Fantasy Baseball 2012: 5 Highly Rated Stars to Avoid

In fantasy baseball, there are always stars that under-perform. In order to win your league, you need to identify guys who won’t live up to their potential.

Last season, Adam Dunn was by far the biggest disappointment, having an absolutely terrible season from the plate.

Who will be this year’s biggest disappointment?

Let’s take a look at five stars that don’t warrant an early-round pick in 2012.

5. Ichiro Suzuki, OF, Seattle Mariners

Ichiro failed to hit .300 for the first time in his career in 2011.

He’s 38 years old, so he’s bound to start slowing down sometime.

With the Mariners moving him to third in the batting order this season, expect an adjustment period to take place.

His steals will almost certainly drop significantly from the No. 3 slot too.

4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B, New York Yankees

A-Rod is showing signs of slowing down.

He hasn’t played a full season since 2007 and hasn’t hit .300 since 2008.

He also failed to hit 20 home runs for the first time in his career in 2011.

I wouldn’t trust him to stay healthy in 2012. Even if he is healthy, I wouldn’t waste an early-round draft pick on him.

3. Dan Uggla, 2B, Atlanta Braves

Even with a 33-game hitting streak in 2011, Uggla only managed to hit .233.

He has plenty of power, but he’s going to kill your team’s batting average.

Don’t expect him to have another 30-plus game hit streak this year either, possibly leading to an even lower batting average.

If you have any other options at second base, avoid Uggla at all costs.

2. Matt Holliday, OF, St. Louis Cardinals

Holliday struggled last year when Albert Pujols was in the lineup.

Now that Holliday is the man in St. Louis, he’ll have to prove he can handle the pressure.

With Lance Berkman unlikely to do as well as he did last season, Holliday could find himself chasing a lot of bad pitches.

If he tries to do too much this year, he’ll struggle mightily.

1. Hanley Ramirez, SS/3B, Miami Marlins

Ramirez battled through several nagging injuries in 2011, leading to his worst stats since he broke into the Major Leagues.

This year, he’ll be moving to third base to accommodate the arrival of Jose Reyes.

Look for him to get off to a really slow start both at the plate and in the field.

If he develops a bad attitude, it could be a really long year for Ramirez owners.