Kemp, Halladay Week 5 Fantasy Baseball Players of the Week
Fantasy Baseball Dugout Player of the Week awards are given to the top statistical hitter and pitcher in fantasy baseball during a normal fantasy baseball week (Monday - Sunday).
A standard 5×5 league is used for scoring (runs scored, homeruns, RBI, steals, batting average for hitters; wins, saves, strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP for pitchers).
Hitter of the Week: Matt Kemp, Outfielder, Los Angeles Dodgers. As comparisons to Hall of Fame outfielder Dave Winfield begin to surface, Kemp took full advantage of his size and speed at the plate in week five. He took a nine-game hitting streak into Monday night’s game against the New York Mets, with six of those games being multi-hit appearances. He batted .407 during the week and drove in 11 RBI on 11 hits. While he failed to provide Dodgers fans with a souvenir in the bleachers at Dodger Stadium, Kemp scored seven runs and stole six bases.
Kemp was a very popular candidate to have a breakout season leading up to draft time this past March, and his production this past week seems to support those lofty expectations. Keep in mind that he doesn’t turn 24 until the end of this season. If he is available in keeper leagues, please do yourself a favor and pick him up. For those fantasy baseball owners in normal roto and head-to-head leagues, Kemp currently makes a solid reserve/fill-in outfielder when the matchups are in his favor. He will provide a good combination of speed and power, but his numbers are not overwhelming enough to justify starting him everyday.
Pitcher of the Week: Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays. While he gets no love from his real life team in terms of run support, fantasy baseball owners should once again be smitten with the 2003 AL Cy Young winner. In a throwback to the innings eaters of the early years of the modern era, Halladay recently completed a string of four straight complete games. The fourth came this past Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox, where he yielded one earned run on five hits and one walk. He also struck out six before losing the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, 1-0.
His second outing of the week turned out in his favor. Over a “short” outing of only 7.3 innings, Halladay gave up one earned run and struck out seven. In 16 innings of work during the week, Halladay struck out 13 with an ERA of 1.12 and a WHIP of only 0.56. On the year, he stands at 3-4 with an ERA of 3.00 and 38 strikeouts in 57 innings of work. If he can get some consistent run support from the Blue Jays, more wins will be coming his way. He isn’t a sexy strikeout pitcher, but fantasy baseball owners will find value in Halladay’s low ERA and WHIP that come from his heavy innings workload.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:11 am
[…] Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays (8-6, 3.12, 100, 1.09) FBD All-Star / Week 5 Pitcher of the Week […]
July 21st, 2008 at 7:48 pm
[…] Outfielder — Matt Kemp (Dodgers) — .284 - 9 - 51 - 22 Kemp earned a spot on the opening day roster last year for the first time. He proceeded to hit .342 for the season — fourth highest in Dodger history. He also had 10 homers, 42 RBI, and 10 stolen bases last year. Although his power is average for an outfielder, we like his 22 stolen bases this year. Watch when Kemp hits a homerun; he’ll salute his late brother who died at the age of two. Kemp was our Week 5 Player of the Week. […]