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Fantasy Baseball Preview – SS

February 25, 2009 at 11:00 am | Baseball, Fantasy Baseball
By: The Bad Guy

Because of the shortage of time between now and opening day, we at NQTC decided to roll with a position by position preview as opposed to going team by team. SS preview is up today - look for the OF preview on Friday. Again, this is not a list of the top seven guys at the position but rather seven guys I felt like writing about.

1. Hanley Ramirez SS Marlins - The fact that Han Ram is only 25 and yet to reach his full potential is flat out scary, as he is already the indisputable number one overall player in fantasy heading into the 2009 season. He put up 29 HR and 51 SB in 2007, then 33 HR and 35 SB in 2008 – just absolutely ridiculous numbers – and when you consider the fact that he’s playing at one of the shallowest positions in fantasy, you would have to be nuts not to draft this guy. Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez has come out and said that he plans on hitting Ramirez third in the lineup, a move that will surely improve his RBI total, but might hurt his SB and R production somewhat.

2. Jose Reyes SS Mets - Like Hanley, Reyes is also considered a top five overall pick, as he has led the majors in SB in 2006 and 2007, and finished second in 2008 with 56. Reyes has yet to show his power potential, but a 20 HR season is not out of the question. With the insane amount of runs he scores every year – a combined 354 over the past three seasons – and his borderline .300 average, there is not much to not like about Reyes. There was talk of him maybe moving down to the three hole in the lineup, which would hurt his value somewhat, but would also increase his RBI totals. With the top tier of SS being as shallow as it is, taking Reyes anywhere near the top makes sense to The Bad Guy.

3. Jimmy Rollins SS Phillies - Coming off of a World Series championship, Rollins and co. will be extra motivated to show that what they did in 2008 was no fluke. Rollins missed 25 games last season due to an ankle injury, and put up pretty mediocre numbers besides his 47 steals, which let owners look past his other less then average stats. Rollins is still getting drafted in the latter half of the first round in most drafts, meaning owners are optimistic that he can get back to his 2007 form. Because SS is so shallow this year, even if Rollins doesn’t match his 2007 line, he should still be able to justify his draft position.

4. Troy Tulowitzki SS Rockies – After an amazing rookie campaign in 2007 where he put up a line of 104 R, 24 HR, 99 RBI, 7 SB, and a .291 AVG, Tulo had an extremely disappointing 2008. His power numbers were way down, as he only homered eight times in 337 games – one every 47 AB – compared to one every 25 AB two years ago. He dealt with multiple injuries over the course of last year, but actually hit .327 in 226 AB after the break to save what was left of the season. Tulo is a top candidate to bounce back in 2009, as he will be counted on heavily to fill the hole left by Matt Holliday in the Rockies lineup.

5. Mike Aviles SS Royals – The 27 year old rookie came out of nowhere to help many a fantasy team in 2008, and should be a decent option again in 2009. He could be considered the Shane Battier of fantasy baseball – he helps out across the board, but doesn’t produce a ton in any one category and doesn’t have a lot of fantasy sex appeal. As a result, Aviles will surely posses much more value in rotisserie leagues then he will in Head 2 Head leagues. If you can’t grab one of the studly SS early in the first round, you could wait and grab the KC SS somewhere in the 10-12 rounds, a move that could prove to pay off down the road.

6. JJ Hardy SS Brewers -James Jerry Hardy never gets much love in fantasy, but over the past couple of years has shown that he can be a decent source of HR. He hit 26 HR in 2007 and 24 HR in 2008, totals that landed him in the top 5 in HR by a SS both years. Hardy doesn’t steal and he doesn’t hit for great average (just about .280 over the past two seasons), but he should put up 80 R and 80 RBI, which is pretty solid production overall considering you don’t need to draft him until the 10th round or so. At 26, he’s just now entering his prime, so its possible that we could even see an increase in his HR totals.

7. Derek Jeter SS Yankees – At the age of 34, Jeter is well past his prime in terms of being a productive fantasy SS. He put up a line of 88 R, 11 HR, 69 RBI, 11 SB, and a .300 average last season, numbers that surely disappointed those who drafted him thinking he could get back to his 2006 ways. With the addition of Mark Teixeira, the Bronx Bombers’ lineup should be lethal as ever, and if Jeter can find a way to get on base like he did before 2008, he should be able to get his run total back above 100. Like the other two guys ahead of him on this list, the nine time all-star doesn’t get drafted till about the 10th round, which means he could prove to be a decent value pick, but I would suggest looking looking elsewhere for your SS in 2009.