It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see Mike Trout is the hands-down best player to pick first overall in fantasy baseball drafts. Trout had a career-high 45 home runs in 2019 despite playing just 134 games. Add in more than 100 RBIs and a .645 slugging percentage and it should be clear why pitchers fear Trout. The reigning American League MVP’s consistency at the plate has led to dominant seasons for any fantasy baseball player lucky enough to have him on their squad. But what should they expect from the three-time MVP in 2020? 

Sports Illustrated’s Shawn Childs answers that question in the above video.

Read the transcript from his analysis:

Corey Parson: Hey, what's up, it's Corey Pawson, the fantasy executive here with SI.com. Talking a little fantasy baseball with our fantasy and gambling analyst Shawn Childs. Shawn, this should be an easy question, but consider in a shortened season, considering what round the corner did last year, Is Mike Trout still a top option in fantasy baseball?

Shawn Childs: I think the tradeoff here is, do you want the chance at a high batting average over the impact steals, and a lot of times you could compare either player with somebody else in the second round to help you in that other category. So, as far as Trout, even over the last three years, he's been drafted first or second in almost every draft, but he hasn't lived up to being the number one draft pick due to missing time for some injuries, but he's still productive. His contact batting average is really high. His average hit rate is well over 2 last year.

He's going to hit well over 40 home runs. I really thought he would have a really special year this year. Unfortunately, the shortened season, he could have still an impact year, but not get the full credit of it. So the other thing that's kind of tricky here is he tends to hit second in the batting order, which hurts RBI chances. But with Anthony Rendon behind him, he's going to score more runs. The lineups looks good especially we talked a bit about Jo Adell earlier, that he could help if he came up leading off. So, Trout's a special player and he can do it all. And I expect a few more steals this year. So there's nothing wrong with him. It's just a matter of how you want to build your team.

Corey Parson: All right. Thanks a lot, Shawn. For all the latest news from the Majors, make sure you keep it locked right here at SI.com.

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