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06
Jan
2009
Sleepers in the Outfield PDF  | Print |  E-mail
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Fantasy Baseball Blog
Written by Joe Lano   
The outfield position has been considered thin in fantasy baseball over the past few seasons. But after doing a few mock draft already this year, I find it to be a bit deeper than in resent memory. Good solid outfielders like Tori Hunter, Xavier Nady, and Pat Burrell seem to be slipping down further than anticipated.

There are some good young outfielders with great upside that can be had in the middle rounds also. Player like Jeremy Hermida, Nelson Cruz and Adam Jones (no, not “pac man“!) to name a few.

Then there are the sleepers, hanging around on the draft board much later than they should and waiting for you to pick them up at the end of your draft. Below I give you my top five outfield sleepers for 2009. In some mock drafts, a few of them aren’t even being drafted!

Ryan Spilborghs - Colorado Rockies - With the departure of  Matt Holliday and Willy Taveras, more playing time has opened up for Spilborghs in 2009. The Rockies have some good young outfielders on the horizon but this should be his year to shine.

While it is still very early and things can always change, the Rockies team web site lists Spilborghs as the teams starting center fielder and lead off hitter. If nothing else, the job seems to be his to lose during spring training.

He earned this chance with his play last season, when he appeared in 89 games and hit .313, scored 38 runs, drove in 36, hit 6 home runs and stole 7 bases.

With more playing time and hitting at the top of the order, a big jump in every category is coming. Pick him up late if you can.

Shin-Soo Choo - Cleveland Indians - Playing in 94 games last season, Choo hit .309, had 68 runs scored, 66 batted in, while mashing 14 home runs with 4 stolen bases. The really impressive stats came in the 58 games after the all-star break, when he was given a full time job:

After the All-Star break
  
                                                                                G   Avg     R    HR  RBI   SB
                                                                              58   .343   50   11     48     2
 
 
 Nobody is expecting him to keep up that kind of pace, but playing every day in the a good Indians lineup should find some pretty nice numbers from a late round pick.

Randy Winn - San Francisco Giants - It seems every year Randy Winn gets ignored on draft day, many times going completely undrafted. Last season he was picked up as a free agent in many leagues and really helped those teams out.

Winn followed up a solid 2007 campaign with his second consecutive .300 season; hitting .306. At 34 years of age this veteran stole 25 bases and scored 84 runs; throw in his 10 home runs and 64 runs batted in and you have yourself a pretty decent late round outfielder.

Add in the fact that you can count on Winn to play just about every game, as he has appeared in at least 149 games each of the past 8 season.
 
He is penciled in as the Giants leadoff hitter for 2009 and will help your fantasy team as a under-rated late round pick.

Elijah Dukes - Washington Nationals - By now everyone knows that Dukes has a whole lot of talent; everyone also knows about Dukes well documented off-field issues and injury problems. Is this the year his talent wins out over everything else?

Last season saw him spend three different stints on the 15-day disabled list, as his entire right leg seemed to give him problems. Hamstring tightness in late March, torn knee tendons in July, and a calf strain in August.

So what would lead us to think he could be a player worth drafting for the 2009 season? Its that talent thing again, as he showed some real flashes of it in 2008:

2008 Season
G     AVG     R      HR   RBI   SB 
81  .264     48    13    44      13

The Nationals outfield is a crowed one; with Lastings Milledge,  Josh Willingham, Austin Kearns, and Wily Mo Pena all in the fold, but none have the ability of Dukes. After missing out on Milton Bradley , who elected to sign with the Cubs, the 25 year old Dukes seems to have the inside track for the everyday center field job.

Chase Headley - San Diego Padres - A trendy pick in last season drafts, Headley started the season in the minors, causing most people who drafted him; to waive him. When he was finally called up on July 17, many people ran to pick him and add him to their rosters.

While his 91 games last season weren’t a complete bust, as he hit .269, with 34 runs, 9 home runs, 38 runs batted in and 4 stolen bases, all the hype has died down. Yet this is still the same switch hitting 25 year old everyone was so gaga over last season.

He hit .309 over his final three minor league seasons and showed great plate discipline. He may not hit many home runs just yet, but 15 to 20 sounds about right. A big jump in all categories should come this season, as he has the starting left field job and is slated to hit sixth in the Padres order.

With outfielders becoming a bit less scarce this season, it maybe okay to wait longer in our drafts to fill up the outfield spots on our rosters. No need to panic and try and fill those spots early with a good group of sleepers out there late in the draft and some talented young guys on the rise in the middle.

These are my fav 5 outfield sleepers. What do you think? Anyone else out there that you consider as an outfield sleeper? Do you think there are more options in the outfield heading into the 2009 season than in recent years?


 





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written by big o, January 07, 2009
even with the acquisition of burrell, i like matt joyce .
0
OF you don\'t list...
written by RobReed, January 07, 2009
I do a "guessing game" blog entry once a week now where I scour the stats to find players who had drastic changes positive or negative between two seasons.

I'm thinking that the latest installment includes a sleeper OF who is probably on NOBODY's radar right now.

Can you guess who he is?

http://www.playertrack.com/blog.pl?14
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written by GabrielLundeen, January 07, 2009
I imagine Headley will end up hitting even higher in the Padres' lineup, because they're going to need all the bats they can get. He could really benefit from hitting in front of Adrian Gonzalez, or offer protection hitting behind him.

He should continue developing into a good hitter. I just hope the Padres don't put too much pressure on him and stunt his growth in an anemic lineup. As a lifelong Padres fan, it's just depressing thinking about how awful that team is going to be...

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