After doing numerous drafts so far this season, it is time for me to declare (1B/3B) of the a sleeper.
I have not seen Davis drafted in any of the leagues I'm in; 12-team, head-to-head, or roto. He is, most likely, available on your free-agent list if you have already drafted. Now, I guess I will try to convince you to add him.
Could your team use 25+ home runs next season with the possibility of more? I'm talking a legitimate shot at 30+ home runs from a guy sitting on your free-agent list right now. Go ahead, take a look. Chris Davis is there.
Chris Davis was the talk of the fantasy baseball world toward the end of the 2008 fantasy season. After getting the call from the Rangers, Davis hit 17 home runs in only 80 games. His .285 average was nice too, but there were some concerns with his 88 strikeouts in those games.
Most fantasy owners failed to realize the potential risk that came with drafting a young Davis. He managed to jack 40 dingers between AA, AAA, and the majors in 2008 which seems to wash away any of his imperfections in the minds of fantasy pundits.
In 2009, fantasy drafters were high on Davis, so high that they were setting him up for failure. The only failure for Davis was him not living up to the impossible potential bestowed upon him by the fantasy baseball world. "He's going to hit 45 home runs this year!" many believed and said. Of course he has pop, but he was still only 23 to start the season.
The 2009 fantasy season starts and quickly puts some fantasy managers in their place. Davis' April AVG of .200, May AVG of .189, and June AVG of .220 promptly led to a demotion back to AAA. Hey, at least he still hit 15 home runs for those managers who bought into the hype...so there's that.
Davis promptly found his stroke back in AAA, batting .327 in 44 games. Fantasy managers were eager to get him back to the big-leagues, which happened in late August. Those managers willing to pick Davis up off the free-agent list were rewarded with a .308 AVG in his final 36 games with the Rangers.
Apparently, as I mentioned earlier, Davis is a nobody in a sea of mediocre players being drafted late in most leagues. How quickly his value has fallen if only because he could not live up to the exaggerated expectations of many in 2009 (I'm looking at you, ) Don't get me going on the "if we extrapolate player 'blanks' 80 games over 160 games for the year."
Davis is still the same hitter we saw back in 2008, and he still manged to hit 21 home runs in 113 games last season. Yeah, he's not going to bat .285 in 2010, but his power is still there and he keeps proving his worth in AAA. Expectations should be around .260 for the year.
There is only one more thing to point out before I let you make the final decision on Davis. The dude is batting .538 through nine games this Spring. That's 14 hits in 26 at-bats with only 4 K's and 2 walks. That's not so bad now is it? He only has three extra-base hits (2 doubles, 1 HR) but I'm not going to hold that against him.
Some may argue that it is only Spring and it doesn't mean much at this point. To that I say are you sure it doesn't mean anything? You aren't a little bit more confident in him now? Maybe those games in AAA gave him a little bit more confidence so now he can perform to your lowered expectations this season.
Get Davis now. He's not going to hit .285 with 40 HRs this season but he should near 30 HRs with a .260+ average. At his current draft position over at MockDraftCentral of 154, he's worth drafting. I've seen him go undrafted in every one of my Yahoo leagues, so you can get him late.
Draft and enjoy.
