Fantasy Baseball

I'm sure you've heard it a million times by now—starting pitching is very deep.

Because of the plethora of quality pitchers in the major leagues, there are plenty of bargains to be had in the middle-to-late rounds of your draft. But how do you know who you should take?

Click here to enter the 2011 Fantasy Baseball Team Name Contest.



Here’s an early look at the 2011 NL-only starting pitcher rankings.

1.  Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies:  Halladay led the MLB in wins (21), ranked third in WHIP (1.04), fourth in ERA (2.44) and tied for fifth in strikeouts (219). He’s the complete package.

It happens to someone every year on fantasy baseball draft day.

Player X starts to fall below his average draft position. He keeps sliding down the round and into your lap. You shake your head in disbelief. Player X fell this far? I’m about to select the steal of the draft! You already hear league mates moan with disgust as you snipe away such a good draft day value.

Well another Fantasy Baseball season is upon us, and I'm sure most of you are preparing quite hard right now for your upcoming drafts. Some of the cabin fever baseball diehards may have already drafted and many others are hitting the mock draft scene (check out www.mockdraftcentral.com) on a nightly basis to help finalize your draft boards. 

We all know Max Scherzer’s 2010 story. It was a tale of two seasons, to say the least, as we can tell by his splits before he was sent down to the minors and after it:

In 2007, Russell Martin won a silver slugger and was generally considered one of the best catchers in the game. Since then, it has been a long steady fall from grace. Martin was plagued with MCL injuries last season, only playing in 97 games, which helped continue his streak of declining production:

Hanley Ramirez: When he has played in at least 140 games in a season, Ramirez has averaged a .313 AVG, .385 OBP, .520 SLG, .906 OPS, 25 HR, 78 RBI, 112 R, 187 H, 39 SB and 108 SO.

Troy Tulowitzki: When he has played in at least 120 games in a season, Tulo has averaged a .301 AVG, .372 OBP, .533 SLG, .906 OPS, 28 HR, 95 RBI, 98 R, 162 H, 13 SB and 107 SO.

As the 2011 MLB season quickly approaches, Adam Ganeles provides some insight into how some of the top corner infield prospects are progressing in spring training.

Royals first base prospect Eric Hosmer has imaginations running wild early in March. In 13 at bats this spring, he has six hits, two monumental blasts (including a grand slam) and six RBI. This is not foreign territory for the 6'4" 230-pounder who tore up the Carolina and Texas leagues last year to the tune of .338/20/86. 

If you play in a standard 5×5 format, you can view my rankings by clicking here.  For leagues that utilize OBP instead of average, there are a few significant changes.  Let’s take a look at how things look:

Click here to enter the 2011 Fantasy Baseball Team Name Contest


Here’s an look at the A.L. Only 2011 Outfielder rankings.