I told ya I’d take it deep! Wait, that doesn’t sound right…strike that, reverse it, scramble to the sidelines, get dropped before you’re out of bounds and call a time out. Yeah, yeah I mixed sports metaphors but what do you expect from the guy who also works over on the Fantasy Football side of Razzball? As my wise friend Tehol once said, just as a leopard can’t change it’s spots, a guy in a leopard thong can’t change his ways just because he’s on the fantasy baseball side of the world. So pardon me while I limber up for some lumber talk and take a little peek at a guy who was a surprise call up after Giancarlo went down last year and who did very little with his time before being sent down and finishing the year with season-ending thumb surgery…hrm, coulda sold that better, methinks. Let’s have a do-over, shall we? Here’s my excitement in doge format. Marcell Ozuna! Much excite! Many power! Such amazing! There, much better. I should work for Apple. But now that we’ve underlined and highlighted what we came to talk about, I guess we should get to it. So here’s why you should target Ozuna in your deeper leagues for the 2014 Fantasy Baseball season…
So, I guess I should start off by saying in deep leagues, you see a guy going this late and is declared the starter, you just kinda have to pick him up. You’re sitting there in the 26th round saying to yourself ‘is Ryan Sweeney the starting right fielder for the Cubs this year? Yes? Well, I need a 7th OF…I’m sold!’ I agree with you, even in deep leagues that’s not exactly the best strategy going late but when you’re in the ‘I need to put together a starting lineup’ mode, it happens. The key at this point of the draft I always remember is to aim for upside, not whether the guy is starting or not. And when you get both? Well, smiles all around and I think Ozuna is going to be that draft day afterthought that could pay big dividends for where you get him. As of this typing, the 49ers are playing the Panthers to get to the NFC championship, I’m butt-naked in front of my computer, and Ozuna is the starting center fielder for the Marlins. Clearly, some parts of that last sentence are more relevant than others so let’s discuss that. What I’m trying to say is it’s early and I can’t provide a 100% guaranty that Ozuna will keep his job. He is competing with plenty of other young guys for OF playing time like Grey’s Christian Yelich and even who may take over if Marcell falters in Jake Marisnick. But given that he’s the favorite and played winter ball in center field as asked, I think that gives us a good chance to look at what he brings to you and me: power. Yeah, I know you just went and looked at his 291 plate appearances last year at the MLB level. I know he only had 3 HRs and slugged .389. I see your beef with my stance and it’s valid. But looking over Ozuna’s minor league track record, last season looks to be more of an outlier to his trends as Marcell already has two 20+ HR seasons under his MiLB belt at the young age of 23 and last year was his lowest ISO he’s had with at least 50 games under his belt at a particular level. Marcell has 20/10 potential and if he needs more seasoning and you lose him early, at least you didn’t have to take him very high to find out. Besides, you really gonna be happy with your Sweeney end line if he’s the starter for the Cubs? Rhetorical! Deep League Drafts! Many upside! So sleeper! Must Ozuna!
Sky Sperling is a contributor for Razzball Football and Razzball Baseball. He’s also a lover of fine beer, fine women and fine-toothed combs. You can follow him on twitter @Sky_Razzball and in your most sweetest of dreams.
