Who Would You Rather Have-Victor Martinez or Brian McCann??

This is the first in a series of reader requests for some Who Would You Rather Have articles; Victor Martinez or Brian McCann.

Martinez will start his first full season in the Red Sox lineup where he will pr obably hit in the middle of the lineup. In 211 at bats with the Sox, VMart went 8-41-.336-.405.-507, and for the season he went 23-108-.303-.381-.480. His OPS of .861 was the second highest of his career. VMart has an excellent batting eye as he walked more than he struck out in 2009-75 BBs vs 74 Ks.

Martinez is not the prototypical power hitter as his career FB% is only 36%, so we shouldn't expect a huge increase in HRs in 2010, but he will provide a solid BA and OBP and drive in around 100 runs with 20+ HRs. Bill James projects him to go 19-97-.298-.377-.464 in 2010.

McCann is one of the few consistent power hitting catchers in all of baseball, as he went 21-94-.281-.349-.486 in 488 at bats. He was bugged by blurred vision at the beginning of 2009, which may have been the reason for his slow start in April which saw him hit .195-.333-.415 and only 2 HRs. Once he had Lasik eye surgery, the power hitting McCann returned.  

McCann hits a few more flyballs than VMart, hitting one about 41% of the time with a HR/FB rate around 12% in 2009 and for his career. McCann will be hitting in a slightly improved Braves lineup in 2010, with the expected arrival of outfield prospect Jason Heyward and the offseason signing of Troy Glaus, so he may start seeing more fastballs in 2010, leading to a few more HRs.

Bill James projects him to go 24-100-.291-.362-.511 in 2010, and I wouldn't be surprised he reaches his projection. McCann turned 26 yesterday, so he could be close to reaching his peak power years over the next few seasons, as long as he can stay healthy.

For me, even though I prefer power hitters over almost any other fantasy player, I would take Victor Martinez over Brain McCann as their power is comparable, VMart is the better BA hitter, and is valuable in leagues that count OBP. Plus, VMart hits in a better lineup, although it remains to be seen if the offseason moves by the Red Sox will hurt their run scoring.