David Hale, Atlanta Braves: Hale is going to make the Braves rotation in a sort of default way as injuries to Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy will have them somewhat scrambling to fill the rotation. Freddy Garcia will man the 4th spot while Hale should round out the rotation. Hale was dominant in his two starts in the majors last year, posting a 11.45 K/9 with a 0.82 ERA. His minor league numbers have alternated year by year between great command and average-poor command so a BB/9 around 3.00 is probably an accurate estimate to his abilities. His strikeout numbers however should take a huge dip as he maxed out at 7.55 K/9 in an individual season. Whether it was adrenaline pumping or opponents not having much tape on the righty, batters should fare better this year in Hale's first full season in the majors.
Josh Hamilton, Los Angeles Angels: Sadly Hamilton is battling another injury this spring as he seems to be every season now. When he is on the field though, there is no denying his talent. He made his Cactus League debut Monday and went 1-3 with an infield single. Hamilton says he felt comfortable back on the field and his manager Mike Scioscia reiterated the outfielder's thoughts. Hamilton's 2013 was very disappoint when compared to his contact, but the lefty did finish the season on a high note. In the first half of the season he hit just .224 before hitting .287 over the second half of the season. His line drive percentage also jumped after the All Star Break to 24.9% and his ground ball rate dropped to 35.6% from 41.2% as he made better contact. Hamilton is currently going in the 9th round based on his ADP, meaning he's right in the range where a chance could be taken on him and have him reward you with a top 15 outfield season.
Grady Sizemore, Boston Red Sox: The perennial All-Star in Cleveland has fallen into some injury trouble for the past few seasons but in looks like he has found a home in Beantown. He joins the 2013 World Series Champion Red Sox and is the front runner to replace Jacoby Ellsbury in centerfield this year. As noted before, Sizemore has had some serious injury troubles and has not played in 100 games in a single year since 2009. The four years prior to 2009 though saw him average 160 games with 25 homers and 29 steals a season. If he can put up a 15/15 season, which is very possible if he is indeed healthy, he could be a real value at the end the end of the draft.
Mike Moustakas, Kansas City Royals: The former top prospect has yet to reach his full potential that the Royals saw in him coming through the minors. His track record looks similar to Alex Gordon (though not at the same "top prospect" level). Gordon was a solid, but not great, player for the Royals for two full years and portions of two others and finally took off in 2011. Moustakas is looking to build off his strong spring as he is leading all players in average at .468 and has hit four homer and driven in 15 through 25 at bats. Could this be the year Moose finally takes off and moves into the upper echelon of third basemen? For a guy currently going in the 26th round of Fantistics drafts, that is definitely worth the risk.
Chris Heisey, Cincinnati Reds: Heisey is doing his best Chris Shelton impression and taking spring training by surprise and is tied for the lead in homers with 5. Unfortunately for him he is looking like the a reserve in a fairly crowed outfield of Ryan Ludwick, Billy Hamilton, and Jay Bruce, so it may take an injury for him to get some serious playing time this year. However, when he does play he can be a sneaky source of power. Last season he had 9 homers in just fewer than 250 at bats, which projects to right around 20 if he had a full season's worth of at bats. Heisey will start the year on the bench more than likely but should be the first to get the call if Ludwick or Bruce were to go down.
Jurickson Profar, Texas Rangers: The biggest winner from the Ian Kinsler-Price Fielder swap was not the Rangers or the Tigers, but actually Profar. For the past two seaons, despite appearing to be major league ready and the number one infield prospect in baseball Profar has not had a spot to play in Arlington. He now will take over for the departed Kinsler and it will be interesting to see what kind of numbers he can produce hitting in the bottom half of the lineup. Fantistics projects him to hit .270 with 15 homers and 12 steals, and he is currently going in the 15th round of drafts. That type of season would put him right in line with his full minor leagues season minus a couple of stolen bases. He could end up being a solid value pick late in drafts at a very top heavy position for fantasy.
Erasmo Ramirez, Seattle Mariners: Ramirez is having a rebound spring for the Mariners after entering last season as a popular sleeper pick by fantasy owners. He got hurt in the spring and once he returned to the rotation he was not the pitcher most had hoped for. His command was shaky last year with a 2.19 K/BB% after hovering around 3.5-4% in the minor leagues. Although it is a SSS, Ramirez has walked just two batters this spring in 12.2 innings to go along with 10 strikeouts. In 2013, He was leaving a lot of pitches where batters could do damage with 1.5 HR/9 and a 14.3% HR/FB. He outpitched his 4.96 ERA with a 4.26 xFIP, so it would not take much more for him to get it under the 4.00 threshold. A slight increase in his command to his career norm could make for an interesting option for Ramirez, who is slated to make the club.
Hector Santiago, Los Angeles Angels: The 26 year old lefty is having an electric spring for the Angels and looks like a lock to snag one of the least two rotation spots for LA. Santiago, who has pitched in the majors each of the last three season with the White Sox, is currently posting a 2.67 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 16.1 innings. Strikeouts are what Santiago does best, in his first three seasons in the minors the lefty had over a 10 K/9 and he even had a K/9 over 10 in 70.1 innings with the White Sox in 2012. In a slightly bigger sample size, he posted a 8.28 K/9 over 140 innings last season so his strikeout numbers are no mirage. So far in spring training, the other four AL West teams ranks all in the top 11 in strikeouts meaning Santiago should have a lot of good opportunities to rack up k's in 2014.
Dan Uggla, Atlanta Braves: It looks as if Uggla's top tier second base days are behind him, but there is a chance he could still be of value to fantasy lineups in 2014. His power at second base, even with his terrible contact numbers in recent years, is still among the best. Last year, Uggla's 22 homers trailed only Robinson Cano (27 homers, .314 AVG) and Jedd Gyorko (23 homers, .249 AVG) at the position. Uggla hit .179. It is realistic that if Uggla can just bump his average to .230 that he could hit 30 plus homers. Although he does strikeout a large amount, he also walks at an above average rate so he can be of help in OBP leagues as well. Uggla should not be your primary second base target, but he could be a power source off your bench.
Brad Miller, Seattle Mariners: Miller got his first taste of the majors in 2013 and has carried over his success last season to the 2014 spring. Miller is hitting a crisp .447 with four homeruns in 38 at bats. Last season in 76 games he hit 8 homers with a .265 average. At the end of the day Miller could be a great source of average with a few homers and steals on top of that. Last season, he hit 20 homers across three levels with 11 steals. His career minor league average hovers around .320 so he will definitely hit, and if he can get up to the 15/10 platuea he will be a great value late in drafts.
Billy Hamilton, Cincinnati Reds: There is not much more that can be said about Hamilton that hasn't already been said. He can really run, but he is also hitting at a .306 clip with an over .400 OBP. If he can put up those numbers over the course of a season, there is no limit to his fantasy value. But will he? His career batting average in the minors is around the .275-.290 mark with his highest number coming in 2012 where he hit .325. So although it is very easy to get sucked in to the steals potential, be slightly reserved as his average will like have its waves in his first full season in the majors. Hamilton has all but locked up the centerfield job in Cincy with his hot spring, and he will have his eyes set on swiping every base in front of him this year.
Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies: The longtime poster of the Phillies has apparently fallen into bad favor with new manager Ryne Sandberg. Rollins was benched earlier this spring and rumors came about that the Phillies were looking to trade the shortstop to which Rollins responded, "I can't be traded." So what kind of shortstop could he be in 2014 for fantasy owners? He is a shell of his former MVP self, but he was still able to swipe 22 bases last season as a 34 year old which is impressive. Fantistics projects him to have a very similar season to last year and he enters 2014 as the 16th ranked shortstop. However, at that range he is lumped in with some higher upside type players like Brad Miller and Alcedis Escobar who can add more value and be taken a round or two behind Rollins.
Javier Baez, Chicago Cubs: The #7 prospect in all of baseball has had a sensational spring that has earned him playing time at shortstop along with third and second base. It has now become apparent that the Cubs are going to find a place for Baez to play in the majors at some point this year. Baez has power at the shortstop position that we have not seen in a long time, maybe since Alex Rodriguez was playing with the Mariners. Across two levels last year, Baez launched 40 homers and stole 20 bases including half a year in AA where he had an absurd .343 ISO. Since 2012, the lowest ISO he recorded was .213 and that was in just 23 games. If you have room in normal mixed leagues, Baez should be up by mid-season if you want to stash him on your bench. For dynasty and keeper leagues, he is a must draft as he has the potential to be one up the best bats up the middle in the big leagues.
Glen Perkins, Minnesota Twins: Perkins may be the best pitcher in baseball that a lot of people have not heard of. The starter turned closer earned himself a three year deal from the Twins for a total of $10 million with an option for a fourth year. Last year Perkins notched 36 saves with a 2.30 ERA which were both career highs. He racked up a great 5.13 K/BB and a 11.06 K/9, baffling hitters at the plate. So will Perkins keep rising or level off at this peak? Fantistics sees him having a similar year, but with a jump in ERA to .280 but also reaching 38 saves. He is currently going as the 15th closer based on ADP, behind a lot of guys that he has better numbers than.
Noah Syndergaard, New York Mets: Syndergaard's long awaited debut with the Mets will come a little later on this season than he hoped as he was optioned to minor league camp this week. He has been dominant in the minors, finishing at AA, but he was roughed up this spring showing that a little seasoning in AAA to start the year could not hurt. The righty has excellent command, walking about 2.5 batters per nine innings while striking out closer to 10 per nine. His highest ERA he has posted in a single stop in 3.11, and he was even better than that as his FIP was a .260. Syndergaard should be among the first wave of callups once the arbitration deadline passes and he with team up with Zack Wheeler for a very formidable 1-2 punch atop the Mets rotation.
