Matt Kemp

Is it possible for a player to be one of the consensus top five players in his league and still be underrated?

If that player is Matt Kemp, then the answer is an unequivocal Yes.

We are just a few days away from the All-Star break for the 2011 MLB season.

We've already seen some spectacular performances in the first half from expected names and some newcomers alike.

Like last season, baseball has been largely dominated by incredible pitching performances. Pitchers are going deeper into games than they have in recent memory and leaving most hitters in the dust.

There have been a few exceptions however.

With that in mind, here are the best (and just for fun, the worst) in the AL and NL this season

Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers leads the way in our group of award winner from the first half of the 2011 Major League Baseball Season.

Baseball has suddenly become dominated by pitching as there are only seven players in the entire league with at least 20 home runs.  

Major League Baseball released its ballot for the 2011 All-Star game this past week. It may be a little early to label a player's 2011 season as All-Star caliber, but nevertheless votes casted today are worth just as much as those in late June. 

After an awful start offensively to begin the 2011 regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers called up prospect Jerry Sands.

Sands had been promoted to Triple-A Albuquerque before the start of the season, but he was so impressive early on that he got the call up after just ten games. 

We are close to three weeks into the season, and few things are going as expected. Some teams have players that are surprising, and other teams are simply outperforming their expectations.

Its a long season, and things change, but some of these surprises are legitimate, and have some staying power. Cleveland may not necessarily be in for a major losing streak, and the Red Sox may not be the 100-win team people were expecting.

Every Monday I will be bringing you the Top 3 hot and cold baseball players from around MLB. The twist, I’ll also be providing a buy or sell recommendation on the cold players to help you decide if this is a guy to target in a trade offer or someone you should cut if they’re clogging a bench spot. I'll also give advice on those playing well, if you should sell high or buy the continued dominance.

For the last week, here are your Hot & Cold recommendations—

Also known as ODOs.

Well, I call them ODOs and some day, you will too. Until then, see if you noticed what I noticed:

Albert Pujols goes 0-for-5

He also grounded into three double plays—cue the overreaction random radio show sports talk guy.

That's right, Pujols is washed up; can't handle the contract-year pressure; forgot how to hit; only tips 10 percent.

Actually, he'll be fine.

When many teams around MLB contact the Los Angeles Dodgers front office about the possibility of a prospective trade, the first player usually brought up in any conversation is outfielder Matt Kemp.

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: