With the first week of Fantasy Baseball in the books, so let’s take a look at whose stock has risen and fallen.
By Dustin Shull
David Ortiz started his farewell tour with his fifth opening day home run, which was also his 504th of his career, tying him for 26th on the all-time list with Eddie Murray. The day after, Big Papi hit another, passing Murray.
The young players did not wait long to put everyone on notice that the youth movement is here, and it is here to stay. After last season’s breakout stars like Carlos Correa and Fransisco Lindor found immediate success, you can bet rookies will make another big impact on this fantasy baseball season.
Not only did some of the young players show up, but the household names we are used to made sure that no one forgot about them as well.
Although, we still have Sunday’s games to go, we here at Elite Sports NY have the first fantasy stock watch for you. Let’s get started.
Stock Up
Trevor Story
No one burst onto the scene with more fury than Trevor Story, becoming the first player in MLB history to notch a home run in his first four career games. Crazy thing is, it was not just four home runs, but six. He has eight hits, all but two coming via the long ball.
Currently, he is on pace to hit 243 homers, and playing half of his games in the Colorado air I don’t see that being untouchable. Just kidding. If this guy isn’t just a quick flash in the pan, he could launch 40 in the league’s most hitter friendly environment.
Not to rain on this parade that is Story’s incredible week of hitting, but let us travel back in time to 2006 when Chris Shelton was the best hitter in the universe for two weeks. Shelton was the first player in ML history to hit nine home runs in his first 13 games.
What happened to Shelton after that? He was sent down to the minors midway through the season and finished with a total of 16 homers.
Hopefully Story does not follow suit and continues this torrid pace, but only time will tell.
For now though fantasy baseball owners know he is the guy to own and no one is hotter with a baseball bat in his hands.
Stock Up
Carlos Correa
Everyone knew that Correa was going to be special when he entered the majors last season, but did anyone know exactly how special?
In 387 at-bats in 2015 he hit 22 dingers and drove in 68 runs while claiming American League Rookie of the Year honors.
This year is no different. In 20 at-bats, Correa has already knocked three out of the park, knocked in four runs, and has an on-base percentage of .381.
Hopefully he can keep his pace up and pay back the fantasy baseball owners that spent a first or second round pick on him. It’s hard to imagine this kid having serious issues; he’s got all the intangibles and then some to be in the top rankings all season long.
Stock Up
Cole Hamels
Hamels was sent to the Texas Rangers last season from the Philadelphia Phillies as they continue their rebuild.
The Rangers knew that they were getting a solid ace and a guy who still has a good few years left in the tank.
So far this season Hamels has given the Rangers just what they wanted. He has picked up two wins in his first two starts while maintaining an ERA of just 2.08 ERA. He is keeping hitters in check by inducing ground balls 74.2 percent of the time and also struck out 12 batters as well. That ground ball rate is obviously unsustainable over the course of the season, but Hamels keeping the ball down is a good early season sign.
He earned his two wins against two pretty tough opponents in the Mariners and Angels. He gave up solo homers to Kyle Seager and Robinson Cano in his first game, but those are two batters that you don’t feel bad about giving up home runs to.
Hamels is in his age 32 season and is in the tougher American League now, so whether or not he can dominate like he has in the National League is to be determined. It does help his cause that he doesn’t have to worry about stepping into the batter’s box quite as much, though.
Stock Down
Zack Greinke
After earning himself an incredibly hefty payday of $206.5 million over six years, Greinke gives the Diamondbacks a top-of-the-line starter, and one of the best pitchers in baseball.
Sadly, the only thing that has looked good so far is the new jersey designs that the D-Backs unveiled for us this season.
With a forgettable 9.90 ERA (after posting a 1.66 through the entire 2015 season), fantasy owners can’t be pleased.
In Greinke’s defense, he did take the mound on Monday with the flu, where he was touched for seven runs. Still, the next start wasn’t much prettier giving up four earned runs and walking three to go with seven base knocks surrendered.
Don’t look for this trend to continue, as Greinke is far too talented to continue to pitch so poorly. He will get it back together and be amongst the top ten fantasy baseball pitchers before long.
No need to panic guys.
Stock Down
Mike Trout
Do not panic with Mike Trout‘s start to the 2016 season. However, that doesn’t mean those who (more than likely) took him with the first overall pick cannot be upset with him right now.
Some of the greatest hitters tend to start the season slow and then catch fire, which I believe will be the case for Mr. Trout.
As of now he his batting .211 with no home runs and zero runs batted in. After going 0-8 in his first two games, he is 4-11 in his last three and should continue to build on that.
The concerning thing is that of his first 19 plate appearances, he has struck out six times.
Trout, many people’s choices for MVP, will undoubtedly catch fire and put up the numbers that we are all used to seeing. For now though, this start is disappointing and is definitely not making any fantasy baseball owner happy.
Again, there is no way that a guy of Trout’s caliber will continue this dismal play, so just hang in there and be patient.
Stock Down
Yoenis Cespedes
Say it isn’t so, Yo! The Mets gave in and signed Cespedes to a $75 million, three-year contract and this is how he repays them to start the season.
Cespedes earned that contract after having an insane stretch in the regular season. One of the hottest free agents on the market, the team decided to fork over the money and keep one of their key pieces from their World Series run.
Getting this season started 2-17 (.118 batting average) with seven strikeouts and those only two hits being singles, the Mets and their fans are hoping that this is not going to be a familiar trend.
Expecting Yo to keep up his power numbers from 2015 is a bit unrealistic, but the guy will hit you 25-30 homers and drive in around 100 runs.
Let’s just hope that Cespedes is going to continue to punish the ball like we all know he can, and doesn’t end up being someone collecting a big paycheck and then just showing up. Today’s bomb against Philadelphia was a positive sign.