Early 2022 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: How the first two rounds of your draft might look

Even if your season isn't quite over yet, it's likely you've set your lineup for the last time, which makes now a fitting time to begin thinking about 2022.

And what more fitting beginning is there than ... the beginning, as in the first two rounds of the draft? What I'm revealing here is basically the starting point for my 2022 rankings. In the weeks to come, I'll be going position by position.

The emphasis is traditional 5x5 Rotisserie scoring, though I do address some of the changes I'd make for Head-to-Head points scoring. One worth mentioning at the top here is that the top four pitchers in Round 2 (Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, Corbin Burnes and Walker Buehler) would likely move ahead of some of the bats in Round 1, though I'll leave the specifics for later.

Again, this is just a starting point, something to mull over as we begin the countdown to draft prep season. As you can see, I won't be going as pitcher-heavy this time around.

Round 1

1	Fernando Tatis San Diego Padres SS
When you factor in the time he missed, his numbers are in a class of their own, but concerns about his shoulder will linger if he doesn't opt for surgery. Then again, concerns about his recovery will emerge if he does.
2	Ronald Acuna Atlanta Braves RF
He is Tatis' only peer in terms of power/speed threats, but you may see him slip in some early rankings as he continues his recovery from a torn ACL. We'll have a better idea by draft season if he's ready to go, and I'll adjust down if needed.
3	Vladimir Guerrero Toronto Blue Jays 1B
The best non-base stealer has emerged as a Triple Crown threat at age 22, growing into his power potential in the loudest way imaginable.
4	Juan Soto Washington Nationals RF
His career is off to a historic start, revealing him to be maybe the best on-base threat we've seen since Barry Bonds, but it's nonetheless true that the home run output has been less slightly than elite so far. He'll go ahead of Acuna in points leagues.
5	Shohei Ohtani Los Angeles Angels DH
Joe Maddon's decision to keep Ohtani's bat in the lineup every day, even when he's pitching, has unlocked his full potential, and it turns out he's even more valuable as a hitter than the pitcher. If there was a way to pocket all of his hitting and pitching stats in Fantasy, he'd easily be the No. 1 player.
6	Trea Turner Los Angeles Dodgers 2B
Other than picking up second base eligibility, his move to the Dodgers didn't change anything for him, his numbers holding remarkably steady. He's not the stolen base outlier he once was, but he's a more well-rounded player now.
7	Jose Ramirez Cleveland Indians 3B
A strong finish, particularly in the stolen base category, has left no doubts about Ramirez's standing heading into 2022. Batting average is the only one of the five categories where he may come up short.
8	Bryce Harper Philadelphia Phillies RF
If you haven't looked at Harper's stat line in a couple months, it'll shock you. Take out the month of May, when he was still contending with the after-effects of a nasty hit by pitch, and he might have the best numbers of any hitter. He has enough disappointment in his history, though, for us to play it cautiously.
9	Mike Trout Los Angeles Angels CF
Nobody would have suspected when he strained his calf in May that Trout would miss the rest of the season, but surely another six months will be enough time for him to recover. He's been a fixture at the top of drafts for the past decade and is still only 30.
10	Bo Bichette Toronto Blue Jays SS
He stands out in the five categories that matter for traditional Rotisserie play but might slip to late in the second round in Head-to-Head points leagues, where his lack of walks holds him back.
11	Jacob deGrom New York Mets SP
Even with the Mets out of contention, he kept pushing to make it back right until the very end, which would suggest his elbow isn't feeling as bad as some have feared. We'll still need some reassurances before drafting him this high, though, good as he is.
12	Freddie Freeman Atlanta Braves 1B
He doesn't bring much speed to the table, but he's as bankable as they come in the other four categories, giving you a nice foundation in batting average without costing you power. He's even better in points leagues.

Round 2

13	Mookie Betts Los Angeles Dodgers RF
It's kind of a pessimistic ranking for a player coming off a down year -- one that was plagued by a hip injury, no less -- but I have a hunch the Dodgers won't ask Betts to run as much moving forward. He'll only be 29 next year and should still have plenty left in the tank as a hitter.
14	Gerrit Cole New York Yankees SP
Cole wasn't in top form as regularly down the stretch, which may or may not have had something to do with the foreign substance crackdown. It's enough to move him from the first round to the second, where there's more competition at the position.
15	Max Scherzer Los Angeles Dodgers SP
He found another gear with the Dodgers, reminding everyone that few can approach his dominance even at 37. He's bound to slow down eventually, but I'll take the battle-tested guy at a position as volatile as starting pitcher. It almost doesn't even matter where he signs in the offseason.
16	Corbin Burnes Milwaukee Brewers SP
"Battle-tested" is not a term I would use to describe Burnes, which makes me a little wary of him coming off a big workload increase. Pitch for pitch, though, he may be the best hurler this side of deGrom, as his microscopic FIP can attest.
17	Walker Buehler Los Angeles Dodgers SP
He went from never going six innings in 2020 to never not going six innings in 2021 and looks like a perennial Cy Young contender moving forward. He is a little light on strikeouts, though.
18	Brandon Woodruff Milwaukee Brewers SP
His best is not quite as dominant as the three pitchers ahead of him on this list, but it's fair to say his durability and reliability are no longer in question.
19	Kyle Tucker Houston Astros RF
A miserable April, which you may remember was a league-wide affliction, drags down his season numbers a bit, but even so, Tucker was a revelation in his first full-length big-league season. In a welcome surprise, his contact skills stand out most of all.
20	Marcus Semien Toronto Blue Jays 2B
Just when you were convinced his near-MVP 2019 was an aberration, he bounces back with even better numbers in 2021. He's set to hit the open market again, which raises questions about what venue he'll call home, but it's worth pointing out he actually hit the majority of his more home runs on the road this year.
21	Shane Bieber Cleveland Indians SP
A late-season return wasn't enough to shift his value one way or the other, and it's still a mystery how he'll fare in a league without foreign substances. The crackdown felt like a non-issue for most every pitcher by the end of the year, though, so I'll bet on Bieber regaining his ace standing.
22	Zack Wheeler Philadelphia Phillies SP
He has a long track record of being more like a good pitcher than the great one we saw in 2021 and looked like he was regressing to the mean in the middle of the season. But he finished the year as strong as he started it, boasting career-best whiff rates throughout.
23	Luis Robert Chicago White Sox CF
True, he missed most of his sophomore season with a torn hip flexor, but what an impression Robert made after his return. The batting average is partly a product of a bloated BABIP and bound to regress, but the sharp reduction in strikeout rate would suggest he's eliminated his biggest shortcoming.
24	Rafael Devers Boston Red Sox 3B
Position scarcity is a factor here, and even just among third basemen, it's not totally clear that Devers belongs ahead of Manny Machado. But he's pretty accomplished for a 24-year-old and may still have room to improve in batting average especially.