2011 MLB Fantasy Mock Draft

Fantasy baseball draft season is upon us. Give your preemptive apologies to the family, go buy eight different draft magazines, print off cheat sheets, buy a five-set of highlighters and get to work. Or just skip most of those steps and follow me along as I trek my way through a mock draft that I took part in only a couple of days ago. Then check out Rotoworld's Online Baseball Draft Guide, which goes above and beyond with tierings at every position and nearly 1,000 profiles and projections.

Needing selection results and wanting a mixed bag of fantasy owners, I hopped over to Mock Draft Central late Wednesday night and sat down for a live snake-style selection with 11 strangers. The league scoring was standard: 5x5 with your normal categories for hitters (AVG, HR, RBI, R, SB) and pitchers (ERA, WHIP, W, SV, K).

I was given first pick. My choices will be italicized throughout the 18-round draft.

Round One

1.1 Albert Pujols
1.2 Hanley Ramirez
1.3 Joey Votto
1.4 Troy Tulowitzki
1.5 Carlos Gonzalez
1.6 Carl Crawford
1.7 Robinson Cano
1.8 Miguel Cabrera
1.9 David Wright
1.10 Ryan Braun
1.11 Evan Longoria
1.12 Alex Rodriguez

My Pick: Pujols is going to be selected first overall in just about every standard fantasy league this season, and rightly so. He has posted massive numbers for 10 straight seasons and he's now playing for a contract -- possibly the richest contract in the history of the sport.

Best Value: Pretty much every player found here in Round One carries great fantasy value, but I especially like the selection of Cano seventh overall. Not many fantasy owners would be so bold, but the Dominican-born second baseman is only getting better and still surrounded by a star-studded lineup in New York.

Head-Scratcher: I thought this might be the year that A-Rod finally drops out of the first round, but that is apparently not going to be the case. It's hard to knock the pick, though. Rodriguez, 36 in July, should do very well again in 2011 as the Yankees look to contend in the ever-tough American League East.

Round Two

2.1 Mark Teixeira
2.2 Roy Halladay
2.3 Adrian Gonzalez
2.4 Josh Hamilton
2.5 Prince Fielder
2.6 Matt Holliday
2.7 Tim Lincecum
2.8 Felix Hernandez
2.9 Ryan Zimmerman
2.10 Joe Mauer
2.11 Dustin Pedroia
2.12 Kevin Youkilis

My Pick: Having the No. 1 pick is nice, but the wait between selecting Pujols and my next turn on the clock was brutal. Youkilis was a nice prize in the end. He is one of the game's best all-around batters and is moving back to third base, where major fantasy production is scarce.

Best Value: As long as his shoulder is recovered from offseason surgery, Gonzalez is going to absolutely rake this year for the Red Sox. He's moving to a much friendlier home ballpark and to a much more productive surrounding lineup.

Head-Scratcher: Holliday went a bit early. He was great last season, registering a .922 OPS and 103 RBI while hitting behind Pujols, but finding 25-homer power in the outfield is never going to be a tough task.

Round Three

3.1 Matt Kemp
3.2 Ryan Howard
3.3 Jose Reyes
3.4 Dan Uggla
3.5 Cliff Lee
3.6 Adam Dunn
3.7 Shin-Soo Choo
3.8 Jose Bautista
3.9 Chase Utley
3.10 Justin Morneau
3.11 Ian Kinsler
3.12 Nelson Cruz

My Pick: With two powerful corner infielders on my roster in Pujols and Youkilis, I decided it was time to grab some speed. Kemp will give me 20-plus stolen bases and will send plenty of balls deep along the way.

Best Value: Call me crazy, but I love the selection of Dunn at 30th overall. He's averaged 40 home runs per season since 2004 and his already impressive RBI totals should rise in the heart of a better lineup in Chicago.

Head-Scratcher: I'm not a believer in Bautista. He may have truly figured some things out with his swing, but he had never topped 16 home runs before last season, when he led the major leagues with 54. Look for some serious regression in 2011.

Fantasy baseball draft season is upon us. Give your preemptive apologies to the family, go buy eight different draft magazines, print off cheat sheets, buy a five-set of highlighters and get to work. Or just skip most of those steps and follow me along as I trek my way through a mock draft that I took part in only a couple of days ago. Then check out Rotoworld's Online Baseball Draft Guide, which goes above and beyond with tierings at every position and nearly 1,000 profiles and projections.

Needing selection results and wanting a mixed bag of fantasy owners, I hopped over to Mock Draft Central late Wednesday night and sat down for a live snake-style selection with 11 strangers. The league scoring was standard: 5x5 with your normal categories for hitters (AVG, HR, RBI, R, SB) and pitchers (ERA, WHIP, W, SV, K).

I was given first pick. My choices will be italicized throughout the 18-round draft.

Round One

1.1 Albert Pujols
1.2 Hanley Ramirez
1.3 Joey Votto
1.4 Troy Tulowitzki
1.5 Carlos Gonzalez
1.6 Carl Crawford
1.7 Robinson Cano
1.8 Miguel Cabrera
1.9 David Wright
1.10 Ryan Braun
1.11 Evan Longoria
1.12 Alex Rodriguez

My Pick: Pujols is going to be selected first overall in just about every standard fantasy league this season, and rightly so. He has posted massive numbers for 10 straight seasons and he's now playing for a contract -- possibly the richest contract in the history of the sport.

Best Value: Pretty much every player found here in Round One carries great fantasy value, but I especially like the selection of Cano seventh overall. Not many fantasy owners would be so bold, but the Dominican-born second baseman is only getting better and still surrounded by a star-studded lineup in New York.

Head-Scratcher: I thought this might be the year that A-Rod finally drops out of the first round, but that is apparently not going to be the case. It's hard to knock the pick, though. Rodriguez, 36 in July, should do very well again in 2011 as the Yankees look to contend in the ever-tough American League East.

Round Two

2.1 Mark Teixeira
2.2 Roy Halladay
2.3 Adrian Gonzalez
2.4 Josh Hamilton
2.5 Prince Fielder
2.6 Matt Holliday
2.7 Tim Lincecum
2.8 Felix Hernandez
2.9 Ryan Zimmerman
2.10 Joe Mauer
2.11 Dustin Pedroia
2.12 Kevin Youkilis

My Pick: Having the No. 1 pick is nice, but the wait between selecting Pujols and my next turn on the clock was brutal. Youkilis was a nice prize in the end. He is one of the game's best all-around batters and is moving back to third base, where major fantasy production is scarce.

Best Value: As long as his shoulder is recovered from offseason surgery, Gonzalez is going to absolutely rake this year for the Red Sox. He's moving to a much friendlier home ballpark and to a much more productive surrounding lineup.

Head-Scratcher: Holliday went a bit early. He was great last season, registering a .922 OPS and 103 RBI while hitting behind Pujols, but finding 25-homer power in the outfield is never going to be a tough task.

Round Three

3.1 Matt Kemp
3.2 Ryan Howard
3.3 Jose Reyes
3.4 Dan Uggla
3.5 Cliff Lee
3.6 Adam Dunn
3.7 Shin-Soo Choo
3.8 Jose Bautista
3.9 Chase Utley
3.10 Justin Morneau
3.11 Ian Kinsler
3.12 Nelson Cruz

My Pick: With two powerful corner infielders on my roster in Pujols and Youkilis, I decided it was time to grab some speed. Kemp will give me 20-plus stolen bases and will send plenty of balls deep along the way.

Best Value: Call me crazy, but I love the selection of Dunn at 30th overall. He's averaged 40 home runs per season since 2004 and his already impressive RBI totals should rise in the heart of a better lineup in Chicago.

Head-Scratcher: I'm not a believer in Bautista. He may have truly figured some things out with his swing, but he had never topped 16 home runs before last season, when he led the major leagues with 54. Look for some serious regression in 2011.



Round Four

4.1 Jon Lester
4.2 Buster Posey
4.3 Justin Verlander
4.4 CC Sabathia
4.5 Victor Martinez
4.6 Jason Heyward
4.7 Adrian Beltre
4.8 Andrew McCutchen
4.9 Justin Upton
4. 10 Clayton Kershaw
4.11 Andre Ethier
4.12 Josh Johnson

My Pick: With great power and a decent dose of speed on my roster, I opted to begin rounding out my pitching staff here in Round Four. When Johnson is healthy and pitching at his best there are few better starters in the majors.

Best Value: There's a lot to like about Kershaw. The Dodgers' young lefty fanned 212 batters in 204.1 innings last season against a 2.91 ERA. He pitches in one of the game's more spacious ballparks and he doesn't turn 23 years old until later this month.

Head-Scratcher: Upton shot up draft boards in late spring last season and appears to be making the same move now in 2011. He has great talent, but I'm not sold that he's ready to put it all together. Last year's .799 OPS is scaring me away.

Round Five

5.1 Brian McCann
5.2 Kendrys Morales
5.3 Ubaldo Jimenez
5.4 David Price
5.5 Alex Rios
5.6 Rickie Weeks
5.7 Brandon Phillips
5.8 Shane Victorino
5.9 Hunter Pence
5.10 Jayson Werth
5.11 Paul Konerko
5.12 Jimmy Rollins

My Pick: I tend to think catchers are drafted before where they need to be, but McCann dropped a serious amount of weight this offseason and has slugged at least 21 home runs in each of the last three years. He's a nice option in Round Five.

Best Value: The way Jimenez is being undervalued this year, you'd think he completely folded in the second half of the 2010 season. He struck out 101 batters in 94.2 innings and registered a 3.80 ERA after the All-Star break. That is far from a collapse.

Head-Scratcher: Morales has been hugely productive when healthy, but he's not going to be ready for the start of the regular season and there's no guarantee that his snapped leg will ever be back to normal. Konerko would have been a safer pick than Kendrys.

Round Six

6.1 Jacoby Ellsbury
6.2 Martin Prado
6.3 Michael Young
6.4 Matt Cain
6.5 Ichiro Suzuki
6.6 Alexei Ramirez
6.7 Derek Jeter
6.8 Jay Bruce
6.9 Jered Weaver
6.10 Billy Butler
6.11 Zack Greinke
6.12 Elvis Andrus

My Pick: With an ace and four power hitters already drafted, I decided to scoop up some more base-stealing potential. Andrus swiped 32 bags last season and still scored 88 runs despite an underwhelming .643 OPS. Now 22 years old, he should only get better in 2011 and gives me quality production at a position where it's tough to find reliability.

Best Value: Greinke is going to miss the first couple weeks of the regular season due to a rib fracture, but he should be lights-out once he returns. The 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner is going to love pitching in the National League Central.

Head-Scratcher: Prado is a great hitter and is quickly becoming a clubhouse leader for the Braves, but he's far from a fantasy gem now that Atlanta has opted to move him to the outfield. Batting .300 only means so much in the world of fantasy baseball.



Round Seven

7.1 Mike Stanton
7.2 Chris Carpenter
7.3 Corey Hart
7.4 Carlos Santana
7.5 Casey McGehee
7.6 Kelly Johnson
7.7 Clay Buchholz
7.8 Yovani Gallardo
7.9 Chris B. Young
7.10 Francisco Liriano
7.11 Mat Latos
7.12 Cole Hamels

My Pick: Stanton is going to rise quickly up draft boards as we move closer to the start of the regular season. He tallied 22 big flies in just 359 at-bats last season and has the ability to top the 40-homer plateau in his sophomore campaign.

Best Value: Santana has played in only 46 major league games and has only six career big league home runs, but the risk should be worth the reward this season. He has massive power potential at a spot where such a thing is hard to find.

Head-Scratcher: Young certainly passes the fantasy eye test with the 27 home runs, 91 RBI and 28 stolen bases that he collected last season, but a .757 career OPS is enough to keep him off my radar. Players with bad plate discipline usually have very inconsistent year-to-year numbers.

Round Eight

8.1 Aramis Ramirez
8.2 Delmon Young
8.3 Starlin Castro
8.4 B.J. Upton
8.5 Brian Wilson
8.6 Dan Haren
8.7 Brian Roberts
8.8 Colby Rasmus
8.9 Nick Swisher
8.10 Drew Stubbs
8.11 Brett Gardner
8.12 Tommy Hanson

My Pick: Feeling good about my offensive core, I decided here in Round Eight to grab another starter. When picking fantasy pitchers, one of the first things I look at is the guy's strikeout rate. Hanson had a 10.7 career K/9 in the minor leagues and fanned 173 batters over 202.2 innings in his first full major league season. He has enormous upside.

Best Value: Haren might have struggled for the first several months of the 2010 season, but he really pulled it together once the Angels traded for him and he's likely to do very well in his first full year out in Anaheim. His strikeout totals are always exceptional.

Head-Scratcher: For a 20-year-old rookie, Castro did a fantastic job last season at shortstop for the Cubs. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Dominican-born youngster had only nine total home runs in his three-plus year minor league career and won't be hitting for power in the big leagues anytime soon. I'd rather have Stephen Drew, who was selected over twenty picks later in this mock draft.

Round Nine

9.1 Neftali Feliz
9.2 Heath Bell
9.3 Carlos Quentin
9.4 Joakim Soria
9.5 Roy Oswalt
9.6 Carlos Marmol
9.7 Tim Hudson
9.8 Torii Hunter
9.9 Grady Sizemore
9.10 Matt Wieters
9.11 Vladimir Guerrero
9.12 Pedro Alvarez

My Pick: The Rangers haven't decided yet whether Feliz is going to be a starter or the team's closer, but I don't care. I'll have him either way. The 22-year-old fireballer has the ability to do major damage in whatever role the Texas coaching staff decides is best for him.

Best Value: I felt the proverbial "parade of closers" arrived a bit too suddenly in this particular draft, but sometimes that's the way it goes. We've all been there. Grabbing Marmol and his unheard of strikeout rate was a good strategy. I would have taken him before Bell, Soria, and maybe even Wilson.

Head-Scratcher: I know he has to be plucked at some point because of the potential he carries, but Round Nine is a little early for Sizemore. Actually, it's crazy early. There's no evidence yet that his knee is fully recovered and that he's the same ballplayer he was at age 25.

Round Ten

10.1 Aubrey Huff
10.2 Stephen Drew
10.3 Max Scherzer
10.4 Gio Gonzalez
10.5 Geovany Soto
10.6 Mark Reynolds
10.7 Curtis Granderson
10.8 Mariano Rivera
10.9 Daniel Hudson
10.10 Gordon Beckham
10.11 Jason Bay
10.12 Mike Napoli

My Pick: Feeling good about my speed potential in Kemp and Andrus, I thought it might be wise to take one more dip into the power pool before things began drying up. Napoli slugged 20 home runs in 114 games in 2009 and 26 homers in 140 games last year while taking half of his at-bats in the Angels' power-draining park. He is going to crush in Arlington, Texas.

Best Value: For a couple of weeks this month, Gonzalez was around in the 15th and 16th rounds of fantasy drafts that we were tracking. The secret must be out because he went here in the 10th. Still, it's a good pick. Gonzalez fanned 171 batters in 200.2 innings last year against a 3.23 ERA and is only getting better with age. Oakland pitchers are always valuable.

Head-Scratcher: Relying on Huff as a first baseman in a mixed fantasy league is not going to work out well. He was great last year, but the guy is 34 years old with a bad body and those power numbers aren't going to get any better than they were in 2010. Dance around sure-to-regress players when possible.



Round Eleven

11.1 Jonathan Sanchez
11.2 Trevor Cahill
11.3 Nick Markakis
11.4 C.J. Wilson
11.5 Ben Zobrist
11.6 Aaron Hill
11.7 Vernon Wells
11.8 Ervin Santana
11.9 Brandon Morrow
11.10 Josh Beckett
11.11 Jaime Garcia
11.12 Angel Pagan

My Pick: A smooth first 10 rounds left me stocked with serious power and a good amount of speed, so I felt like snagging another high quality arm. Sanchez struck out more than a batter per inning last season and compiled a tasty 3.07 ERA. Something close to that will make him a fantasy ace again in 2011.

Best Value: Almost any fantasy baseball owner you'll ever talk to has a story about how Markakis has burned them in some way, and that's part of why he is falling in drafts this year. The other part, of course, is his lack of production in 2010. The 27-year-old had only 12 homers and 60 RBI when all was said and done, but he's going to be surrounded by a more talented lineup this year and he's capable of a batting line far better than last season's.

Head-Scratcher: Cahill is definitely a useful fantasy starter, but he's not worth a Top 150 selection, let alone a Top 125 selection. His ERA and WHIP will be great all year. The strikeout rate, however, leaves something to be desired.

Round Twelve

12.1 Ricky Nolasco
12.2 Phil Hughes
12.3 Ryan Dempster
12.4 Bobby Abreu
12.5 Jonathan Papelbon
12.6 Adam Jones
12.7 Carlos Lee
12.8 Brett Anderson
12.9 Matt Garza
12.10 Rafael Furcal
12.11 David Ortiz
12.12 Joe Nathan

My Pick: We're all slaves to the save, aren't we? I'm trusting here that Nathan is recovered from Tommy John surgery and the same old closer that was consistently elite through the 2000s. All indications have been good this spring.

Best Value: It's not something that I had in mind or was considering at all before draft season began this year, but I like the idea of taking Big Papi here around the 12th round. If the Boston lineup is going to score the kind of runs they're capable of scoring, Ortiz is going to be a big part of it. Even if his OPS is lacking, the RBI will be there.

Head-Scratcher: Please, avoid El Caballo this year. Yeah, he hit 24 home runs and tallied 89 RBI last year, but it's highly possible that both of those numbers will be on the way down. The Astros are an awful team on paper this season and it's going to be a long haul for the 34-year-old Lee if everything goes as poorly as it can. If he's traded, maybe he could regain some value.

Round Thirteen

13.1 Shaun Marcum
13.2 Chad Billingsley
13.3 John Danks
13.4 Miguel Montero
13.5 Ian Desmond
13.6 Brad Lidge
13.7 Madison Bumgarner
13.8 Carlos Beltran
13.9 Carlos Pena
13.10 Austin Jackson
13.11 Ricky Romero
13.12 Wandy Rodriguez

My Pick: I got a little starter-hungry. It can be dangerous -- keying in on one position while everyone else is rounding out their roster -- but it's obviously far better to have a surplus of starters than it is to have a bunch of extra mediocre outfielders. Marcum should have a fruitful introductory season in the National League Central.

Best Value: It's easy to forget about Montero, the Diamondbacks' young and powerful catcher. Probably because he missed about two months of the 2010 season due to surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee. The 27-year-old hit 16 homers in 128 games in 2009, though, and should eclipse 20 dingers in 2011 if his health cooperates. That's big time production at catcher and a nice get here in Round Thirteen.

Head-Scratcher: The pool of fantasy shortstops gets ugly pretty quickly, as witnessed by the selection of Desmond here in the 13th round. He is a nice athlete and surely still developing, but his numbers were generally mediocre in the minors and we're thinking his sophomore season won't go as smoothly as his rookie campaign did.

Round Fourteen

14.1 Andres Torres
14.2 Placido Polanco
14.3 Juan Pierre
14.4 John Axford
14.5 Bronson Arroyo
14.6 Johan Santana
14.7 Adam LaRoche
14.8 Carlos Zambrano
14.9 John Lackey
14.10 Huston Street
14.11 Chone Figgins
14.12 Neil Walker

My Pick: It's easy to write off Walker. He's a 25-year-old infielder for the Pirates and we all know how hugely unproductive the Pittsburgh middle infield has been in recent years. I get the hate, and I don't think Walker is some franchise saver. But his numbers last year at Triple-A were really good and he carried at least some of that momentum with him to the majors. I'm betting he can hit 15 home runs with a .840 OPS.

Best Value: Axford probably would have made a bigger splash on the fantasy baseball scene last year had Trevor Hoffman decided to hang up his cleats after 2009. But Axford waited his turn, let Hoffman reach 600 career saves, then absolutely took off. The right-hander finished with 76 strikeouts in only 58 innings and converted 24 of 27 save opportunities. He has the ninth inning all to himself in 2011.

Head-Scratcher: The owner who selected Santana here in the 14th round must not pay close attention to Rotoworld's player news. There are rumors that the Mets left-hander is going to miss all of the 2011 season, or at least the months of April, May and June. He's not worth drafting when there are still useful starters on the board.



Round Fifteen

15.1 Jonathan Broxton
15.2 Colby Lewis
15.3 Jeremy Hellickson
15.4 Michael Cuddyer
15.5 Ted Lilly
15.6 Pablo Sandoval
15.7 Chris Perez
15.8 Kurt Suzuki
15.9 Brett Myers
15.10 Raul Ibanez
15.11 Juan Uribe
15.12 Rajai Davis

My Pick: I like having two rock-solid closers in standard mixed leagues and I'm thinking the Rangers may ask Feliz to be a full-time starter this season. So I'll pair Broxton with Nathan and feel good about what should be a strong helping of save chances and converted opportunities all season long.

Best Value: If you feel stuck with a speed deficiency near the end of a fantasy draft, Davis is a pretty good option. He finished third in the majors with 50 stolen bases last season and whatever amount of power he possesses will be boosted by the move to Rogers Centre.

Head-Scratcher: There really wasn't a bad pick in this round. Uribe has good speed, Sandoval has dropped a ton of weight and is worth the risk, and Hellickson is a very promising young starter from a constantly talented Rays farm system. Even Ibanez is passable as a third fantasy outfielder. The names above are all fine roster fillers.

Round Sixteen

16.1 Andrew Bailey
16.2 Chris Johnson
16.3 Jhoulys Chacin
16.4 Alfonso Soriano
16.5 Francisco Cordero
16.6 Jorge Posada
16.7 Jose Valverde
16.8 Russell Martin
16.9 Michael Bourn
16.10 Craig Kimbrel
16.11 Francisco Rodriguez
16.12 Jason Kubel

My Pick: I like to let the dust settle a bit before picking my final outfielder, and I felt pretty good about landing Kubel. Target Field has proven to be a tough park, but the heart of the Twins' lineup is still superb and he'll tally good numbers from week to week. I might have been better off reaching for a better outfielder earlier, but I can make a trade in April if things aren't well-balanced.

Best Value: Posada was a great pick. He should have an easy time staying healthy at designated hitter throughout the 2011 season and he still has enough pop to slug 20-plus homers at the new Yankee Stadium. He'll catch enough to retain eligibility at the position. Kimbrel gets an honorable mention here too. He struck out 40 batters in 20.2 innings last year for the Braves.

Head-Scratcher: Beyond Wandy Rodriguez, Hunter Pence and maybe Brett Myers, there isn't a Houston player that I would recommend drafting this season. Johnson made some noise near the end of 2010, but his highest home run total in the minors was 14 and he did that at Single-A. The power potential is underwhelming.

Round Seventeen

17.1 Javier Vazquez
17.2 John Buck
17.3 Adam Lind
17.4 Edinson Volquez
17.5 Omar Infante
17.6 Joel Hanrahan
17.7 Edwin Jackson
17.8 Howie Kendrick
17.9 James Shields
17.10 Aroldis Chapman
17.11 Domonic Brown
17.12 Frank Francisco

My Pick: Vazquez is a guy that might begin sneaking up fantasy draft boards as the regular season approaches. He was awful last season for the Yankees, but he drew Cy Young Award votes as a National League starter in 2009 and he is now back in the senior circuit. The veteran is a real bounceback candidate and the type of starter I like rolling the dice with.

Best Value: His peripheral numbers aren't great and Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field is not a great place for pitchers of any kind, but Jackson fanned 181 batters in 209.1 innings last season and he'll be in the rotation for an improved White Sox team in 2011. If you can live with the shaky ERA and WHIP numbers, he's worth a try for the high strikeout rate and win potential.

Head-Scratcher: The Phillies have pegged Brown as the eventual replacement for Jayson Werth in right field, but Brown is going to miss the start of the regular season due to a broken hand and I'm not sure his production is going to be all that great once he does finally get going. The 23-year-old struggled mightily in a cup of coffee with the Phillies last year. He wouldn't be the first young outfielder to struggle initially with the leap from Triple-A to the major leagues.

Round Eighteen

18.1 J.P. Arencibia
18.2 Denard Span
18.3 Orlando Hudson
18.4 Carlos Ruiz
18.5 Jordan Zimmermann
18.6 Ike Davis
18.7 Brian Matusz
18.8 Lance Berkman
18.9 Carl Pavano
18.10 Scott Rolen
18.11 Ian Stewart
18.12 J.J. Putz

My Pick: Fine, it's time to stop the denial. My name is Drew Silva and I'm a closer fiend. Putz was excellent last season in a setup role for the White Sox and should be able to revitalize an Arizona bullpen that was downright dreadful in 2010. Dominating one category means a leg up each week, right?

Best Value: There's no doubt that Zimmermann helped propel a few fantasy teams to the playoffs last season with his roller-coaster return from Tommy John surgery. The talented 24-year-old fanned 27 batters in 31 innings and was dominant when all his stuff was working. With an offseason of rest in his rear view and elbow surgery a distant memory, Zimmermann is poised to make a big leap this year for the Nationals.

Head-Scratcher: It's past time to throw the "O-Dog" into the bin of non-fantasy infielders. He just shouldn't be considered in mixed league drafts. The veteran Hudson hit only six home runs last season against a .710 OPS and is moving to a park in San Diego that kills offensive stats.