As a 7' outfielder who kills Yankees and Red Sox by the hundreds with fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his arse, Tampa Bay Rays' Sam Fuld burst onto the fantasy baseball landscape with a 4-6 performance against the rival Sox, including two doubles and a home run.
The legend of Sam Fuld spread across the Internet like a sneezing Panda video on YouTube, with fans likening the scrappy Fuld to a mix between Ryan Braun and William Wallace.
Now that cooler heads have prevailed and fans now realize that Fuld is a tenth round journeyman outfielder who is only starting because Manny Ramirez abruptly quit, I think it is an opportune time to take a closer look at Fuld’s fantasy potential.
In 163 major league at bats, the Stanford University Product has a .264 batting average with 11 doubles, two home runs and eight stolen bases. Prior to this season in which Joe Maddon has used him as a leadoff hitter, Fuld stole only two bags for the Cubs and was not thought of as a base stealing threat.
Perhaps a move to the right system is what Fuld needed to become fantasy-relevant, as the once powerful Rays are suddenly impotent with the injury to Evan Longoria and the retirement of the aforementioned Ramirez.
Will Fuld steal 50 bases and mash 30 home runs? Certainly not, however as an everyday leadoff hitter for the Rays he does have some fantasy value in deeper mixed and AL-only leagues. It appears that Maddon realizes how poor his offense will be this season and will employ an aggressive base running method to generate runs, leading me to believe that Fuld could possibly steal 30 bases and score around 80 runs.
This article was originally published on www.kramericasports.com, the home of free fantasy baseball news, rankings and advice.
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