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This week I am bringing you my “All Surprise” team, compiling a list by position of a bunch of fast starters that fantasy owners around the globe may not have seen coming in 2009. I considered listing the all “bad surprise” team, kind of like the surprise you get when you are expecting your first bike for Christmas and you excitedly run down to the lounge room to jump on your brand new shiny velocipede – only to discover that your “big surprise” is instead a brand new stamp collecting album with many colorful stamps from “Polska” already added! I decided however that listing names of such complete duds such as David Ortiz, Garrett Atkins and Russell Martin would be just too damn depressing for those owners who have to live through their continued failures every day. When it comes down to brass tacks, I am a “glass half full” kind of guy anyway, so read on for a team filled with great stories and pleasant surprises for fantasy baseball so far in 2009…..
The Catcher:
Nominees: Jason Varitek, John Baker, Brandon Inge.
Winner: Brandon Inge
We all know that “da Binge” doesn’t have to catch anymore, but with 60 starts there last season he qualifies as a fully fledged card carrying member of the backstop fraternity. With a pre-season ADP of around 328, equivalent to the 25th catcher taken, his numbers so far look like this:
14 HR, 41 RBI, 1 SB and a .273 average. Yeah, I’d say that is a pretty nice surprise if I picked him up in the 28th round of my draft!
What do Geovany Soto, Russell Martin, Ryan Doumit, Matt Wieters, Dioner Navarro and Pablo Sandoval have in common with Inge? Well, if you add up all of the Home Runs for the six guys mentioned prior to our Brandon, they would have exactly the same number of long balls as the Ingemeister!
The First Base Guy:
Nominees: Nick Johnson, Mark Reynolds*, Russell Branyan
Winner: Russell Branyan
* Mark Reynolds has appeared in more games (44) at third base than (18) first base.
After settling in with his ninth major league team, Branyan finally gets a full time gig and he does this:
15 HR, 30 RBI, 30 runs, 2 SB and a .319 batting average. Makes you wonder what in the hell the other eight teams were doing leaving this fella on the bench! If ever you have seen a guy embrace his chance to finally play every day, this would be it. A BABIP of .387 suggests the party will soon be over for Russ, but oh my - what a surprise party it has been for this mostly undrafted sleeper.
The Second Base Guy:
Nominees: Adam Kennedy, Aaron Hill, Asdrubal Cabrera
Winner: Aaron Hill
After an eye-opening 2007 season with a .291 BA, 87 R, 17 HR, and 78 RBI to his name, Hill had all sorts of issues with post-concussion syndrome in 2008. Most owners (like me) were cautiously optimistic about grabbing him late (pre-season ADP of 317), hoping for a bit of pop without hurting you in average.
The numbers so far: 14 HR, 44 RBI, 2 SB, 36 runs and a .313 batting average. Fantasy owners have found their second base thrill and his name is Aaron Hill.
The Short Stop:
Nominees: Jason Bartlett, Ben Zobrist*, Marco Scutaro
Winner: Jason Bartlett
* Ben Zobrist has appeared everywhere except your local shopping mall, but only appeared at short stop 11 times, compared to 37 outfield appearances.
Jason Bartlett is pretty much a guy you expect to hit .280 with around 20 SB’s. Whilst a DL stint has slowed him down (he is on his way back via AAA as we speak), what Bartlett has done so far has been almost unbelievable for a guy who had a pre-season ADP of 298, and was generally drafted just after Jeff Spicoli look-alike Khalil Greene.
7 HR, 30 RBI, 14 SB and a whopping .373 average is what Bartlett has given us so far. No wonder Khalil is depressed. Bartlett’s current BABIP is a sky-high .411 so there is a big dip ahead, but right now this guy is prime time shortstop surprise number one.
The Third Base guy:
Nominees: Mike Lowell, Mark Reynolds, Marco Scutaro
Winner: Mark Reynolds
Reynolds pre-season ADP was 222, equivalent to a 19th round pick in a 12 team draft. His penchant for whiffing was a big red flag for those concerned with a batting average that could potentially kill your team. In 2009, Reynolds continues to make more wind than Hurricane Harry (apologies to those not old enough to remember Cool Mc Cool), however he is mashing at such a rate he is providing a big reward to those who picked him up late in their drafts. The big bonus is while he still whiffs like Charlie Brown, he has been running like Speedy Gonzalez, with 13 steals to his name already - two more than for the entire season in 2008.
16 HR, 42 RBI, 13 SB, 40 runs and a .277 average. (His BABIP is currently .380) The power is no shocker, but when you look at his numbers across the board, Reynolds has been a bona fide pleasant surprise in 2009.
The Outfield Crew:
Nominees: Raul Ibanez, Carl Crawford, Adam Jones, Nelson Cruz, Johnny Damon, Adam Lind, Juan Pierre, Luke Scott, Ben Zobrist.
Winners: Raul Ibanez, Adam Lind, Ben Zobrist
Raul Ibanez is 37. Sure, he moved to a great hitter’s park in Philly, but did any of us really see these types of numbers coming? 21 HR, 58 RBI, 4 SB, 50 runs, .325 average. Raul is the top hitting outfielder in baseball right now – so much so that a blogger recently suggested that Mr. Ibanez may be supplementing his diet with substances that are not entirely legit. I tend to side with the opinion of the ever amusing Gray at Razzball, who makes the point that Ibanez is not on drugs now, he is actually hitting much better now that he is off the gear! He quotes, “Look at his career - do you really think any major leaguer would play 13 seasons for only the Mariners and the Royals if they weren’t on drugs?”
All frivolity aside, Ibanez has proven to be a great pickup by both the Phillies and fantasy teams alike. To illustrate how much of a great pickup he has been, his pre-season ADP was 118 – the 34th outfielder picked – right before Chris Young of the Diamondbacks.
Adam Lind had a pre-season ADP of 288, making him a consensus 25th round pick in 12 team drafts. His current numbers are 12 HR, 45 RBI, 1 SB and a .315 average. His OBP is .377. He is a hitter. In limited time last season, his BB/K rate was 0.27. This season, he has improved that rate to 0.49, not awesome but a trend in the right direction. Lind can’t field, but we don’t really care about that do we? Believe it - this guy can hit, and he is showing it as one of the more pleasant breakout surprises of 2009.
Ben Zobrist – Ben-Zo has been nothing short of sensational in 2009. Pretty much undrafted in all but the deepest of leagues, he qualifies as the biggest positive surprise in 2009. You don’t need me to tell you much more other than show you some numbers.
12 HR, 35 RBI, 8 SB, .316 average. He has appeared at 2B, SS, 3B and mostly in the outfield. The only switch-hitter in baseball with more homers than Zobrist is Mark Teixeira. And if Zobrist had seven more plate appearances, he'd be leading the major leagues in slugging (.677), and he'd rank second in the AL to Kevin Youkilis in on-base percentage (.430). Zobrist also has hit a grand slam from each side of the plate. He's tied for the major league lead in pinch-hit homers (with three), even though he's had only 13 pinch-hit at-bats. Finally, if he keeps hitting home runs at this rate, he'll pass the legendary Felix Mantilla (30 HR in 1964) for most in a season, over the last 55 years, by a guy who started at six positions. Yeah, I’d say that me and Lorenzo like rollin’ with Ben-Zo!
The Starter: Nominees: Zack Greinke, Jered “The Weave” Weaver, Justin Verlander, Edwin “Action” Jackson, Josh Johnson.
Winner: Edwin Jackson
I have an Edwin on my team. Unfortunately, it is the perennially underperforming and this year injured Edwin Encarnacion. I have the wrong Edwin. Edwin Jackson is the right Edwin. Jackson’s improvement from hard throwing enigma to polished pitcher has been crazy good since hitting Motown. His K/BB ratio, just 1.4 last season, is up to 3.26. Jackson has been getting it done with a 94 MPH heater, an 86 MPH slider and the rare 85.5 MPH changeup.
Edwin’s pre-season ADP was a whopping 391 – some of the arms taken before him on average in your draft were - Dustin McGowan, Fausto Carmona, Manny Parra, Jeremy Bonderman, Shaun Marcum and Anibal Sanchez.
Edwin so far: 6 wins, 65 K’s, 2.24 ERA, 1.03 WHIP.
I don’t know whether Jackson has just “got it”, or whether his new and improved slider from pitching coach Rick Knapp (paddywack, give a dog a bone) is the reason for his vast improvement. Whatever the reason, Edwin J is a stand out surprise for anyone who took a chance on the wiry Tampa Bay reject.
The Reliever:
Nominees: Jonathon Broxton, Nick Massett, Trevor Hoffman, Ryan Franklin, Heath Bell.
Winner: Trevor Hoffman.
Has “The Hoff” been inspired by Milwaukee’s beer and bratwurst? Maybe he is just fired up because of rock legend AC/DC’s upcoming world tour? Whatever the reason, hitters around major league baseball have heard “Hell’s Bells” ringing and they don’t like the sound.
Many figured Hoffman was done, and that he had little to offer fantasy owners in 2009 – Hoffman was the 20th ranked closer by pre-season ADP and did not have the confidence of the market going into 2009. So far he is making Brewers GM Doug Melvin look like a genius.
15 saves, 16 K’s in 18 innings for an ERA of ZERO with a WHIP of 0.50.
He ripped off a streak of 11 straight saves in which he didn't allow either a walk or a run. It was only the fourth no-walk, no-run streak that long in the past 20 seasons. The others: Dennis Eckersley (11 games) in 1992, Troy Percival (11 games) in 1996 and Todd Jones (15 games) in 2005. Surprise!
The recap:
C: Brandon Inge
1B: Russell Branyan
2B: Aaron Hill
3B: Mark Reynolds
SS: Jason Bartlett
OF: Raul Ibanez
OF: Adam Lind
OF: Ben Zobrist
SP: Edwin Jackson
RP: Trevor Hoffman
So there you have it – a lot of pre-season no names, plenty of “out of the box” performances and a guy seemingly at the end of his career turning it on. Boris’ All-Surprise Team so far in 2009.
Note – stats taken from Fangraphs, CBS sportsline and Razzball Who has the best First-Half All-Surprise Team? Currently no polls available to vote Trackback(0)
Comments (4)
  written by Boris.., June 19, 2009
Thanks for the comments Patrick. In reply:
Velocipede - old skool bike "but it was a bit of a stretch to use Inge at C and Reynolds at first" Err, Patrick - I have Reynolds at THIRD, not FIRST!!! Brandon Inge - with 60 starts at catcher last year, he is eligible at catcher in almost all fantasy leagues at that position. As this is a fantasy baseball article, I didn't think it was too much of a stretch to place him in that position.
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written by Patrick DiCaprio, June 18, 2009
aaahhh culture shock--what is a velocipede?? you went a bit deeper that the others to find nice tidbits, such as the home run count in the Inge section, so good job there. but it was a bit of a stretch to use Inge at C and Reynolds at first. that said, like the rest this week there were a few technical errors that I find really annoying, like SB's when you just mean to pluralize SBs, and the failure to use apostrophes correctly, which is an epidemic in this competition.
written by Edwin Jackson, June 17, 2009
This article is as great as my pitching! I just got back from ragging on Verlander for his weakass performance today, and this article cheered me up my man. Now if I can just teach lollygaggergallaraga how to pitch again, maybe we can roll of a heap of "W's" baby! Keep up the good fight Bo'!
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Tags: Jason Varitek John Baker Brandon Inge Nick Johnson Mark Reynolds Russell Branyan Adam Kennedy Aaron Hill Asdrubal Cabrera Jason Bartlett Ben Zobrist Marco Scutaro Mike Lowell Mark Reynolds Marco Scutaro Raul Ibanez Carl Crawford Adam Jones Nelson Cruz Johnny Damon Adam Lind Juan Pierre Luke Scott Ben Zobrist Zack Greinke Jered Weaver Justin Verlander Edwin Jackson Josh Johnson Jonathon Broxton Nick Massett Trevor Hoffman Ryan Franklin Heath Bell
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My own personal preferences say Jackson isn't a surprise as he was trending toward this sort of a year, but I didn't draft him so I can just quiet down I suppose. Nice job, down under brother.