanks a lot, fellas. For all those baseball fans, for all the latest in the majors, keep a locked right here at SI.com.