Most Disappointing Fantasy Baseball Hitters So Far: Matt Olson, Corbin Carroll, Corey Seager, Bo Bichette, Paul Goldschmidt and More

Discussing some fantasy baseball hitters who have underperformed to this point of the season.

We are now in the seventh week of the fantasy baseball season. With six weeks behind us, we can start looking at potential draft busts for the season.

Today, let’s take a look at some of the most disappointing fantasy hitters. We’ll cover pitchers after they all get a few more starts under their belts. When talking about a player’s draft slot, I’m referencing the FantasySP Average Draft Position page.

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Disappointing Hitters

The list of disappointing hitters could be a lot longer than this, so I decided to limit myself to hitters taken in the top 50 in fantasy drafts.

Jose Ramirez was a top-10 pick and has been one of the more consistent hitters in the league during his career, but he’s started really slowly in 2024. In his career, Ramirez has a .278 average and .352 on-base percentage, but has just a .230 average and .279 OBP this season in 33 games.

I can’t call him a complete disappointment, because he’s still among the best fantasy hitters in the game, but if he was even close to his career average and OBP, he'd likely be a top-five fantasy hitter right now, and that’s what fantasy owners were hoping to get out of him. He’s on pace to reach most of his season totals in several statistics, but if he can start hitting and getting on base at his career clip, he’ll be one of the best fantasy hitters in the game.

It’s been a disastrous start to the season for Matt Olson. After hitting 54 homers and driving in 139 runs a season ago, Olson has just three homers and 16 RBIs in 32 games this season.

Olson is hitting just .197, and getting on base at a .317 clip. Those marks are well below his career marks of a .254 average and .350 OBP. 

Olson was a borderline top-10 pick, and might be the biggest draft bust (not including injured players) of 2024. There’s plenty of time to get things turned around still, but fantasy owners who drafted Olson can’t be feeling too great at this point.

Aaron Judge was a top-15 or so pick in a lot of drafts, despite some injury concerns. Judge has been better than Olson, but still very underwhelming so far this season.

In 36 games, Judge has a .220 average and .350 OBP. He’s got a career .279 average and .394 OBP, so his marks this season leave a lot to be desired. Judge’s fantasy production fell off last season after an injury - hitting .267, but with a .406 OBP - and he hasn’t been able to bounce back yet.

He’s still a good power threat, with eight doubles and seven homers so far, but with a lower average and bunch of strikeouts, Judge isn’t even a top-10 fantasy outfielder at this point. That definitely qualifies as disappointing. 

Corbin Carroll also is in the conversation for biggest draft bust at this point. He was a top-13 pick in drafts, but isn’t a top-50 fantasy outfielder at this point.

After hitting .285 and getting on base at a .362 clip in his first full MLB season in 2023, Carroll is hitting just .203 and getting on base at a .297 clip this season. He’s only had four extra-base hits among his 26 total knocks, and has only scored 14 runs - after scoring 116 a season ago.

Carroll has been better of late - with five hits over his past five games - which shows just how much he struggled early in the season. I think he’s too talented to struggle for too much longer, but he’s going to likely have to get red-hot at the plate for a couple months in order to live up to his early-season draft hype.

Corey Seager wasn’t a super early draft pick (mostly because he had an injury concern), but he’s certainly not performing like a top-30 draft pick, which is what his ADP mark says he is.

Seager has a .228 average and .303 OBP so far this season. He’s a career .290 hitter, with a .359 OBP. After having 33 homers, 96 RBIs and 88 runs scored in just 119 games last season, Seager has two homers, 10 RBIs and 13 runs in 32 games so far.

I viewed Seager as a big-time draft steal (as long as he could stay healthy), but he’s not even a top-25 fantasy shortstop right now. Because he was limited in spring training, it could just be taking Seager some time to ramp up, but it’s also been a month and he’s still struggling, so there’s definitely some concern from fantasy owners that roster him. 

Francisco Lindor was one of my favorite value picks (with an ADP around 38) because he plays nearly every day and had put together back-to-back productive and consistent seasons. He’s fallen off big time from those marks though.

Lindor has a .207 average and .280 OBP in 34 games so far this season. He’s a career .272 hitter, with a .340 OBP. Even with a .254 average last season, Lindor had a .336 OBP, 31 homers, 98 RBIs, 31 stolen bases and 108 runs scored. This season, Lindor has six homers, 19 RBIs, four stolen bases and 19 runs scored. 

Lindor is still a top-10 fantasy shortstop at this point, but much like Ramirez, if he can even get like halfway to his career marks for average and OBP, he’d be a much better fantasy option. Plus, Lindor was the fourth SS off draft boards, so barely cracking the top 10 is simply not cutting it.

Alex Bregman had an ADP around 41, but is barely inside the top-150 fantasy hitters right now. He was the fifth third baseman off draft boards, but sits 28th right now at the position.

Bregman is hitting just .202, with a .284 OBP. He’s a career .272 hitter, with a .370 OBP. After hitting 25 homers, driving in 98 runs and scoring 103 times in 2023, Bregman only has one homer, 11 RBIs and six runs scored in the early going this season.

His struggles have matched the Astros’ struggles as a team, and unless several individual players can get things turned around, Bregman’s fantasy value could definitely take a hit the rest of the season. I expect his numbers to improve here soon, but unless he goes on a tear, it’s pretty unlikely that he’ll finish as a top-five fantasy 3B.

Bo Bichette was the 48th player (on average) off draft boards, going around pick 55 by the end of draft season. Bichette isn’t even a top-150 fantasy hitter at this point.

In 32 games so far, Bichette has a .195 average and .254 OBP. He’s a career .294 hitter, with a .335 OBP, which almost seems impossible given the drastic differences. He had 53 extra-base hits, 73 RBIs and 69 runs scored in 135 games last season, and is only at seven extra-base hits, 11 RBIs and 10 runs this season.

He’s proven to be a reliable and consistent hitter over the course of his career, so I’d expect a turnaround at some point. But again, after a putrid start, he’s going to have a hard time living up to his draft hype.

Paul Goldschmidt is the last hitter we need to discuss. He was the 50th player taken on average, going around pick 57. Goldy is not even a top-200 fantasy hitter right now.

It’s Goldschmidt’s second straight down season, but he’s far worse off than a season ago. He’s hitting .208 this season, with a .298 OBP. Goldy had a .268 average and .363 OBP last season and has a .291 average and .387 OBP for his career.

Even in a down 2023 season, Goldschmidt had 56 extra-base hits, 80 RBIs and 89 runs scored. This season, he’s at five extra-base hits, 11 RBIs and 15 runs scored. Fantasy owners are running out of patience with Goldschmidt, who is still owned in 96% of leagues, but only starting in 80-85% of them of late.

Overall, these top fantasy draft picks have struggled at the plate, but there's plenty of time to get things turned around. Trading these players right now would likely mean a return not nearly worth their draft pick stock, so your best course of action would probably be to remain patient for a little while longer and hope these guys get things turned around.

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