Fantasy Baseball 2012: Andrew McCutchen Headlines Wedneday's Mini-Revelations

Here are two quick baseball-themed revelations to ponder featuring a pair of red-hot hitters at different stages of their careers. 

1. Andrew McCutchen is running away with National League MVP and Fantasy MVP honors

Believe me, McCutchen has generated more hype on this blog than just about any hitter this season. But his most recent tear from July 1-17 borders on absurd: seven homers, 14 RBI, 17 runs, a .531 batting average, .574 OBP and 1.594 OPS.

In short, the fourth-year star is doing everything in his power (and then some) to keep the Pirates in the thick of the National League Central race. He's also doing his best to flirt with year-ending projections like 33 homers, 104 RBI, 103 runs, 27 steals and a .360 batting average—a stunning figure that would require McCutchen to incur a prolonged slump from his seasonal batting average of .374.

In two leagues last week, separate owners made attempts to acquire McCutchen from me via trade. My stock answer for both queries was the following: "I'll take your best four players for Mac...and maybe I'll throw in a Tier III pitcher to complete a 4-for-2 swap. I would have no interest in anything short of that."

2. Don't get caught holding the bag after Kevin Youkilis comes down the mountain

This is a tough stanza to write since Youkilis, as a Chicagoan, has already matched or eclipsed his 2012 output with Boston in homers, RBI, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging and OPS. And barring a massive slump, there's little chance of his White Sox-related tallies in batting, OBP and OPS plummeting to the levels of his Red Sox days.

But let's be honest here: From this point forward, the odds of Youkilis maintaining his incredible pace with the White Sox, across the board, are long.

Even before Bobby Valentine was named the Boston manager last winter, the 33-year-old corner infielder had encountered a noticeable drop-off for the 2010 and '11 seasons. And that occurred with Youk being protected by a star-driven, highly efficient Red Sox lineup.

Youkilis' great run with the White Sox can be attributed to many factors—change of scenery, moving to a less pressurized environment, happier teammates, better focus, more spacious ballpark. But in time, once the emotion of everything has worn off, he'll likely return to the comfortable ranges of .280 batting, .340 OBP, .840 OPS and a walk-to-strikeout ratio of 1:2.

In the meantime, enjoy the ride...and be prepared to sell high at some point in the next three weeks.

Jay Clemons can be reached on Twitter, day or night, at @ATL_JayClemons.