July 9, 2007 Coach Danko

MLB Week 15: All-Star Style!

Hey sports junkies! This column is dedicated to bringing you the latest information on who's hot and who's not in the fantasy sports world. This week is a special edition where I'll choose my top 5 "surprise" studs of 2007 at the All-Star break along with the 5 most disappointing performers to date. I also want to note off of the top that the average draft positions that I'll refer to during the column were taken from Yahoo fantasy baseball.

Prince Fielder, Mil 1B - Prince heads into the break as the National League homerun leader with 29 bombs. He's also led the upstart Brewers into the NL Central division lead. Not bad for a guy who was on average the 14th first baseman off of the draft board and routinely taken after guys like Richie Sexson. Like Ryan Howard last year, Fielder is cementing himself as one of the premier players in all of baseball.

Magglio Ordonez, Det OF - Ordonez's average draft round was the 8th and he was on average the 97th player taken in 2007 fantasy drafts. As such, Magglio is paying huge dividends for fantasy owners this year as the American League leader in batting average (.367) along with compiling 70 runs scored and 70 runs batted in. With Detroit leading the AL Central, Magglio is probably only second to A-Rod in the AL MVP voting at this point in the year.

Dan Haren, Oak SP - At the All-Star break, no other pitcher in baseball has put together all-around numbers that can top those of Dan Haren. He is 10-3 with a 2.30 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 101 strikeouts in 129.1 innings pitched. To top it off, Haren was named as the All-Star Game starter for the American League. On average, Haren was the 25th starting pitcher taken and 110th overall player selected.

Josh Beckett, Bos SP - Beckett was even further down most draft boards at the start of the 2007 season. His average draft round was the 12th and he was the 138th player taken on average. That pick has been good enough to net owners a player who currently is tied for the Major League lead in wins (12) and has compiled a 3.44 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. Not too shabby.

Joe Blanton, Oak SP - I definitely wasn't a believer in Joltin' Joe at the start of the season, but I'm long overdue in giving this guy his props. Here's his 2007 stat line: 8-5, 3.28 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and 85 strikeouts in 134.1 innings pitched. He has pitched 3 complete games and 1 shut out. Blanton wasn't even drafted in most leagues and he has ended up as a waiver-wire gem in my private league.

Honorable Mentions: Brad Penny, LAD SP; John Maine, NYM SP; Russell Martin, LAD C; Ian Snell, Pit SP; Eric Byrnes, Ari OF; Kelvim Escobar, LAA SP; Ken Griffey Jr., Cin OF; Gary Sheffield, Det 1B/OF; Brandon Phillips, Cin 2B; Torii Hunter, Min OF

Chris Carpenter, StL SP - What has the second starting pitcher taken off nearly every draft board netted you so far? How about 6 innings pitched, 5 earned runs allowed, and 3 strikeouts. Stellar! I don't think I need to say any more.

Andruw Jones, Atl OF - It looks like the pressure of the contract year really got to the player whose average draft position at the start of the year was number 31. Jones has hit 15 homers, but it took a 6-for-11 spree in the last 3 games before the break to pull him up above the Mendoza line.

Roy Oswalt, Hou SP - As the 3rd starting pitcher taken on average at draft time, Oswalt has definitely not lived up to the expectation of being the ace of many owners' fantasy pitching staffs. His ERA has been respectable at 3.53, but his walk rate is way up to balloon his WHIP up to 1.38. In fact, Oswalt has 44 walks at the break this year, which is 6 more than he had in all of 2006!

Miguel Tejada, Bal SS - On average, Miggy was drafted after only Jose Reyes, Derek Jeter, and Jimmy Rollins. That means he was selected before current fantasy studs like Hanley Ramirez, Carlos Guillen, and Edgar Renteria. In modern-day baseball shortstop is now a position filled with plenty of offensive talent, which has only magnified the lack of power and speed that Tejada displayed prior to fracturing his wrist.

BJ Ryan, Tor RP - Fantasy owners were counting on Ryan to be one of the premier fantasy closers in 2007 since he was selected in the 5th round on average. Nothing like losing your top reliever on April 14th to season-ending elbow surgery. Hopefully you were one of the Ryan owners who was able to snatch up Jeremy Accardo (Ryan's replacement), but even then Accardo's numbers have only been solid and not much more.