With the baseball season getting ready to start and everyone setting up their fantasy drafts let’s go through the positions and see who’s the best, the underrated, the player who’ll have a bounce back year and the player to stay away from. Will start with 1st baseman.
The Best; Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks. An injured hand limited Goldschmidt to 109 games last season, but don’t forget that in 2013 he led the NL in home runs with 36 and RBI’s with 125. Look for his numbers to do close to that or better this season. Another fantasy plus for Goldschmidt besides the power numbers is he’ll also steal double digit bases a season as well.
Underrated; Justin Morneau, Colorado Rockies. Yes; you can be underrated and win the batting title like Morneau did last season. After concussion issues about 5 seasons ago it looked like Morneau might just be done, but he .319 for the Rockies last season and there’s no reason to think he can’t repeat that average. Fantasy owners would like to get more than 17 home runs out of Morneau, but if it’s later in your draft and you’re looking for a 1st baseman he’s a good pick.
Bounce back; Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins. Mauer had quite a bit of value last season when he could still be used as a catcher, but this season he only qualifies as a 1st baseman. Mauer is a 3 time AL batting champion, but his average fell to .277 without having to catch. While Mauer was never a big home run hitter his total of 4 last season was terrible and he should reach double digits this season. The concerns as always with Mauer is injury, but that was part of the reason he moved to 1st base. Look for Mauer to bounce back in 2015.
Stay away from; Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves. Freeman himself isn’t the problem, but look at the Braves line up and give me one reason you’d pitch to Freeman. Freeman hit .288 with 18 home runs and 78 RBI’s last season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see his average stay in that area or be even a little higher, but the Braves are going to struggle to score; so his RBI’s might drop. If your in a league that gives you points for walks Freeman may break the 100 walk total this season; he had 90 last season.
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