But when you're gunning for a fantasy baseball championship in something other than a dynasty league, Ryan Zimmerman's pedigree only matters if he's producing (because let's face it, you're not holding onto him in a keeper league unless it's really deep). So even though he was my seventh round draft pick this year, and I really like his chances of rebecoming a valuable fantasy player, Zimmerman hasn't arrived yet, so I'm mulling over my options.
I'm looking for a player like Zimmerman, someone who can hit for a little power in one of my utility spots without killing my average. While scanning the waiver wire, I gave little consideration to guys like Jack Cust (can't afford the 0 for 4s) and Fernando Tatis (no, I'm not a believer). Joey Votto, however, caught my eye.
He's got 14 HR and he's hitting .279, so he's in the discussion right away. The numbers are solid, but they're worse than the ones expected of him going into the season. Part of the reason that the numbers aren't more impressive is that Votto, whose line drive rate ranks 3rd in the league, is 20th in the NL in BABIP. We can expect his BABIP to climb up from .318 if his line drive rate stays at a lusty 26.4%, bringing his season average closer to his minor league mark of .289. With the average, he'll drive in more runs and score more often. The discrepancy between his line drive rate and his batting average in balls in play doesn't suggest that he'll hit more home runs, but we can expect 7 home runs or so over the course of the next couple months.
I like Votto, but for now, I'll be watching him rake on the wire, waiting for Zimmerman to heat up. I'm going to wait another few days and try to watch them both as much as possible before deciding who will spend the rest of the season in my lineup.
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