Is Hanley Ramirez worthy of being the #1 selection in fantasy drafts?
NO. This is a nuanced answer. I stand by my previous position that selecting Alex Rodriguez with the first selection overall this season was still the right play given his historic level of consistency versus the short track record of Ramirez. However, the offseason shoulder surgery that had me concerned back in January certainly didn’t affect Ramirez at the plate, at least in the power category, as he slugged a career-best 33 home runs. However, his average did regress as expected (down to a still strong .301), as did his stolen base total (down from 51 to 35). However, I was wrong when I said he wouldn’t record a second straight season of 125 runs, when in fact he did score exactly 125 runs. He ended up being the second most valuable fantasy player according to our final regular season Player Rater report. VERDICT: Swing and a Miss Will three shortstops really be taken in the top-6 picks this year? YES. Hanley Ramirez (.301-33-67-125-35), Jose Reyes (.297-16-68-113-56) and Jimmy Roll
