I had my eye on Pittsburgh Pirates OF Nate McLouth during the preseason last year but there was no guarantee that he would have a starting job to begin the 2008 campaign.

I quickly picked him up after the draft when it was announced that he had beaten out Nyjer Morgan for the starting job (to be fair, I would have picked up Morgan had he won instead; either way I was going to have a Pirates centerfielder on my team opening day…sad, I know).

McLouth had shown promise in the second half of the 2007 season, hitting .267 with 12 homers and 16 steals after the All-Star break.

I think it is safe to say, however, that nobody saw his 113/26/94/23/.276 season coming. And many people do not expect him to repeat in 2008. I think almost as many expect him to continue to improve upon his numbers and be a top fantasy option.

So what can we expect?

McLouth got off to a blazing start to his fantastic 2008 campaign, including starting off the season with a 19-game hit streak and had 12 home runs to go with 5 steals through the first two months of the year.

He cooled off a bit after that, as everyone said he would, but McLouth remained a consistent five-category contributor throughout the season. McLouth’s power faded as bit as the season went on but he continued to help out his fantasy teams by picking it up in the steals department and finished strong with 9 stolen bases and a .309 average in September. His solid production from start to finish helped shed the fluke label that people had been throwing at him all season.

So, does McLouth continue to improve or does he regress from his breakout campaign? In all reality, McLouth most likely has hit his ceiling and will never be a 30/30 man. However, he has shown enough in a season and a half to give owners some confidence that he can stay a reliable 20/20 outfielder with 25/25 potential.

Right now on mockdraftcentral.com McLouth is being drafted as the 23rd outfielder for the 2009 season, right behind Shane Victorino and Magglio Ordonez and right ahead of Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn.

I’ve seen him ranked in the mid teens for outfielders on other sites (Fantasy Juice’s own composite rankings for outfielders will be posted shortly). Right now I would consider him a mid-level No. 2 OF or a high-end No. 3 if your league sleeps on him.

As long as you temper expectations, McLouth is definitely a legit fantasy option for 2009.