Fantasy Baseball Weekly – Hot Starts

This week I open with my favorite guys who are having hot starts, beginning of course with my favorite team, the Mariners (sorry, D-Backs are a close 2nd). There is only one Mariner floating around the waiver who you should absolutely have on your team and he’s only 70 percent owned so he could be available in your league! I talk about him plenty in the first five minutes to check out the podcast and add your next ace!

The most important point I wanted to make this week was building towards the future, both for this season and the ones down the road. A lot of people I know participate in “keeper” leagues, which allow you to retain some or all of your players as the seasons continue. When playing in these types of leagues it’s always important to stay a step ahead of your competition by researching top prospects and players with statistical anomalies.

This year’s top prospects are headlined by Texas Rangers farmhand Jurickson Profar. His brief stint in the MLB last September wasn’t quite enough to land him an Opening Day roster spot but he’ll be a household name before you know it. As far as the statistically gifted players go, Billy Hamilton is the best I’ve ever seen. He stole over 150 bases last season in the minors and has seven already this year in almost as many games. Not only was that a professional baseball record, but it’s about 20 SBs more than the 2012 category leader from my fantasy league.

Again, 20 more steals than the league leader’s entire team. That can win you a championship. This year Yahoo! leagues added an “NA” spot to their rosters. Much like the “DL” slot, the player who fills that space does not count as a member of your active roster. This presents a very easy opportunity to stash a prospect for the future, whether that’s next month or next season.

Stay tuned for more episodes of Fantasy Baseball Weekly and be sure to tweet me questions @FanBallWeekly or post on the wall at facebook.com/FanBallWeekly.

I love you all except I’m getting sick of whoever keeps putting Yankees/Red Sox games on ESPN. Enough…please.