Ryan Church - deep sleeper

There are plenty of other good blogs to read, and I don't want to reiterate players that have been covered elsewhere. So I'd like to focus on a player that doesn't get much attention from fantasy pundits.

When you are thinking of investing in stocks, on any level, one of the best sources of information is the management. We don't really have that with baseball players, but what we do have is a look into attitude. It's one thing to have a good attitude, but with investing you have to see what someone says and see if they actually make good on the promise, or the results are what they stated at some point down the road...

Case in point: Ryan Church. He reminds me of Chase Utley of last year's preseason, of course with a different spin. Utley, had great breakout numbers in 2005, but still displayed the thirst to get better. This attitude made him the marquee second baseman of 2006. Church has displayed the maturity of showing up to camp early to earn his roster spot. At 28 years old Church could potentially go either way, but I do project him hitting out of the 5-spot with Zimm/Lopez/Kearns ahead of him. He should get plenty of opportunity to knock players in.

He had an excellent second half batting .275 and I think he'll hit he ground running. James thinks he wont appear in 100 games this season, and put up 11 HR/6 SB. However, since he's likely to get the starting job, and 550 ABs I think he can be pencilled in for a whole lot more. Taking the ZiPS projection of 365 ABs and extrapolating yields:

AVG .271, 78 R, 23HR, 89 RBI, 8 SB

I think he beats this by cutting down strikeouts and hitting around .280. Giving the following projection:

AVG .280, 81 R, 23 HR, 92 RBI, 9 SB

So with the massive chip on his shoulder, and coming into his power years, Church will capitalize on his opportunities. So in a deep league I think he can put out a few bucks of positive value, and what's more he'll contribute a little in every category. Plenty of upside here, but keep an eye on him in spring training.