Fantasy Baseball Rankings 2012: Albert Pujols and Stars Sure To Struggle Early

There are always a couple superstars who get off to slow starts and frustrate fantasy baseball owners who utilized an early draft pick to select them. This season's sure to be no different, so the question becomes, which sluggers will have April performances they would rather forget?

Here are three players I expect to fall into that category in 2012.

Albert Pujols

Arriving to a new team is always difficult no matter what level of baseball it is. When you do so after signing a $250 million deal, however, it's basically impossible to live up to the sky-high expectations. There will be a bunch of pressure on Pujols to carry the Angels offense on his back.

You may remember the former Cardinals start suffered through one of the worst months of his career last April, hitting just .257 and leading people to ask if the contract year pressure was getting to him. He eventually turned it around and started hitting like everybody has come to expect from him.

The deal will eventually work out in the long run for Los Angeles, but it's going to get off to a rocky start as Pujols attempts to get more acclimated with his surroundings.

David Ortiz

Ortiz is notoriously a slow starter and once a player develops that reputation it tends to stick. For whatever reason, it just takes some guys a little bit longer to get their bat speed and timing where they need to be to start crushing pitches like they usually do.

“Big Papi” certainly is one of those players. His April OPS is 63 points lower than any other full month of play. He's always been honest about his early-season struggles and always has confidence he'll bounce back from them, which he normally does.

There's no reason to believe this year will be any different than the previous 15, so don't be surprised if Ortiz enters May with a batting average well below his career number.

Dan Uggla

Throughout the first couple months of his first season in Atlanta it looked like Uggla belonged in Double-A. He wouldn't have hit a beach ball with an oak tree if given the chance before turning in one of the best second halves in all of baseball.

Maybe his problems early in 2011 shouldn't have been a surprise, though. He's never been a quick starter and the combination of a monster contract and new team only magnified those issues. April is his worst career month by far in virtually every fantasy category.

Look for Uggla to start slow again this season, but now that the fans in Atlanta understand he tends to improve as the season wears on, maybe the media scrutiny will allow him to avoid a disaster like last year's first three months.