Fantasy Drafthelp: Baseball Guide Preview

NOTE: These are some of the features to be contained in our annual fantasy baseball guide FANTASY BASEBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2011, which will be released March 11 on FantasyDrafthelp.com.

SLEEPERS

C: JP Arencibia, John Jaso

1B: Freddie Freeman, Adam Lind, Mitch Moreland

2B: Gordon Beckham, Sean Rodriguez

SS: Ian Desmond, JJ Hardy

3B: Pedro Alvarez, Chipper Jones, Pablo Sandoval, Danny Valencia

OF: Carlos Beltran, Tyler Colvin, BJ Upton, Will Venable

SP: Josh Beckett, Brett Cecil, Jhoulys Chacin, Jeremy Hellickson, Daniel Hudson, John Lackey, James McDonald, Brandon Morrow, Ricky Nolasco, Jake Peavy, Tim Stauffer, Brandon Webb, Travis Wood

CL: John Axford, Drew Storen

OVERVALUED PLAYERS

C: Russell Martin, Yadier Molina

1B: Derrek Lee

2B: Howie Kendrick

SS: Elvis Andrus, Astrubal Cabrera, Starlin Castro, Marco Scutaro

3B: Chase Headley, Michael Young

OF: Jacoby Ellsbury, Ichiro, Nick Markakis, Andrew McCutchen, Nick Swisher, Shane Victorino

SP: Jaime Garcia, Phil Hughes, Hiroki Kuroda, Colby Lewis

CL: none

UNDERVALUED PLAYERS

C: JP Arencibia, John Jaso

1B: Mitch Moreland, Mike Napoli

2B: Gordon Beckham, Juan Uribe

SS: JJ Hardy, Juan Uribe

3B: Danny Valencia

OF: Jose Bautista, Rajai Davis, Aubrey Huff, Carlos Lee, Carlos Quentin

SP: Madison Bumgarner, Jhoulys Chacin, RA Dickey, Jeremy Hellickson, Daniel Hudson, John Lackey, Jake Peavy

CL: Carlos Marmol, Joe Nathan

PROSPECT RANKINGS FOR 2011 SEASON

1 Jeremy Hellickson, RHP, Tampa Bay

2 Freddie Freeman, 1B, Atlanta

3 Brandon Belt, 1B, San Francisco

4 Desmond Jennings, OF, Tampa Bay

5 Domonic Brown, OF, Philadelphia

6 Kyle Drabek, RHP, Toronto

7 Aroldis Chapman, LHP, Cincinnati

8 Chris Sale, LHP, Chicago White Sox

9 Jesus Montero, C, NY Yankees

10 Mike Moustakas, 3B, Kansas City

11 Jenrry Mejia, RHP, NY Mets

12 Mark Rogers, RHP, Milwaukee

13 Jason Kipnis, 2B, Cleveland

14 Lonnie Chisenhall, 3B, Cleveland

15 Alex White, RHP, Cleveland

AL & NL SCARCITY

[NOTE: The following players are starting-caliber fantasy performers worth more in single-league formats because of a relative scarcity of talent at that position.]

C: Brian McCann, Buster Posey

1B: Buster Posey (worth more only because of the C situation)

2B: Brandon Phillips, Martin Prado, Dan Uggla, Chase Utley, Rickie Weeks

SS: Derek Jeter

3B: Martin Prado (worth more only because of the 2B situation), Evan Longoria, Aramis Ramirez

OF: Jose Bautista, Shin-Soo Choo, Carl Crawford, Nelson Cruz, Rajai Davis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Aubrey Huff, Josh Hamilton, Juan Pierre, Martin Prado (worth more only because of the 2B situation), Carlos Quentin, Alex Rios, BJ Upton, Delmon Young

SP: Brett Anderson, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Trevor Cahill, John Danks, Brian Duensing, Gio Gonzalez, Tommy Hanson, Dan Haren, Jeremy Hellickson, Felix Hernandez, Phil Hughes, John Lackey, Francisco Liriano, Brian Matusz, Brandon Morrow, Jake Peavy, David Price, Ricky Romero, CC Sabathia, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver

CL: Andrew Bailey, Neftali Feliz, Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, Chris Perez, Mariano Rivera, Joakim Soria, Jose Valverde

PLAYERS WITH A WIDE RANGE OF OPINION

[NOTE: Our Experts’ Draft Board is a compilation of other draft boards from major magazines and websites in the industry. These players had a wide disparity between their highest and lowest rankings in the survey.]

C: JP Arencibia (12 to 28), John Buck (10 to 21), Ryan Doumit (13 to 33), Nick Hundley (17 to 38), Jonathan Lucroy (21 to 38), Miguel Montero (7 to 19), Miguel Olivo (15 to 26), Yadier Molina (10 to 27), John Jaso (15 to 27), AJ Pierzynski (12 to 23), Jorge Posada (8 to 19), Chris Snyder (18 to 34)

1B: Daric Barton (24 to 36), Lance Berkman (24 to 39), Billy Butler (8 to 20), Ike Davis (14 to 27), Freddie Freeman (17 to 32), Garrett Jones (18 to 32), Adam LaRoche (17 to 29), Mitch Moreland (18 to 33), Mike Napoli (14 to 29), Carlos Pena (15 to 27)

2B: Sean Rodriguez (16 to 29), Ryan Theriot (17 to 28)

SS: Yuniesky Betancourt (16 to 26), Orlando Cabrera (18 to 34), JJ Hardy (15 to 30), Ryan Theriot (16 to 26), Juan Uribe (14 to 24)

3B: Alberto Callaspo (17 to 30), Edwin Encarnacion (17 to 36), Chris Johnson (16 to 31), Chipper Jones (19 to 29), Miguel Tejada (17 to 28), Danny Valencia (14 to 33), Ty Wigginton (21 to 32)

OF: Jose Bautista (9 to 40), Carlos Beltran (38 to 58), Michael Bourn (26 to 47), Chris Coghlan (52 to 75), Rajai Davis (36 to 68), Jacoby Ellsbury (11 to 39), Corey Hart (18 to 38), Austin Jackson (21 to 62), Adam Jones (23 to 45), Jason Kubel (45 to 65), Nick Markakis (16 to 41), Nate McLouth (51 to 92), Nyjer Morgan (50 to 76), Juan Pierre (27 to 49), Alex Rios (8 to 29), Grady Sizemore (22 to 43), Denard Span (26 to 67), Michael Stanton (20 to 45), Nick Swisher (20 to 44), Jose Tabata (43 to 67)

SP: Bronson Arroyo (33 to 69), Josh Beckett (30 to 50), Trevor Cahill (25 to 72), Jhoulys Chacin (36 to 66), Johnny Cueto (39 to 64), Ryan Dempster (45 to 60), RA Dickey (53 to 100), Matt Garza (28 to 53), Gio Gonzalez (28 to 78), Jeremy Guthrie (41 to 96), Daniel Hudson (26 to 73), Phil Hughes (26 to 49), Hiroki Kuroda (31 to 55), Colby Lewis (33 to 54), Shaun Marcum (25 to 54), Brian Matusz (28 to 57), Wandy Rodriguez (24 to 51), Ricky Romero (29 to 59), Ervin Santana (48 to 74), Johan Santana (45 to 86), Tim Stauffer (64 to 85), CJ Wilson (40 to 68), Randy Wolf (58 to 107), Travis Wood (46 to 91), Carlos Zambrano (51 to 83)

CL: Jonathan Broxton (5 to 19), Matt Capps (15 to 45), Francisco Cordero (11 to 29), Brad Lidge (15 to 23), Joe Nathan (8 to 27), Jonathan Papelbon (5 to 16), Drew Storen (16 to 37)