(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Each week on RotoExperts.com, I scoop the turds from the fantasy baseball litter box and take a closer look at the players killing your teams. After looking back at 2008 in the first two columns, the fantasy baseball season finally started with a bang last week.
That bang, of course, was the sound caused by every pitcher I own dousing himself in gasoline and proceeding to light a match. I shouldn't need to tell you that the season is a marathon and not a sprint, although quite frankly one look at me would tell you I'm not exactly a running enthusiast.
However, it is important not to make rash decisions because your sleepers are still snoozing or because some of your players appear to have a better chance of riding to the ballpark on a unicorn than getting a hit.
Hitters
Chris Davis (1B/3B, TEX)
The Rangers hung 29 runs on Cleveland during a three-game sweep, so you'd think that Davis would have actually contributed to that hit parade. Instead, he was more like the drunk guy at the parade eating cotton candy and lifting his shirt to get beads that weren't actually being handed out.
Anyway, Davis ended the week with just one hit and nine strikeouts in 18 at-bats. Entering 2009, the biggest area of doubt was his plate discipline after drawing just 20 free passes in 317 plate appearances last season and swinging at 37.3 percent of pitches outside the strike zone (the league average is around 25 percent).
The power numbers will come, but a repeat of last year’s .280 average will be tough without an improved eye at the plate.
Jed Lowrie (3B/SS, BOS)
How poorly do you have to play for Red Sox fans to starting asking when Julio Lugo (SS, BOS) will be back? Just look at Lowrie's numbers and you'll find the answer.
He has struck out in nearly half of his plate appearances and is hitting .056 through Boston's first five games. The strikeouts are uncharacteristic given his track record, and he's hitting too many fly balls based on his lack of pop.
Lowrie did have a hot spring (.343), but once Lugo returns he's sure to steal some at-bats and likely make Lowrie expendable to your fantasy squad.
Lastings Milledge (OF, WAS)
Milledge was a popular sleeper pick entering the 2009 season, but he's started out slower than Joba Chamberlain (SP, NYY) on a field sobriety test. Milledge has no extra-base hits in 20 plate appearances and has struck out nine times.
His strikeout percentage has not been an area of his concern over his career, and he's not chasing a ton of pitches outside the strike zone. Overall, he's just taking more pitches than normal, which may be related to his transition to the leadoff spot.
If someone in your league has a quick trigger and releases Milledge, feel free to pick him up and be confident that his average will get back in the .270 range.
Alexei Ramirez (2B/SS/OF, CHW)
Even after picking up his first two hits of the season on Saturday, the Cuban Missile is definitely having a crisis at the plate. Get it, Cuban Missile Crisis? Come on, you can’t get that mix of fantasy baseball and U.S. foreign policy just anywhere.
Anyway, Ramirez's struggles are rooted in his complete lack of plate discipline. In his rookie season of 2008, he swung at 42.7 percent of pitches outside of the strike zone, although he managed to make contact on two-thirds of those.
However, it's hard to sustain peak performance while doing that, and the fact that through the first week of this season Alexei is swinging at an astounding 56.8 percent of pitches outside the zone doesn't instill confidence in the fantasy community.
A hot start could have moved him toward the top of the order, but for now, his owners have no choice but to wait out the slump.
Delmon Young (OF, MIN)
Are we to the point yet where we just admit that Young is a bust and move on? Through his first two full seasons he has looked like a guy whose ceiling is that of a 12-12 player as opposed to 20-20.
The biggest thing holding him back is a failure to improve his plate discipline, most notably his ability to take a walk. His walk percentage is under five percent for his career, and his BB/K rate is a woeful 0.24.
In a crowded Minnesota outfield, Young is quickly finding himself the odd man out after riding the pine for three of the first six games. I am simply amazed that he is owned in more leagues than guys like Daniel Murphy (OF, NYM), Ryan Spilborghs (OF, COL), or even Nyjer Morgan (OF, PIT).
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