By Dalton Del Don – Senior Writer
There seems to be a pretty clear cut top-8 this year, featuring Albert Pujols, Johan Santana, Jose Reyes, Chase Utley, Alex Rodriguez, Carl Crawford, Ryan Howard and Alfonso Soriano. Now, the talent doesn’t fall off a cliff after that, but it does seem to get a bit more muddled. This article, however, is focusing on if you possess an earlier pick in the first round.
Chase Utley is an excellent early option, as there isn’t a bigger discrepancy among positions this year than Utley and the rest of the 2nd base options. He’s clearly in a class all to himself there. I don’t think you can let A-Rod slip too far, and Pujols is the obvious favorite to be chosen first overall. There’s really no way to argue against Pujols going No. 1, as he’s currently baseball’s best hitter, and there’s even a chance he’s yet to post his best statistical season. I also like Santana in the top-3, as he’s similar to Utley in being head and shoulders above the rest of his position. I’ve also previously advocated taking SPs early, although this year once you get past Santana, it looks like you can afford to wait on pitching.
And then there’s Jose Reyes, arguably fantasy baseball’s most valuable player. First and foremost, steals is the toughest and therefore most valuable statistic. Very few players offer more than 50 in that category, and most of the ones that do will be a negative in HRs and RBI. Players that do run that much, however, can influence a single rotisserie category more so than any other. That is to say: 60 steals will often gain you more points in the standings than 30 HRs and 50 RBI. Incidentally, Reyes isn’t a negative in the HR and RBI cats, and in fact, for a middle infielder, he’s actually quite a positive.
After the All-Star break last season, Reyes clubbed 11 homers in 277 at-bats, slugging .495 in the process. His solid K/BB ratio also indicates a repeat in a .300 average is more than doable. Hitting atop a fine Mets’ lineup also affords him plenty of opportunities, as he saw exactly 700 plate appearances last year. The most promising aspect of all, however, is that Reyes is 23 years old. 23! If he improves half or even a quarter as much this year as he did from 2005-2006, literally the sky is the limit.
I’m not imploring you to take Reyes over Pujols and/or Santana, but I am suggesting you consider it. Don’t even think about letting him slip past the No. 3 pick.
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