Fantasy Fundamentals From The Factory: Preseason Rankings vs. Final Rankings

At the start of every season Fantasy Players around the country put their faith in preseason prognostications from various publications. Players put their faith in these numbers and build their teams accordingly. The problem is as with any prognostications miscalculations will be made so if your able to avoid these players it's often more about luck than any particular skill. Coming into the year could anyone have envisioned such terrible seasons from Carl Crawford or Hanley Ramirez. Even the most pessimistic observers of these players still would have pegged both as top 50 players overall. After all if you are the first overall player chosen it's hard to meet expectations the keys to success with top level players is having them produce at a top level production. As important as top selection success is one could easily argue that finding mid-to-late round steals plays as much of a part in a succesful season. 2011 was the usual mixed bag of early round bust and later round steals. Below is a list of the Top players overall and by position along with where they ranked come seasons end. In addition we have the actual end of year rankings along with their preseason rankings. This likely won't change ones draft strategy next season, nor should it, but if nothing else it's something to look at.

2011 Preaseason Top 20 Overall Final Ranking

1. Albert Pujols 13
2. Hanley Ramirez 293
3. Troy Tulowitzki 28
4. Evan Longoria 81
5. Joey Votto 18
6. Ryan Braun 4
7. Miguel Cabrera 9
8. Carlos Gonzalez 25
9. Robinson Cano 14
10. David Wright 232
11. Carl Crawford 233
12. Adrian Gonzalez 10
13. Ryan Howard 57
14. Alex Rodriguez 199
15. Roy Halladay 7
16. Prince Fielder 15
17. Mark Teixeira 38
18. Ryan Zimmerman 288
19. Matt Kemp 1
20. Felix Hernandez 95


2011 Actual Top 20 Overall Preseason Ranking

1. Matt Kemp 19
2. Justin Verlander 59
3. Jacoby Ellsbury 88
4. Ryan Braun 6
5. Clayton Kershaw 33
6. Curtis Granderson 101
7. Roy Halladay 15
8. Cliff Lee 32
9. Miguel Cabrera 7
10. Adrian Gonzalez 12
11. Jerred Weaver 81
12. Jose Bautista 35
13. Albert Pujols 1
14. Robinson Cano 9
15. Prince Fielder 16
16. Dustin Pedroia 25
17. James Shields 210
18. Joey Votto 5
19. Justin Upton 31
20. Cole Hamels 58


Position Breakdown

SP- Preseason

1. Roy Halladay 7
2. Hernandez 95
3. Lincecum 52
4. Lee 8
5. Kershaw 5
6. Lester 129
7. Jimenez 827
8. Sabathia 40
9. Hamels 20
10. Verlander 2

SP- Actual

1. Verlander 59
2. Kershaw 33
3. Halladay 15
4. Lee 32
5. Weaver 81
6. Shields 210
7. Hamels 58
8. Kennedy 192
9. Haren 95
10. Beckett 161


Closer- Preseason/Actual Rank

1. Marmol 60/202
2. Rivera 67/61
3. Wilson 69/161
4. Feliz 70/150
5. Soria 78/195

Closer- Actual/Preseason Rank

1. Kimbrel 33/158
2. Storen 55/151
3. Axford 60/134
4. Rivera 61/67
5. Putz 62/131

Catchers- Preseason/Actual Rank

1. Martinez 42/53
2. Mauer 49/924
3. McCann 53/192
4. Santana 72/136
5. Soto 97/691

Catchers- Actual/Preseason Rank

1. Martinez 53/42
2. Napoli 58/115
3. Avila 122/343
4. Santana 136/72
5. Montero 144/146

1B- Preseason/Actual Rank

1. Pujols 1/13
2. Votto 5/18
3. Cabrera 7/9
4. Gonzalez 12/10
5. Howard 13/57

1B- Actual/Preseason Rank

1. Cabrera 9/7
2. Gonzalez 10/12
3. Pujols 13/1
4. Fielder 15/16
5. Votto 18/5


2B- Preseason/Actual Rank

1. Cano 9/14
2. Pedroia 25/16
3. Kinsler 27/22
4. Uggla 34/109
5. Phillips 36/37

2B- Actual/Preseason Rank

1. Cano 14/9
2. Pedroia 16/25
3. Kinsler 22/27
4. Young 26/74
5. Phillips 37/36


3B- Preseason/Actual Rank

1. Longoria 4/81
2. Wright 10/232
3. ARod 14/199
4. Zimmerman 18/288
5. Youklis 22/182

3B- Actual/Preseason Rank

1. Bautista 12/35
2. Gordon 23/281
3. Young 26/74
4. Beltre 34/44
5. Ramirez 46/68


SS- Preseason/Actual Rank

1. Hanley 2/293
2. Tulo 3/28
3. Reyes 24/49
4. Rollins 37/67
5. Jeter 40/114

SS- Actual/Preseason Rank

1. Tulo 28/3
2. Reyes 29/24
3. A. Cabrera 43/187
4. Castro 50/147
5. Andrus 63/96


OF- Preseason/Actual Rank

1. Braun 6/4
2. CarGo 8/25
3. Crawford 11/233
4. Kemp 19/1
5. Holliday 21/78
6. Cruz 26/88
7. Choo 28/696
8. McCutchen 29/54
9. Justin Upton 31/19
10. Bautista 35/12

OF- Actual/Preseason Rank

1. Kemp 1/19
2. Ellsbury 3/88
3. Braun 4/6
4. Granderson 6/101
5. Bautista 12/35
6. Justin Upton 19/31
7. Alex Gordon 23/281
8. Melky Cabrera 24/369
9. CarGo 25/8
10. Pence 30/47

* Please Note all rankings were according to Yahoo using AVG/OPS/HR/Runs/RBI/SB for hitters and ERA/WHIP/Kper9/SV/QS/K for pitchers.


With the door shut on the 2011 Fantasy Baseball Season it's never to early to look aheaed to the 2011 campaign after all the first publication will likely hit newstands sometime in January. Here is my speculated list of whom the Top 24 players will be in most of the magazines come the first of the year. Plese note this isn't my personal Top 24.

1. Matt Kemp
2. Ryan Braun
3. Albert Pujols
4. Jose Bautista
5. Jacoby Ellsbury
6. Evan Longoria
7. Justin Upton
8. Troy Tulowitzki
9. Robinson Cano
10. Miguel Cabrera
11. Adrian Gonzalez
12. Justin Verlander
13. Curtis Granderson
14. Prince Fielder
15. Hanley Ramirez
16. Dustin Pedroia
17. Roy Halladay
18. Carlos Gonzalez
19. Joey Votto
20. Jose Reyes
21. Cliff Lee
22. Clayton Kershaw
23. Mark Teixeira
24. David Wright