The Dugout Doctors present their 2012 Fantasy Baseball rankings. Enjoy!

Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is the best in the game.

Updated: February 27, 2012 – 9:30 AM

(Note: I highly recommend using the free Pickemfirst app while browsing this page. The app allows you to upload your Fantasy league’s information and displays a tiny icon beside every player’s name that tells you which players are unavailable, owned by you or available in your league. When you click the icon, it also provides relevant news, stats, charts and blogs for each player from trusted Fantasy sites across the web. It works for MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL and college football. Click here to sign up now!)

The Dugout Doctors present their 2012 Fantasy Baseball rankings. Enjoy!

Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals will look to lead his team to a potential surprise playoff run.

Updated: February 23, 2012 – 9:00 AM

(Note: I highly recommend using the free Pickemfirst app while browsing this page. The app allows you to upload your Fantasy league’s information and displays a tiny icon beside every player’s name that tells you which players are unavailable, owned by you or available in your league. When you click the icon, it also provides relevant news, stats, charts and blogs for each player from trusted Fantasy sites across the web. It works for MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL and college football. Click here to sign up now!)

The Dugout Doctors present their 2012 Fantasy Baseball rankings. Enjoy!

Atlanta Braves slugger Dan Uggla can provide elite power numbers at second base.

Updated: February 22, 2012 – 6:00 AM

(Note: I highly recommend using the free Pickemfirst app while browsing this page. The app allows you to upload your Fantasy league’s information and displays a tiny icon beside every player’s name that tells you which players are unavailable, owned by you or available in your league. When you click the icon, it also provides relevant news, stats, charts and blogs for each player from trusted Fantasy sites across the web. It works for MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL and college football. Click here to sign up now!)

The Dugout Doctors present their 2012 Fantasy Baseball rankings. Enjoy!

Can Albert Pujols put up huge numbers with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim?

Updated: February 21, 2012 – 11:00 AM

(Note: I highly recommend using the free Pickemfirst app while browsing this page. The app allows you to upload your Fantasy league’s information and displays a tiny icon beside every player’s name that tells you which players are unavailable, owned by you or available in your league. When you click the icon, it also provides relevant news, stats, charts and blogs for each player from trusted Fantasy sites across the web. It works for MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL and college football. Click here to sign up now!)

The Dugout Doctors present their 2012 Fantasy Baseball rankings. Enjoy!

Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants has a lot to prove after missing most of the 2011 season.

(Note: I highly recommend using the free Pickemfirst app while browsing this page. The app allows you to upload your Fantasy league’s information and displays a tiny icon beside every player’s name that tells you which players are unavailable, owned by you or available in your league. When you click the icon, it also provides relevant news, stats, charts and blogs for each player from trusted Fantasy sites across the web. It works for MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL and college football. Click here to sign up now!)

Success in fantasy baseball is all about staying ahead of your competitors. As those owners who drafted Curtis Granderson, Jacoby Ellsbury, Matt Kemp or Justin Verlander a year ago will tell you, having a player on your roster who puts up a monster season can be the difference between winning and losing your fantasy league. Sometimes it is not enough to know who will be the top fantasy baseball players at any one position. Having the inside track on who is primed for a breakthrough campaign can be even more valuable. These players may be ready to explode with huge statistical seasons in 2012:

Mike Stanton (MIA)
This is a slugger with a lot of power and his approach at the plate is improving all around. In his second season in 2011, Stanton (pictured above) increased his walks, decreased his strikeout rate and also showed better success against LHP. A nagging late- season injury was probably all that stood between him and 40 HR last year. Don’t be surprised if Stanton leads the NL in HR and garners some serious MVP consideration in 2012.

Jason Heyward (ATL)
Scouts were touting Heyward as one of the best hitters of his generation as recently as a year ago. However, a disappointing 2011 sophomore slump has seen his stock fall precipitously in the world of fantasy baseball. Keep in mind that the Braves right fielder was hampered by a shoulder issue last season and is still only 22 years old. He is a very hard worker and has legitimate 5-tool skills. If he is healthy heading into spring training, he may end up as a top 5 fantasy outfielder by season’s end.

Madison Bumgarner (SF)
After a brutal start to the 2011 season (6.17 ERA by the end of April) and an outing on June 21st which saw him surrender 8 ER in .1 IP, Bumgarner settled down to put up one of the best second halves in baseball. He has excellent control and the Giants seem willing to let him pile up the innings. He had as many quality starts as Tim Lincecum (26) last season and he may just ride his devastating slider to surpass “The Freak” as the ace in San Francisco in 2012.

Ichiro Suzuki (SEA)
How can we possibly be talking about Ichiro amongst players who will have monster seasons in 2012? He saw his batting average, one of his biggest fantasy values, tumble to a career-low .272 in 2011. However, his second fantasy value comes in the form of stolen bases and he maintained his rate in that category. The reason he may contribute a massive season in 2012 lies with his power. Although his single season career high in home runs is only 15 (which he hit in 2005), Seattle insiders have been saying for years that Ichiro could easily lead the league in home runs if he chose to. As the Mariner’s lead-off hitter his whole career, power has not been his game. However, there is talk of moving Ichiro to the 3rd slot in the line up. It’s time to see if the power prognosticators are correct. This fiercely proud athlete will be out to prove that his poor 2011 season will not be repeated. Expect the unexpected.

If you are able to draft a good fantasy baseball player that turns out to be a monster fantasy player, you will have the foundation to start winning your league in 2012.

As the 2011 major league baseball regular season comes to a close, we are left to look back at the fantasy baseball season which just ended. However, it is also never too early to look ahead at the coming fantasy baseball 2012 season either. There are several lessons to be taken from this season and several which we can apply to coming years as well. I was lucky enough to have won my fantasy baseball league title in the final game on the final day of the 2011 season on a Jemile Weeks single. This proves one thing for sure: in fantasy baseball, you are never out of it.

Keeping in mind that you are always in the hunt for your league championship, it is never too early to look back on ‘the season that was’ in order to learn some lessons for next year. Here are some lessons we learned from 2011:

Never Give Up
The major league wild card race in both leagues took until the final day of the season to decide. In fact, it could be argued that the final day of the 2011 season was the most exciting night of baseball in decades. In regard to the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, their fate came down to the final at bat of the 9th inning. The lesson to be learned? It is never too late to be out of the championship, so keep battling right until your final at bat. In daily leagues, keep making changes all the way until the last day and never give up.

Shoulder a Grudge
When it comes to choosing pitchers for your fantasy baseball roster, do not shy away from pitchers coming off of recent Tommy John elbow surgery. Stephen Strasburg proved that a full recovery from the procedure is possible. However, when it comes to shoulder issues, you should not be so optimistic. The Texas Rangers signed Brandon Webb to help shore up their perennial pitching woes. Coming off a shoulder injury, Webb did not throw a big league pitch in 2011 (and hasn’t thrown one since April 2009). Josh Johnson came into 2011 having missed the latter part of the previous season with shoulder issues. After starting 2011 strongly, Johnson did not throw a pitch after May 16th. The lesson to be learned? Be very wary of pitchers with shoulder problems.

Young Guns
When it comes to dynamic pitching performances, young arms led the charge in 2011. Time after time this season, we saw rookies coming up big and making fantasy owners jump for joy. Craig Kimbrel, Cory Luebke, Jeremy Hellickson, Michael Pineda, Josh Collmenter and Brandon Beachy all seemed to come out of nowhere in 2011 and surprise with outstanding statistics. The lesson to be learned? Keep an eye out for good young talent in 2012, as a pitcher like Matt Moore may have more value than bigger name veterans.

There’s No Such Thing as a Sure Thing
Coming into the 2011 season, there were 3 sure things: death, taxes and Adam Dunn’s offensive statistics. Dunn was the epitome of a ‘sure thing’. His home run totals from 2005-2010 read like clockwork: 40, 40, 40, 38, 38. Likewise, his RBI totals were also machinelike in their regularity and predictability: 102, 101, 106, 100, 105, 103. Then, came the summer of 2011. Dunn finished with 11 HR and 42 RBI and set a major league record with a .159 BA. He also ended up with 18 more strikeouts than points on his batting average, beating Mark Reynolds mark of 13 more Ks than BA points. Somewhere, Rob Deer is smiling. The lesson to be learned? Never draft a player and consider it money in the bank.

The 2011 season was one for the ages, to be sure. The lesson to be learned? Baseball is truly magical.

A fantasy baseball sleeper can be defined in a number of different ways. What it really comes down to is the ability to draft a player at a lower position than they should be positioned. In other words, a fantasy baseball sleeper is any player who will perform significantly better than other players drafted in or around the same round.

So, how does a player slip past the other fantasy baseball owners on draft day? Generally, if a player has a significantly poor season statistically, or if they experience a serious injury, then that player may be deemed to have decreased in perceived value. Sometimes, a player has in fact dropped in value. Other times however, a player may have simply had an ‘off year’ or may be able to bounce back from injury to perform at previous levels. The key is to identify who these players are and which may in fact be ‘sleepers’ heading into next year.

2012 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers

Ubaldo Jimenez (CLE)
A little over a year ago, Jimenez was the talk of the baseball world. He entered the All Star break in 2010 with a record of 15-1, 2.20 ERA and was limiting opposing hitters to a .198 BA. He regressed slightly in the second half of that season but still ended up with a great season. In 2011, he didn’t fare
Quite as well and a move out of Colorado didn’t help as much as expected. Although he has seen a dip in his velocity, it hasn’t been an alarming drop so he should rebound with an off season of adjustments. Chalk it up to a poor year and expect him to drop to a favorable position at the draft table in 2012.

Adam Wainwright (STL)
Entering 2011, Wainwright was one of the top 5 pitchers in all of baseball. However, an early season elbow injury required ‘Tommy John’ surgery and ended his year. There is a long list of pitchers who have recovered nicely from the procedure (Tim Hudson, Billy Wagner, John Smoltz) and Wainwright’s prospects for beginning the 2012 season look promising. The average recovery period for the surgery is approximately 12 months putting Wainwright in a position to be a nice sleeper in 2012.

Adam Dunn (CWS)
Prior to 2011, there was no power hitter more consistent than Dunn in all of the major leagues. From 2005-2010 Dunn put up home run totals of 40, 40, 40, 40, 38 and 38. Then, he fell apart with only 11 HR and a BA of .164. That type of historic decline will sour even the most optimistic of fantasy owners. Despite of the rock solid consistency, Dunn is a human being (not a robot) and as such is susceptible to ups and downs. Keep an eye on him in the off season and spring training. He may slip so far in most fantasy owners’ minds that he may just be the sleeper of the year in 2012.

Shin-Soo Choo (CLE)
There is nothing more appealing to fantasy owners than a player who offers both power and speed. Toss in the fact that Choo also hits for a .300 average and he was being drafted among the top 20 outfielders in most fantasy leagues. The 2011 season was one of major problems both on and off the field for the Indians slugger. Even when he returned late in the season, he was able to stick around for the grand total of 1 at bat before injuring himself again. Having burned several fantasy owners (and scaring many more in the process) should allow Choo to slip to a draft position worthy of serious consideration in 2012.

Aaron Hill (TOR)
Middle infielders with power are a rare breed and highly valued in fantasy circles. After setting a Blue Jays second baseman record with 36 HR in 2009 (with 108 RBI), he slipped to 26 HR the following year and a paltry 6 HR in 2011. This led Hill to be reviled by fans and team management alike and saw him shipped out of town to Arizona, where he put up a .300 BA. A free agent, Hill won’t be returning to Toronto in 2012 and just may be a late-round steal at the draft table next season.

Alex Rios (CWS)
This isn’t the first time Rios has disappointed. In 2009, the Blue Jays were so frustrated with Rios’ that they essentially waived him to the White Sox with no return. Although he has disappointed in 2011, the problem with the outfielder seems to be less about production then it has to do with effort. Rios often gives the impression that he is ‘dogging it’ when really he is seemingly just very low-key. A player with his prominent skills tends to leave managers (and fantasy owners) wanting more. Take him for what he is: a player with power, speed and the ability to drive in runs. So long as you do not over-value him, you will be pleased with his production. He has started to show some signs of life late in the season as well as a willingness to work on his game in the off-season. Let him drop in the rankings and grab him late.

If it’s fantasy baseball sleepers in 2012 that you are looking for, there are plenty of candidates. If you allow other fantasy baseball owners to react to recent events, they might just miss the opportunity to grab a bargain next year.

There are those who subscribe to the idea that when a baseball player has a strong second half in one season, it means that they are in line to put up good numbers the following season. This can particularly hold true for a player that may have struggled in previous seasons, one who has finally gotten a chance with additional playing time or even a younger player that is starting to put everything together. A good example of this recently was Jose Bautista. In 2010 he seemingly came out of nowhere to lead the major leagues with 54 home runs. However, to the observant fantasy baseball enthusiast, this was foreshadowed by a late-season surge in 2009.

By taking a close look at some baseball players who became upstarts in the second half of 2011, we may get a glimpse as to what may portend for 2012. As we know, finding those ‘diamonds in the rough’ at next year’s draft table can certainly help your chances in the world of fantasy baseball.

Lucas Duda (NYM)
Sometimes it’s all about opportunity. When the Mets’ regular first baseman Ike Davis went down with an ankle injury, the door was opened for Duda. With a particularly strong second half of 2011 and Carlos Beltran traded away, Duda may have secured himself a spot as the everyday RF in 2012. His second half has included 30 R, 10 HR, 37 RBI and a slash line of .322/.404/.545. It looks like he has seized his opportunity in the big leagues.

Josh Willingham (OAK)
The power has always been there (career average of 24 HR per 150 GP), but playing time has not been consistent for Willingham. With a strong second half in 2011 including 16 HR, 48 RBI, .369 OBP, .558 SLG and a nifty .925 OPS, Willingham enters 2012 as a free agent likely to find a regular gig patrolling LF and providing power in the middle of a line up.

James Loney (LAD)
Sure, he has disappointed fantasy owners who felt his power would develop but Loney contributes in 2 important categories (AVG and RBI) on a consistent basis. He also has put together a nice second half this season with a slash line of .312/.379/.532. He has also walked 20 times against only 25 K so his skills as a decent hitter are legit.

J.J. Hardy (BAL)
Hardy’s 15 second half home runs have led all major league shortstops. Throw in 41 RBI and you have a power hitter at a very weak position. It has always been about staying healthy for Hardy who has eclipsed his previous career high of 26 HR (set in 2007 while with the Brewers). As a free agent in 2012, he could be a nice fantasy option at SS.

Mike Napoli (TEX)
After a first half in which he hit for only a .232 BA, Napoli turned on the afterburners after the All Star break. He led all catchers (min. 175 PA) in the second half in HR (14), BA (.385), OBP (.468) with a major league best 1.158 OPS. This portends well for a catcher position in 2012 which will once again be shallow. Considering his eligibility at 1B as well his ability to pick up AB as the DH, Napoli may very well enter 2012 as a top 2 fantasy catcher.

Javier Vazquez (FLA)
After a first half in which he was given up for dead (5.23 ERA, 6.2 K/9), Vazquez regained velocity on his fast ball and has put up an incredible second half this season. His numbers after the break: 2.35 ERA, .93 WHIP, 9.1 K/9. Most notably, Vazquez has improved his strikeout/walk rate from 1.94 in the first half to 5.40 in the second. He could be a very interesting pick entering 2012.

Madison Bumgarner (SF)
Although hardly a slouch in the first half (3.87 ERA, 7.9 K/9), Bumgarner has emerged as ‘ace’ material since the break. His record before the All Star game was 4-9, since the break it has been 8-3. Wins and losses have not been a true indication of talent in San Francisco this year due to paltry offensive support, however. With second-half stats of 2.43 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 4.68 K/BB and 9.0 K/9 Bumgarner is poised as the co-ace of the Giants. Consider him serious keeper material heading out of 2011.

Keeping a close eye on 2011 second half statistical performance may just translate into strong numbers for 2012. Let’s hope these late bloomers help your fantasy baseball team prosper into next year and beyond.

HOT

Mike Moustakas (KC)
The highly-regarded Royals’ rookie third baseman has been showing what all the hype is about with a recent offensive surge. Moustakas has gone 11-21 with 7 R, 3 HR and 7 RBI over the past week. He also chipped in his 1st stolen base.

Erick Aybar (LAA)
After a brutal August in which he hit .156, The light-hitting Angels shortstop has been on a tear recently, including a 4-4 effort against Baltimore in which he hit 2 HR (his 1st multi-HR game of his career) while scoring 5 R (tying a team record).

James Loney (LAD)
Loney has quietly been putting together a nice second half for himself and had another good week at the dish, going 9-for-25 (.360) with 5 R, 2 HR and 10 RBI.

COLD

Casey McGehee (MIL)
After hitting 23 HR and 104 RBI in 2010, McGehee has regressed markedly in 2011 and this past week was no different. The Brewers’ 3rd sacker managed a lone double in 18 AB this past week.

Hideki Matsui (OAK)
Matsui’s struggles (including 1-for-19 last week) have contributed to him losing AB at the DH position to players like Josh Willingham and Chris Carter recently.

Jonathan Lucroy (MIL)
Not one to offer huge fantasy value anyway (a paltry .670 OPS post-All Star break), Lucroy has struggled recently managing only 1 single and a run scored the past 7 days.