2010 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper Watch: Dan Uggla

One of the more shallow positions in fantasy baseball is still the second base spot, and while the rankings aren’t seeing much change from a year ago, the bottom half of the top 10 second basemen are widely viewed as ancillary players at best.

One of those players is Dan Uggla.

Uggla is a guy that a lot of people are feeling will be as useless as a toothpick in water, and aside from his home run production, he isn’t worth a look until deep in the draft.

With players like Robinson Cano, Brandon Phillips, and Ben Zobrist ahead of him in the rankings, at first it’s hard not to agree.

The knocks on Uggla are several:

The guy couldn’t steal a base if you gave him one.

His strikeout rate is appalling.

He’s never had over 100 RBI in any given season.

He’ll never be better than average.

But in Uggla’s defense, there is more than meets the eye if you think about it. The knocks themselves could prove to be ancillary—not the player.

Uggla averages 153 strikeouts a season, but power hitters are always accompanied with the strikeout stigmata.

True, Uggla has never hit the 100 RBI mark, but three out of four years he has hit or surpassed the 90 mark. In addition, Uggla has always been a double producing machine (35 a year, 139 career), so it is safe to say the guy can hit when no-one else is.

He’ll never be better than average is a bit extreme when you think of him finishing third in ROY voting (2006) and being a two time All-Star in his short four-year career.

So how will this year fair in fantasy?

Uggla recently signed a one-year contract worth $7.8 million after rumors of the Marlins possibly putting him out there for trade. Now, while Uggla is a nice fit in this year’s budget, the probability of him coming back to Florida next year is very low.

This means Uggla will be on display all year long as he entertains scouts and possible suitors.

The guy already averages about 30 home runs and 90 RBI a season, and those numbers could be on the rise simply due to the current circumstances.

Uggla’s ADP has been hovering around nine with Ben Zobrist (8) and Robinson Cano (6/7) right ahead of him. I really believe Zobrist is worth a lot more than an eighth round pick now that he will be playing full time.

Cano (statistically) is actually worse than Uggla in terms of power while nearly even in run support, which means Uggla could wind up being a steal at seven, considering only Howie Kendrick is the next man in line.

But it’s also not just about those three players:

Aaron Hill will be under everyone’s microscope to see if last year’s comeback was a fluke—risky pick.

Brian Roberts is fast and crafty, but has noting when it comes to dingers and RBI.

Brandon Phillips has a lot of value with his ability to steal bases, but not much else.

To be honest, in regard to power, runs scored, doubles, and RBI, not even the aforementioned OR Dustin Pedroia and Ian Kinsler can say they’ve been as consistent as Uggla over the past four years.

The numbers are similar, but Uggla’s consistency often goes ignored.

Player	AB	Runs	Hits	HR	DBL	RBI
Aaron Hill	2041	279	585	61	126	256
B. Roberts	2427	405	701	47	183	248
B. Phillips	2329	330	642	88	108	345
D. Pedroia	1888	324	580	42	145	212
I. Kinsler	1990	364	556	83	122	273
Dan Uggla	2338	399	602	121	139	360

Florida has a pretty strong team coming into 2010. And while players like Chase Utley, Ian Kinsler, and Brian Roberts will be the heavy favorites in the early going, Dan Uggla has significant favoritism to be a sleeper pick at second base this year.