Posts Tagged ‘Ben Zobrist’

2011 Fantasy Baseball Rankings – Second Base

Posted by Todd Lammi on January 4th, 2011

Here is the third article in the series for 2011 fantasy baseball rankings looking at the position of second base. Lots of questions mark at the top third of the list as some players are coming off of injuries while others simply underperformed.

There are a few decent power options toward the end of the list but they all come with low batting average, such as Juan Uribe and Bill Hall.

1. Robinson Cano – increased his home run totals for the second straight year and 2008 now looks like an outlier. Has played in 159+ games for four straight seasons. Hit .341 on the road in 317 at bats and hit .298 at home.

2. Chase Utley – only played in 115 games after undergoing surgery on his thumb in-season. Batting average has now dropped for three straight years. Slugged only .410 in the second half before the season ending injury. I have him real close to Dustin Pedroia so he could easily slide to third.

3. Dustin Pedroia – was on pace for a career high in home runs before suffering an injury to his foot that caused him to miss half the season. Still needs to improve his power against left-handed pitching in order to crack the 20 home run mark, with only two home runs in his last 245 at bats vs. southpaws.

4. Dan Uggla – outside of his batting avergae which moves from year-to-year, his power numbers and runs scored are pretty stable every season. Hit 30+ home runs for the 4th straight season and scored 100 runs for the third time in five years. Has a lifetime average of .354 at Turner Field with 12 home runs and 36 RBI in 181 career at bats.

5. Ian Kinsler – missed all of August and April due to injuries. When he did play, the power was missing from his breakout season of 2009 when he hit 31 long balls. Walk rate took a big step forward which is a good sign for 2011.

6. Brandon Phillips – RBI total dropped because he only managed nine RBI batting second in 180 at bats. Stolen bases dropped under 20 for the first time since he became a full-time player in 2006. Given his lack of success in 2010 (16 of 28), there is no guarantee he returns to that level again.

7. Rickie Weeks – finally a healthy season and Weeks responded with huge numbers. His jump in home runs carried over from his 2009 season that was cut short due to injuries. Looks to have traded some stolen bases for more power. Could move down in the lineup eventually if the Brewers ever find a true leadoff hitter. 184 strikeouts for a guy hitting first is an insanely high amount.

8. Ben Zobrist – had 40 more at bats and hit 17 less home runs. Strikeouts and walks were almost identical. Stole seven more bases but that did little to make up for the drop in power or the 59 point drop in batting average. Was dismal after the All-Star break hitting just .177 in 232 at bats with just five steals.

9. Brian Roberts – knock on wood that he is over his injuries from the beginning of the 2010 season. Should be back close to normal in 2011 so he might go a round or two later than usually which presents a buying opportunity.

10. Aaron Hill – had 154 less at bats than in 2009 which accounted for the drop in runs, home runs and RBI. His batting average which fell 81 points should bounce back in 2011. With a career major league average of .270, no reason for him to not bounce back close to that level.

11. Martin Prado - produced in his first season as a full-time player with similar type ratios to his limited at bat percentages. Loved hitting at Turner Field, batting .353 in 275, but flashed most of his power on the road where he hit 11 of his 15 home runs.

12. Howie Kendrick – still waiting for that breakout season for Kendrick as he tends to be over hyped on a yearly basis. Put up almost the same number on stats as in 2009 despite getting an extra 242 at bats. Batting average has dropped for three straight seasons.  Power numbers looked good the first half of the year and then did little after the All-Star break with just three home runs and 23 RBI in 261 at bats.

13. Kelly Johnson – bounced back in Arizona as he returned to his 2008 level. Enjoyed hitting at home, batting .311 with 16 home runs and 48 RBI in 293 at bats.

14. Eric Young Jr. - I am bullish on Young for now despite the moves that crowded the Colorado Rockies infield. He has nothing left to prove in Triple-A so either he should start or the Rockies should deal him. If he gets 500+ at bats, he will battle Figgins for the stolen base title at second base.

15. Gordon Beckham – he was in a downward spiral the first half of the year, batting just .216 with three home runs in 273 at bats. Was much better after the break hitting .310 with six home runs in 171 at bats. Needs to hit for more power on the road, where he hit just two oh fis nine home runs in 2010.

16. Neil Walker – hit a little over his head from a batting average standpoint after a career minor league average of .273 in 2,601 at bats. Was an RBI machine after the break with 54 RBI in 284 at bats for the Pirates.

17. Chone Figgins – changing positions coupled with changing teams cut his runs scored by 52 from the previous season. Should be moving back to 3B in 2011 so he will again qualify at multiple positions after the second to fourth week of the season. Was only 18-for-29 on stolen base attempts the second half of the season.

18. Asdrubal Cabrera – injuries limited him to just under 100 games so we did not get to see a full season of stats which gives him a little bit of a discount. It is going to be hard for him to steal 20 bases in a season with his stolen base percentage which was 65% in the minor leagues.

19. Mike Aviles - his 2010 season mirrored his 2008 year stats wise. Should see close to 500 at bats since he could see time at 3B, 2B or even SS. Turned it up on the base paths the second part of the year, stealing 12 of his 14 bases in 55 games.

20. Juan Uribe – set a career high in home runs and RBI in 2010 despite hitting .248. Should be good for close to 20 home runs with a batting average close to .250. Offers nice flexibility late in a fantasy baseball draft since he qualifies at three infield positions.

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2010 Final Fantasy Baseball Rankings – Second Base

Posted by Todd Lammi on October 22nd, 2010

Here is a look at my 2010 final fantasy baseball rankings for the position of second base. Several players are included in the list that did not start the year at second base, based either on games played or where I expect them to play in 2011.

1. Robinson Cano – despite being the fourth second basemen drafted in most fantasy baseball leagues in 2010, he ended up on top of the rankings at the end of the season.  Home runs and RBI went up for the second straight season making his 2008 season a blip on the radar.

2. Dan Uggla - one of the easier players to project from year-to-year for the most part because he is so consistent outside of his batting average which tends to fluctuate. Hit a career high .287 this year which helped boost his ranking.

3. Rickie Weeks – no real surprise for the performance from Weeks, only shock was that he was healthy all season. Combine his 2008 and 2009 numbers and it puts him close to his 2010 campaign except for the drop in stolen bases. With Ken Macha gone, he might get a chance to run more depending on who the new manager is. Could also slide down in the batting order if Prince Fielder is traded in the off season.

4. Kelly Johnson – stats were similar to what he posted in Atlanta in 2008 except for the 14 home run jump overall, thanks to the home ballpark in Arizona where he hit 16 of his 26 home runs.

5. Martin Prado – built on his season from 2009 and kept hitting this year. Move to lead off was a big reason for his jump in stats. In 299 at bats batting there, he scored 54 runs, with 11 home runs and 31 RBI with four steals.

6. Brandon Phillips – it was a mixed year for Phillips who scored 100 runs for the second time in his career, but lost 39 RBI from the previous year and missed stealing bases because his success rate was 57%. RBI was impacted by only nine RBI in 180 at bats while hitting second.

7. Chase Utley – limited to 425 at bats held his ranking in check. Power dropped off as he was on track for only 21 home runs if healthy. Batting average dropped for the third straight season.

8. Howie Kendrick – I guess it was a testament to how good he was in 2009 that he put up almost the exact same numbers in 2010 despite having 242 more at bats, though he did manage to hit 41 doubles. Batting average declined for the third straight year.

9. Ben Zobrist – biggest disappointment based on where he was drafted in fantasy baseball leagues. Home runs plummeted from 27 to 10 and batting average dropped 59 points. Stolen bases went up so that saved him slightly. Second half numbers were brutal with a .177 average in 232 at bats with only five steals.

10. Chone Figgins – his first year in Seattle did no go well. Lack of punch in the Mariners offense cost him 52 runs from the year previous and his batting average dropped 39 points. Struggled the second half on the base paths, going only 18-for-29 on stolen bases.

11. Juan Uribe – got over 500 at bats for the first time since 2007 and came away with his typical 500 at bat numbers. His 20+ home runs with sub .250 batting is what you are going to get from him if he gets his plate appearances. Likely to lose at bats in 2011, but with so many players over 30 on the San Francisco roster, he will still get a good share of at bats.

12. Ian Kinsler – has been injury prone throughout his career and it happened again in 2010. Only has one year in his career with over 130 games played, that coming in 2009.

13. Omar Infante – injuries helped get him in the line up full-time the second half of the year and he responded, hitting .313 with six home runs and 23 RBI in 278 at bats.

14. Mike Aviles – started off the season in the minor leagues and did not start seeing playing time until May. Turned it up on the base paths the second half of the season, stealing 12 of his 14 bases.

15. Neil Walker – the lack of performance from Akinori Iwamura opened a spot in the Pittsburgh lineup that Walker took full advantage of. Hit .306 with 9 home runs and 54 RBI in 74 games after the All-Star break.

16. Ty Wigginton – set a career high for at bats this season at the age of 32. His ability to play several positions makes it likely he will get 400+ at bats again next season.

17. Ryan Raburn - finally got a chance to show what he could do as a full-time player after the All-Star break and he responded, hitting .315 with 13 home runs and 46 RBI in 251 at bats.

18. Jeff Keppinger – solid batting average plus a career high in at bats allowed him to pile up some okay counting stats although he was not spectacular in any one category.

19. Ryan Theriot – was playing okay with the Chicago Cubs before being shipped to the Los Angeles Dodgers where his numbers saw a drop across the board. Ran very little the second half of the season, going 4-for-9 on stolen base attempts.

20. Orlando Hudson – Hudson missed roughly 30 games due to injury, but still managed to score 80 runs and steal 10 bases while hitting .268.

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2010 Fantasy Baseball ADP – Second Base

Posted by Todd Lammi on February 12th, 2010

by Todd Lammi

This is the third article in the series looking at the current 2010 fantasy baseball ADP (average draft position) for players at second base. The data uses ADP numbers from Mock Draft Central using the NFBC scoring system.

The chart below lists players arranged by my 2010 fantasy baseball rankings with the current ADP broken down by where that player would fall in a 12 or 15 team league by round and pick. The one caveat being that the 12 team numbers may be skewed slightly as some players may go later than others due to the larger player pool to pick from.

Ben Zobrist looks to have good value based on where I have him ranked at compared to his average draft position. The position flexibility plus his ability to steal bases slots him ahead of Robinson Cano and Aaron Hill in my eyes.  Speaking of Hill, I think he is going to high in drafts in relation to Dan Uggla. The numbers I have projected for Uggla and Hill will be pretty close to the same outside of batting average which should not place them that far apart in the 2010 fantasy baseball rankings for second base.

I think there is great value for Jose Lopez as well because he is not that far away from Hill and Uggla in terms of production. Kelly Johnson is primed for a bounce back season in Arizona and offers good value based on his current ADP. Orlando Hudson is the one player I see that is overvalued on the list as the 12th second basemen going off the draft board. He is solid across the board, but so is every player behind him at that point in the draft and he offers no upside to his numbers.

12 Teams 15 Teams
Rank Name ADP Round Pick Round Pick
1 Utley, Chase 4 1 4 1 4
2 Kinsler, Ian 16 2 4 2 1
3 Phillips, Brandon 30 3 6 2 15
4 Pedroia, Dustin 38 4 2 3 8
5 Roberts, Brian 40 4 4 3 10
6 Zobrist, Ben 59 5 11 4 14
7 Cano, Robinson 47 4 11 4 2
8 Hill, Aaron 48 4 12 4 3
9 Uggla, Dan 85 8 1 6 10
10 Lopez, Jose 120 10 12 8 15
11 Kendrick, Howie 134 12 2 9 14
12 Weeks, Rickie 192 16 12 13 12
13 Johnson, Kelly 280 24 4 19 10
14 Barmes, Clint 270 23 6 18 15
15 Polanco, Placido 243 21 3 17 3
16 Sizemore, Scott 249 21 9 17 9
17 Prado, Martin 245 21 5 17 5
18 Ellis, Mark 302 26 2 21 2
19 Hudson, Orlando 191 16 11 13 11
20 Lopez, Felipe 274 23 10 19 4

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Next up in the 2010 Fantasy Baseball ADP rankings will be shortstops.

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