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Peter’s Fantasy Baseball Corner

All of these stats are as of May 15, 2008 (almost a week ago), which was a month and a half into the season. Here’s a look at the hot fantasy hitters by position using a typical 5×5 fantasy scoring, but with the addition of OBP.

The big surprises thus far at the catcher position are the leader (per my metrics) Geovany Soto of the Cubs. Others include Ryan Doumit of the Pirates.

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I would not be surprised to see the leader at 1B be on this list of 24, but I am surprised that he’s at #1, I’m speaking about Houston’s Lance Berkman. Other pleasant surprises in the top 5 include the comeback of the Cubs’ Derrek Lee, the D’Back’s Conor Jackson, Boston’s Kevin Youkilis and even the Padre’s Adrian Gonzalez. Other names should be in their rightful place the next time I post this revised list.

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 No surprises here with Utley on top, but the return of the Brewer’s Rickie Weeks is and I wouldn’t have guessed that Ian Kinsler would crack the top 5 2B, but here he is.

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 I thought the Brave’s Chipper Jones would definitely crack the top 24, maybe even the top 10, but I would have never guessed that he would have been at # 1. The D’Back’s Mark Reynolds and the Rockies’ Garrett Atkins are also players that I would not have guessed would make the top 5 at 3B.

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 As most might have guessed, given the injuries to both Jimmy Rollins of the Phillies and Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies’ that Hanley Ramirez of the Marlins would be the top SS at this time in the year. But who would have guessed that newly acquired Tejada of the Astros, the D’Back’s Stephen Drew (JD’s little brother) and Cristian Guzman of the Nationals would also be in the top 5?

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 Again, it’s no big surprise that Boston’s Mr. Clutch, David Ortiz would top this short list of DH’s, but who would have guessed that the O’s Aubrey Huff or the Ranger’s Milton Bradley would be off to such good starts and crack the top 5?

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Where do I start? So far, after the first month and a half of the season, the top 10 OF hitters are being led by a cast of characters that I don’t think anyone would have believed would sit on top of this sort of list even at the outset, but here they are! Starting off with the Pirate’s Nate McLouth, the White Sox Carlos Quentin, the newly acquired CF of the Rangers (the only bright spot on that team right now) Josh Hamilton who is living up to his potential and should be able to keep this up and play in the All Star game (what a story!), another D’Back in Chris Young who has learned plate discipline so far in 2008, the Mets new OF Ryan Church, with the Phillies’ Pat Burrell looking to cash in on his contract year and the Pirate’s streaky hitter, OF/1B Xavier Nady. That’s 7 out of 10 players that I personally wouldn’t have thought would be doing this well.

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What do you think? Who will maintain this pace and who is bound to come crashing back to earth? Let your voice be heard in the comments!