Weeks and Hardy named to All-27 Breakthrough team

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

http://fantasynews.cbsspo...sybaseball/story/11268369

 

Hmm ... this could be a really big year for breakthrough second basemen, eh? Four of the top seven 27-year-olds are second base eligible (although Ramirez is moving to shortstop).

You can player-hate on Weeks because of his strikeout rate, suspect defense and .245 career average, but you should not completely forget how big of a talent he is. The two-time NCAA Division I batting title winner can hit for a better average, and his Triple-A manager once went on record as saying Weeks has better power than eventual 50-homer man Prince Fielder. Oh, Weeks can also run.

In the not-so-impressive prediction category, when Weeks was called up, we said he could be a .300-30-100-100-30 player in his prime. We are still waiting, but only now is Weeks finally near that point.

Weeks has had wrist issues that hindered him the past few years, but he turned the corner after the All-Star break last year. After a hitting .217 in the first half, Weeks posted a more respectable .263 average, .378 OBP and .451 SLUG after the break. Those are reachable levels that can make Weeks a top five Fantasy second baseman because of his rare speed-and-power mix.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Not to mention JJ Hardy was named as well.

 

Sticking with Brewers, middle infielders and notoriously streaky hitters, Hardy is every bit of those and capable of putting an even bigger year together. It is likely your opposing Fantasy owners think Hardy has reached his potential and is ready to plateau, but since when is a 26-year-old ready to level off?

Hardy had just two homers through June 1 of last year, but he surged with an amazing nine in July alone. He is a four-homers-a-month guy ordinarily, but do you remember his .280-18-54-48 first half in 2007, one that featured a six-homer April and a nine-homer May?

His homers come in bunches and we will continue to beat you over the head with the rule of thumb that streaky young hitters become big-time stars in their prime -- Jeff Kent-style. Kent once went from a 15-20 homer guy to an annual MVP candidate, not to mention a future Hall of Famer.

We project Hardy as a top 10 Fantasy shortstop at .272-24-75-93-4-.331-.447, but we would not be surprised in the least to see him produce more consistently great numbers and go .275-30-100-100. Those numbers would make Derek Jeter look like Rey Ordonez -- and you just know Jeter is going to go around five rounds earlier in most leagues on name recognition alone

[Gobias Industries]

He's been on Keith Law's breakthrough team every year since 2006 as well.

 

Maybe Weeks is a second half player like a lot of other guys, but it would be really nice to see him .378/.451 for a full year. It didn't seem like he played too much over his head in the second half last year, where as that was the case in the second half of 2007 where his numbers were astronomical.

[rluzinski]

There are lot's of players that consistently perform better in the second half of the season? I've never heard of that and suspect it's mostly just a coin flip proposition.

 

Weeks' college numbers should be ignored when trying to project him for 2009, IMO. He has enough major league ABs to make his college performance basically irrelevant.

[homer]

I've had Weeks on my fantasy teams the last two years and been screwed both times (one by injury of course). I know if I don't draft him this year he will go off. I'm willing to make that sacrifice for Brewer nation.

[fondybrewfan]

If Hardy and Weeks do indeed have "breakthrough" years at 27, we will have one heck of an offense next year. Maybe good enough offense to offset our seeminly below average pitching staff. If all our players live up to their potential that has been talked about for years there is no way that the Crew isn't a legitimate playoff contender. Of course the likelihood of everyone reaching their potential is probably between slim and none.

[Oldcity]

Yeah, Hardy should break out any season now...

[RyDogg66]

I have nightmares that weeks pulls an "Adrian Beltre" and stinks it up every year until his last year of arby when he goes .290/.400/.500 and walks away to a huge payday.

 

I am pretty sure I would try to sign Rickie to a 4 year deal that would buyout one year of Free Agency if I could.

[Ennder]

He reminds me of Brandon Phillips a bit who struggled until he was 26 before really breaking out. If Weeks just puts up the best of each of his slash stats at the same time he'd have a pretty good year.

 

.279/.374/.433/.807.

 

I'd take that at 2B.

[Patrick425]

I always imagined Weeks putting up better numbers than Fielder. This has not been the case so far, but I still have the feeling he is going to have a breakout year at some point and time. I'm just not sure how much more patience the Brewers will have in waiting for this. This could be a do or die year for him as far as establishing himself as an everyday player vs. a platoon/utility type guy.