Roto Roundup: Buster Posey, Corey Kluber, Jose Abreu and others

Fake Teams Week 1 Fantasy Football Rankings

We recently added fantasy football to the Fake Teams list of sports covered. Our fantasy football writers will be publishing position rankings every week during the NFL season to help you win your league championship this season. Here are our Week 1 position rankings, start/sit. sleepers and some thoughts about what others are saying in Week 1:

Quarterback

Running Back

Wide Receiver

Tight End

Defense/Special Teams

Start'em/Sit'Em

Week 1 Sleepers

Week 1 Misconceptions

Buster Posey having a big second half

If you haven't noticed of late, Giants catcher/first baseman Buster Posey is the hottest hitter in the game. On Saturday, Posey had another big day at the plate, which seems to be the norm lately. Posey went 3-3 with a home run, a walk, 2 runs scored and an RBI in the Giants 5-4 win over the Tigers in Detroit.

Posey now has six straight multi-hit games and has multiple hits in 11 of his last 15 games, helping the Giants get back into the NL West division race. Coming into the season, I had concerns about Posey's drop in power over the second half of the 2013 season, but he has addressed that issue this season. On the season, Posey is now hitting .310-.361-.494 with 20 home runs, 67 runs scored and 79 RBI, ranking in the top 10 in the National League in batting average, RBI and OPS.

If the Giants catch the Dodgers and win the NL West, Posey will get strong consideration for NL MVP. His second half surge -he's hitting .367 with 10 home runs, 33 runs scored and 33 RBI-has probably solidified him as the #1 fantasy catcher heading into the 2015 season. The fact that he gets to play first base quite a bit has helped his performance at the plate this season, as you can see from the table below, courtesy of Baseball-Reference:

There has been talk that the Giants could move Posey to first base on a full time basis with the emergence of young catcher Andrew Susac. Something to watch come draft day 2015, as Posey has shown he is a much better hitter when he is not catching.

For more on Posey and the Giants, make sure you check out McCovey Chronicles, SB Nation's Giants fan site.

Round'em Up

Corey Kluber has established himself as an ace in 2014, but has struggled of late. But, yesterday, he was back to the Kluber who has dominated American League hitters this season. Kluber limited the White Sox to just an unearned run on 5 hits, no walks and 8 strikeouts in a complete game 3-1 win on Saturday. The win moved his record to 14-9 with a 2.47 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and an excellent 223-46 strikeout to walk rate in 204.1 innings. Kluber is striking out just under 10 batters per nine innings, walking just over two batters per nine and keeping the ball on the ground at a 49% rate this season. The skills of an ace starter.

White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu is probably going to be a landslide winner in the American League Rookie of the Year voting, as he is hitting .321-.382-.600 with 33 home runs, 71 runs scored and 99 RBI in 125 games this season. He probably will be the second ranked fantasy first baseman heading into the 2015 season, but there is a case for him to be the #1 fantasy first baseman as he is out-performing Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera this season.

Here are their 2014 stats for comparison purposes:

Abreu: .321-.382-.600, 33 HRs, 71 runs, 99 RBI

Cabrera: .309-.369-.513, 21 HRS, 88 runs, 97 RBI

Abreu is younger, has hit for more power and average than Miggy this season, but Miggy has played with injuries all season. Then again, he played with injuries in 2013 as well, so he could have a problem staying on the field and performing at such as high level going forward. Something to think about this offseason.

Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager doesn't get the love from the fantasy brethren that fellow third baseman Adrian Beltre, Josh Donaldson and Evan Longoria receive, but, right now, he leads all third baseman with a 5.7 fWAR. Last night, he went 3-5 with a home run, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI in the Mariners 4-2 win over the Rangers. He is now hitting .280-.348-.482 with 23 home runs, 64 runs scored, 88 RBI and 6 stolen bases on the season, and should see his name climb the fantasy third base rankings in 2015. Among all qualified third baseman this season, Seager ranks second in RBI, third in home runs, and 10th in runs scored and batting average. In an era where power is down, Seager's star is rising.

Speaking of first baseman, Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez isn't a sexy name at first base, but he is quietly having a very productive season. Last night,AGonz went 1-3 with a home run, a walk and 2 RBI in the Dodgers 5-2 win over the Diamondbacks. On the season, AGonz is hitting .278-.337-.462 with 20 home runs, 67 runs scored and 94 RBI, ranking second in the National League in RBI. Among fantasy first baseman, he ranks third in RBI, seventh in runs scored, 10th in batting average and 13th in home runs. There are better hitters and power hitters at the position, but Gonzalez has proven to be a consistent performer, albeit with less power than a few seasons ago.

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Fantasy Rundown

If you are looking for more fantasy advice, make sure you check out Fantasy Rundown for all your fantasy baseball and football needs.