Being the fantasy baseball ‘pert I am — ‘perting ain’t easy — I’ve noticed a trend I think I need to address. There’s a whole lot of what have you done for me lately. If someone takes a dump in their comforter in 2009, people ignore them for 2010. If someone is terrible in 2009 and 33 years old then quite possibly they’re on the downturn of their career. I.e. I’m not writing about Lance Berkman being a fantasy sleeper for 2010. But when someone is only 23 years old — Chris Davis — then we shouldn’t be so quick to write them off. Remember how well that did you when you wrote off Carl Crawford in 2009 coming off a poor 2008? Also, don’t write off someone because they swing more than the creepy guy on Craigslist. Remember how well that did you when you wrote off Mark Reynolds going into 2009? Is Chris Davis going to win a batting title in 2010? It rhymes with soap and it’s spelled nope. But can Chris Davis be a fantasy sleeper in 2010?
READ THE TITLE! Whoa, Mr. Caps Lock. Chillax. This may only be interesting in a dorky-baseball-stats-are-so-cool-type way, but for batters with 390 at-bats or more, Chris Davis had the 2nd lowest contact rate with 63.2% — for the guy reading over your shoulder who doesn’t know as much as you, that means he swung and missed a crapton. (A crapton is more than a shizzload, but less than shizzton.) You know who led the league? Of course you do. Mark Reynolds. Carlos Pena came in third. So we can see that a hitter can be productive and swing and miss and miss and miss and you get it. Chris Davis actually showed a better eye in 2009 than in 2008, lowering the amount of pitches he swung at outside the strike zone. I feel your eyes glazing over so I’m going to drop the percentage-thisses and percentage-thats, focusing on the more concrete. Doode can hit homers. With a full season, he should reach 30 homers with ease. The average probably won’t sniff .275, but he can put together a .260 season. Carlos Pena will probably be drafted about 50 spots before Davis but they’re really not that different and, in fact, Davis is younger and can have a more valuable season. Am I saying draft Chris Davis in the first ten rounds? No, but he’s definitely a 2010 fantasy baseball sleeper.
