Fantasy Baseball: The "Last 14 Days" All-Stars!

I'm just throwing up something really quick because of how easy and quick it is. Seriously this will take no time at all and there's basically no debate to be had, I'm just going to run off the best hitters at each position because of how easy it is to sort thanks to Fangraphs.

Of course, you can do this on just about any website and any fantasy website. I remember, way back when I started fantasy sports in the late-90s, when you couldn't sort by many categories. I feel like the big "revolution" was when you could start sorting by 7-days and I was like "OH HELL YEAH!" I love getting smaller samples to see who is hot and who is not. Eventually this would lead to my downfall, before the idea of SSS (Small Sample Size) ruined everything with its truthiness and facts. A hot streak for a player like Chris Shelton is still just a hot streak by a player like Chris Shelton.

(I personally witnessed that hot streak by Chris Shelton get him traded straight up for a young kid by the name of Matt Holliday.)

We can't learn a lot from 14-days but we can learn a little. Probably the best thing we can learn is that it's the name of the player and the skills that they've displayed moreso than what a person has done in the last 14 days. You won't see many people on this list of "14-Day All-Stars" that you'll see on the actual All-Star team. Oh sure, you'll see a few. But you'll also see Trevor Plouffe.

Yep, Trevor Plouffe.

Without further ado, I give you the best hitters over the last 14 days...

I am using wOBA to determine the winner of each category. That's why I get to write this up without having a debate. It's sorted by wOBA. The only time in which wOBA won't be the deciding factor is when it's close and then we can look at things like SB and RBI but this is wOBA time. If you don't know what wOBA is, go to fangraphs and learn about it and a whole lot more!!!

Here are the best hitters over the last fortnight:

C - Russell Martin: .294/.385/.706, .455 wOBA, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 5 R, 10.3% BB, 12.8% K

1B - Paul Goldschmidt: .421/.488/.921, .586 wOBA, 5 HR, 9 RBI, 7 R, 1 SB, 11.6% BB, 18.6% K

2B - Dan Uggla: .286/.447/.686, .461 wOBA, 4 HR, 14 RBI, 11 R, 21.3% BB, 25.5% K

3B - Trevor Plouffe: .371/.405/.800, .492 wOBA, 4 HR, 9 RBI, 7 R, 5.4% BB, 18.9% K

SS - Everth Cabrera: .343/.452/.600, .466 wOBA, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 5 R, 3 SB, 16.7% BB, 21.4% K

OF - Mike Trout: .460/.509/.680, .523 wOBA, 1 HR, 13 RBI, 15 R, 7 SB, 7.0% BB, 10.5% K

OF - Carlos Quentin: .452/.514/.1.023, .634 wOBA, 5 HR, 9 RBI, 8 R, 5.7% BB, 8.6% K

OF - Carlos Gonzalez: .391/.417/.826, .529 wOBA, 6 HR, 11 RBI, 10 R, 2 SB, 4.2% BB, 16.7% K

DH - David Ortiz: .277/.382/.617, .412 wOBA, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 8 R, 14.5% BB, 18.2% K

Recap:

I wanted to highlight players like Plouffe and Cabrera since they aren't names that you'll usually hear in fantasy circles these days. You could have made arguments for Kyle Seager or Miguel Cabrera over the last 14 days, but Plouffe has crushed the ball over his last nine games.

Plouffe played in exactly half-a-season last year as a rookie and hit .238/.305/.392 with 8 HR and 31 RBI in 81 games. So in the last two weeks he has hit half as many home runs as he had hit during half-a-season in 2011. It wouldn't be his first power output though: In 51 AAA games last year, he smashed 15 and had a .323 ISO. If you go back one more game to his last 10, Plouffe has 5 HR and 10 RBI. If you go back 18 games, he has 8 HR and 14 RBI.

Danny Valencia was one of the worst hitters in baseball, so this is a definite upgrade for the Twins but how well he continues this streak remains to be seen. He hasn't discriminated based on park either: During his last 18 games, he's hit home runs in Detroit (2), Milwaukee (1), Cleveland (1), Kansas City (1), and Minnesota (3.)

It's not as though Plouffe was never regarded as a good prospect either; he was the 20th overall pick way back in 2004 and turns 26 Friday.

Everth Cabrera is probably a name you remember from 2009 when the Rule 5 pick hit .255/.342/.361 for the Padres with 25 stolen bases in 103 games. However, he's been terrible since then. The good news? Just look at his last 17 games: .339/.409/.559 with 5 SB and 2 HR in 66 plate appearances.

Cabrera started the season 0-for-17 but has been red hot ever since. And he plays shortstop so you know there isn't much else to work with in the majors besides him. He was hitting .333/.389/.410 with 15 SB in 34 AAA games before getting re-called to the majors.

Mike Trout is just dumb. Despite being one of the youngest players in the majors (at most non-Harper times he'd just be the youngest) he leads MLB in fWAR over the last two weeks with 1.4 fWAR. He has scored four more runs than anyone else. He's tied for third in RBI. He's first in stolen bases. He's first in hits. Mike Trout: The Best Player In Baseball Over The Last 14 Days.

Read More on Mike Trout from Bret posted this morning.

But Carlos Quentin wins the wOBA war over the last two weeks by seeing 1/3 of his hits go for four-bases on the strength of a pair of two-HR games. The last place Padres should cash in while Quentin is healthy and see what they can get for their troubles.

Also, what does it say about the American League and the "DH position" that the Designated HITTER is last on this list in wOBA? And that Ortiz has clearly been head and shoulders above every other designated HITTER?

Finally, the "Last 14 Days" All-Star Rotation based on FIP:

Stephen Strasburg: 1.38 ERA, 0.12 FIP, 0.89 xFIP, 13 innings, 22 K, 2 BB, 8 hits.

Zack Greinke: 0.69 ERA, 0.81 FIP, 1.59 xFIP, 13 innings, 19 K, 3 BB, 11 hits.

Ian Kennedy: 0.66 ERA, 0.92 FIP, 2.29 xFIP, 13.2 innings, 19 K, 3 BB, 10 hits.

R.A. Dickey: 0.00 ERA, 1.33 FIP, 1.86 xFIP, 16.1 innings, 17 K, 2 BB, 11 hits.

Jon Lester: 4.12 ERA, 1.37 FIP, 2.68 xFIP, 19.2 innings, 21 K, 3 BB, 24 hits.

Lester is the only one of these pitchers to make three starts over the last fourteen days and he wasn't nearly as dominating as the other three, having given up so many hits and runs but we must always remember about BABIP and defense. His 7.00 K/BB ratio is elite if a pitcher can keep that up.

I wanted to cast my vote for NL Cy Young for Strasburg before the season and was talked out of it because of his innings limit or whatever. I just knew in my heart that there isn't a more talented pitcher in baseball. Probably hasn't been in a long time. I should have known that he wouldn't even need 200 innings to win the Cy Young. (It's early yet. We'll see.)

Just missing the cut? Francisco Liriano was at #6.

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