Fantasy Baseball

2011 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers Include Blue Jays Slugging Second Baseman

Coming into the 2010 season, few second basemen were as highly regarded in fantasy circles as Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Aaron Hill, and with good reason. He was fresh off a breakout campaign in which he hit .286 with 36 home runs and 108 RBI, as well as scoring an impressive 103 runs. 

We're barely 24 hours away from the start of the 2011 fantasy baseball season, and that means it's time to take a look at some potential sleepers!

A sleeper is a player picked well beneath where his level of potential production dictates he should be taken. It doesn't mean just late-round players who could result in high production, but guys who have slipped beyond where they should in most drafts. 

Mark Teixeira is a notorious slow starter. His lifetime batting average in March and April is .235. He’s a .294 hitter in the other months. He hits a home run every 27 at-bats in March and April. He homers every 15.8 at-bats in the other months. His early batting averages the past two years have been dreadful.

2010:  .136, two HRs

Our top three fantasy outfielders in 2011 are the same top three fantasy outfielders that most other sites have in their top three. However, I've seen all three in the top spot at a relatively even split. In an ideal world, I'd like to get my No. 1 outfielder as the third outfielder off the board.

Here are our top 50 outfielders in fantasy baseball for 2011:

Heading into the season, while many felt the Yankees' best arrangement would be with Brett Gardner sitting atop the lineup, the constant chatter was that Derek Jeter would remain the Yankees leadoff hitter. 

For or better or worse, the Yankees legend was getting the limelight, despite a .348 OBP in the leadoff spot in ’10, while Gardner would be hitting ninth.

However, all of that changed yesterday.  Jack Curry of the YES Network posted on Twitter:

While several young prospects are anxious to help your fantasy team this season, only a select few will begin the year on a big league roster. This makes this list difficult to project. Fortunately, I have it covered.

Just remember this: While these up-and-coming stars can be exciting to own, they’re not going to carry your team to fantasy stardom. Their true value is multiplied in dynasty and keeper formats.

Closers are the most overrated players in fantasy baseball. The good ones deliver strong contributions to one category, but generally pitch less than five innings per week.

During drafts, I usually ignore the position until the late rounds. Despite this strategy, my teams are usually very strong in the saves category. In fact, my teams have finished tied-first, second, first and first in saves over the last four seasons in my 10-team roto keeper league.