What is going on this year? What is wrong with these guys? Never before in all of my years playing fantasy baseball have I seen a more ridiculous season. Chances are if you have any big name player at all on your team they aren’t producing for you. So are things going to change? Will every big name talent just fall off the face of the earth in the same season? Lets take a look at the top ranked players at the beginning of the season based on Yahoo rankings, and see what they have done. Or maybe I should say what they haven’t done. I’ll also take a look at how the rest of the season will fare for them.

Albert Pujols- .279 AVG 17 HR and of course out 6-8 weeks. That .279 average was very helpful for all of us that took him #1 overall considering he has a career .329 average. The bad news is that 6-8 weeks means that he will be cutting it close to the fantasy playoffs. Hopefully your in good position without him and he can give you a huge boost come playoff time…if he returns to the form that he wasn’t this entire season. Overall its a lost season for him. His end of 2010 numbers will look more like those of Billy Butler than Albert Pujols.

Hanley Ramirez- .211 AVG 4 HR 13 SB. Really? Its mid June and those are his numbers? The good news is that he has now had back to back multi-hit games and should hopefully soon be back to normal. A guy like this is just too good to stop performing at such a young age. Just ride it out a bit longer and hopefully the bad dream will go away.

Troy Tulowitzki- .274 AVG 13 HR 6 SB. Hopefully your liking the production your getting out of him because this is the kind of player he really is. He was ranked a bit high to start the season when you consider that most of his HR last year came within a 2 week period. His career AVG is only .288 and he’s half way to his career high in HR so these numbers are about normal for him. He will have his hot and cold streaks, but expect more of what your getting all year. Its his norm.

Evan Longoria- .226 AVG 6 HR. Terrible. He is putting up Melvin Mora type numbers. He’s never been a very high average guy so its going to take him a long time to get back to being the hitter he was. The power is still there somewhat as he hits a HR once in awhile. Longo should heat up some in the second half and has to be better because he’s a great talent, but the lack of hitting worries me. His average may stay pretty low all year long. It looks like a lost season for him. Next year he should have a monster season and should be available at a cheaper cost. Don’t trade him though, because he has too much upside. I’m just iffy on whether or not we will see it this year.

Joey Votto- .318 9 HR. He’s been okay this year. He’s had his usual high average until he decided to go 1/8 in last night’s double header. The issue with him is the power. 9 HR isn’t setting a very great pace for the rest of the season. You wanted more than 9 HR by now. The good news is that he will be perfectly fine. He will go on a tear eventually and put up a lot of HR at once and still have his typical MVP type numbers at the end. With Pujols being down it looks like Matt Kemp may be his competition for MVP this year. Expect him to really heat up in a week or two.

Ryan Braun- .309 15 HR 16 SB. Good numbers overall. When you consider how well he was doing earlier on this season the .309 AVG seems low. But when you consider the down year he had last season the .309 is welcomed. Right now he’s in a bit of a slump so once he gets hot again that .309 will jump back up around .315. I expect him to continue with a very solid season of .315 30 HR 30 SB. Very good numbers. Be happy you took him round 1.
Miguel Cabrera- .327 AVG 15 HR. Nothing to complain about at all. MCab is Mr. Consistency. He puts up huge numbers every year and is a great fantasy guy that you can count on and never worry about. Owners of the other 1st rounders are worrying big time, but your not. More big things to come this season.

Carlos Gonzalez- .281 AVG 10 HR 11 SB. Until his recent hot streak things were looking pretty bad for CarGo owners. The guy is a good talent and should put up numbers slightly less than last year’s totals. I’ve said that from the beginning. Not sure if they are exactly 1st round caliber numbers, but still solid. Nice balance of power and speed with some average. I do think that he can continue to hit well and get that average over .300.

Robinson Cano- .299 AVG 14 HR 6 SB. He’s pretty much done what you’ve wanted him to do. The average will continue to rise until he’s over .310. He is certainly that good of a hitter. The power is about where it should be right now, and as a bonus he’s already given you more SB than he had all of last year. Solid pick. Nothing to worry about here.

David Wright- .226 AVG 6 HR 9 SB. Another disappointing season for Wright. He wasn’t hitting at all and then he got hurt. When he comes back I’m sure he will just continue to struggle to hit. I don’t see greener pastures ahead Wright owners unless of course he is traded. If he is dealt then it could be a huge finish for him. I could see him really showing how good of a hitter he is in a better park and putting up big power numbers after the deadline. It all depends on where he plays. If I had to predict I would say that he will not be traded at the deadline. But thats a crap shoot that you have to take if you drafted him.

Carl Crawford- .243 AVG 6 HR 8 SB. Another star player having a terrible season. Imagine that. Bad average, low power, low speed, and an injury. This article is getting repetitive. Because Boston is such a good team with a powerful offense Crawford will put up solid numbers in the second half. He has way too much protection around him. I am a little worried about his speed though as I think his SB total will be down from where it usually is. At the end the numbers won’t be as good as what he’s done in the past, but the second half will be much better.

Adrian Gonzalez- .359 AVG 15 HR. Wow. MVP. Can’t really say much more. Congratulations for drafting him. Obviously an average that ridiculous will come down some, but he’s finally showing the world how great of a hitter he really is once he’s out of Petco. Adrian owners struck gold.

Ryan Howard- .261 AVG 16 HR. About what you expected. He’s been healthy so far so no complaints with owning him. He tends to heat up in the second half so enjoy that.

Alex Rodriguez- .296 AVG 13 HR. He’s having a bounce back year and is hitting for average. He’s playing himself back into being a 1st round pick next year. No worries here. Expect him to continue what he’s already done.

Roy Halladay- 9-3 2.51 ERA 119 K. He’s been amazing as usual. Making him your #1 pitcher was smart. Continue to reap his benefits as he competes for another Cy Young award.

Prince Fielder- .306 AVG 20 HR 63 RBI. Well he’s having a big contract year as I expected. Great job picking him over Howard. The only downside is that his average will come down some. He is not a .300 hitter. His power numbers are gigantic though and may end up being the best in baseball.

Mark Teixeira- .246 AVG 21 HR. It looks like he is no longer a high average guy after hitting for a terrible average last year and this year. That is really frustrating for his fantasy owners. He has a ton of power this year though and keeps hitting HR. So there are plenty of mixed emotions on him this year. I think the average can improve a little in the second half.

Ryan Zimmerman- .286 2 HR. Another injury for another high pick. When he has played he has played well. His HR’s really haven’t started this year, but they will. He will have a typical Zimmerman type second half with very solid numbers, but the end numbers will look a little low because of the injury.

Matt Kemp- .328 AVG 20 HR 20 SB. Steal of the draft in round 2. Who would of thought he would have bounced right back to being a first round talent? The answer is me. I did predict that. And those of you who did are probably doing well in your league this year. He may win the MVP and is on pace for a 40 HR 40 SB season. Very rare.

Felix Hernandez- 7-6 3.34 ERA 108 K. It looks like this first 2 round jinx has even affected the best pitcher in the AL last year. Felix has not been Felix. He has shown flashes of his Cy Young winning self, but overall he’s having a down year. I expect him to be his old self for the entire second half. So don’t worry at all if you own him.

So overall it looks like that at least half of the guys who went in the first 20 picks have been busts or are not playing up to par. That is an unbelievably high and untypical number. I really can’t explain why so many top ranked players are jinxed, but this is one season that I hope does a complete 180 in the second half. These big name players need to start hitting and now. Other high picks that have been struggling are Shin-Soo Choo, Adam Dunn, Dan Uggla, Josh Hamilton, Derek Jeter, Jason Heyward, Adrian Beltre, Ichiro Suzuki, and Joe Mauer. Choo is starting to hit, Dunn and Uggla can’t even reach a .200 AVG, Hamilton was hurt….again, Jeter has declined, Heyward was injured and struggled, Beltre’s average sank, Ichiro’s low average is ridiculous, and Mauer who is the best hitter in the world is hitting .204. Enough said. When Ichrio and Joe Mauer both aren’t hitting for average there is something wrong.

Just keep pushing forward and hope that things turn around in the second half. If they don’t then just forget this bizarre and unfair season, draft the same way next year, and watch different results happen. If things don’t change 2011 will go down in history as the worst year in fantasy baseball history.