Fantasy Baseball: Is Ike Davis out of His Slump?

Looking at New York Mets first baseman Ike Davis’ numbers, you can’t help but feel for the guy and the owners who have endured his .190-21-7-33-0 start. He has been much better lately. The question is whether or not he’s back on track.

After posting a .302-20-7-25-0 line in 36 games last year and .264-73-19-71-3 line in 2010, much more was expected of Davis than his horrible start. As bad as he’s been, he was hitting .158 through June 8.

In the past 11 games, though, Davis is hitting .364 with six runs, two home runs and 12 RBI. While his average jumped an impressive 32 points, he really made a mark by increasing his OPS by 94 points.

Davis is owned in about a third of ESPN fantasy leagues and a little more than 40 percent of Yahoo! leagues. He still isn’t all the way back, but at least he is making strides.

If he is available in your league and you have an expendable roster spot for Davis, he for now is best utilized as a streamer. He is hitting .176 with a .549 OPS against lefties and .196 and .622 against righties. There is a small discrepancy there, which isn’t surprising for a left-handed hitter, but it is not very significant for fantasy owners.

Where you really need to be careful when inserting Ike Davis into your lineup is when he’s playing at Citi Field. Prior to this year he was virtually the same at home (.271, .836) as on the road (.272, .799). This year, however, it is a completely different story. He’s hitting .121, .378 at home and .257, .818 way from Citi Field.

He is worth considering for road games, but is a not a recommended play at home.

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