So Matt Kemp is clearly a Lamborghini in the fantasy baseball world. He's a top-10 talent, plays in Southern California, he's approaching the prime of his career and he even dates Rihanna. Of course, in order to park Matt Kemp in your fantasy garage you have to pay Lambo-money. Kemp is expected to go in the top 10 or even 5 in fantasy drafts, meaning he's an expensive commodity. Franklin Gutierrez has the potential to run with the big dog for a much lower price.
Kemp: .296, 26 HRs, 35 SBs and 101 RBI.
Gutierrez: .283, 18 HRs, 16 SBs, and 70 RBI.
The book on Franklin has always read something like: "excellent defensively, can't hit off-speed pitching." This was reflected in Franklin's inability to hit over .272 in any of his first four seasons in Cleveland. Franklin hit .283 last year albeit with 122 strikeouts, but if there ever was proof that strikeouts don't necessarily hinder hitting statistics just look to Kemp's strikeout totals over the past two seasons (154 and 139). Gutierrez turns the magic 27 in February, an age which has shown to be the apex for many hitters. I don't expect Gutierrez's RBI numbers to change much because Seattle's lineup is just too sterile, but it would not surprise me to see a small jump in HRs and AVG. If nothing else, Franklin is a potential match-up stud. Last year he hit .335 against lefties and .317 in the friendly confines of Safeco field. In ESPN's latest mock draft, Kemp went 4th overall and Gutierrez went in the 16th round!? Now, I am not telling you to draft Franklin as your second OF but common sense would say either Kemp is overvalued or Gutierrez in undervalued. I'm thinking the latter. Just to be clear here is a summary of the things Matt Kemp has, as of now, that Gutierrez doesn't:
- 13 batting average points(could get)
- 8 HRs (not out of the picture)
- 19 SBs (probably won't get, but maybe another 5-7?)
- 31 RBI (probably won't get, but maybe another 10-15?)
- Rihanna
Honestly, there is only one thing on that list that is worthy of a 16 round disparity in your fantasy drafts. If you're having trouble figuring out which one I'm talking about, just know that it's not not not that haaaard, yea yea yea it's not haaaaard...DraftPerfect is dedicated to giving you the best fantasy sports strategies using our unique models to dominate your league. We offer FREE Yahoo fantasy sports cheatsheets and ESPN fantasy sports cheatsheets. We cover fantasy football, fantasy baseball, and basketball, and our portfolio of fantasy sports products will ensure your ability to become the ultimate fantasy sports player.
