Roto Kings

[DOUGHBOYS]

How many five category players were there last year?
The answer is subjective in the qualifications for being a five category player can be anything.
From .280/80/20/80/20 to an elite five category player where the bar is much higher at .300/100/30/100/30

There was only one .300/100/30/100/30 player last year.
Take it easy Trout heads, it wasn't your man.
It was Ryan Braun.
Braun's line was .319/108/41/112/30
Now, why is there all this talk about Trout going first in every draft?
Well first, we're men and we're attracted to shiny, new things. No matter what is said about Trout, believer or not, he is a shiny new thing.

Trout's line was .326/129/30/83/49
Trout heads will say that Trout could have easily reached elite status had he played a full year or hit second or third in the Angels lineup.
Maybe.
We'll never know cuz it never happened.
In any case, Trout is placed in the lower tier of five category players. It's not a bad thing. There aren't many five category players out there. For every Jose Reyes or Miguel Cabrera who can excel in speed OR power to go along with a good average is a BJ Upton or Danny Espinoza who can run and hit for power, but kill team batting averages.

So, who joins Trout in the .280/80/20/80/20 club this year?
Three players.
Alex Rios- .304/93/25/91/23
Carlos Gonzalez- .303/89/22/85/20
Andrew McCutchen .327/107/31/96/20

Braun, Trout, CarGo, and McCutchen will all be first round players next year.
Rios continues his pathological ways for fantasy drafters.
One year we're taking him home thinking of fantasy bliss, only to get fantasy dissed.
The next year we avoid him, and he becomes a top five, five category player.

Just some notes in comparing players and categories-

Chase Headley beat Albert Pujols in every category last year.

How good was Trout's year?
Last year, Ian Kinsler was going in the bottom of the first round in NFBC drafts.
Kinsler had almost 100 more at bats than Trout last year (655-559)
Kinsler- .256/105/19/72/21
Trout- .326/129/30/83/49
Total annihilation in every category.

If trying to have leadoff hitter stats, Justin Upton prevailed.
His line of .280/107/17/67/18 is almost perfectly in line with Kinsler's.
Somehow, he ended up with pretty good numbers, just not the numbers his drafters were expecting to see from a middle of the order hitter.
See why I don't project?

When drafting a catcher, at most we will get three categories.
Catchers do not run, stolen bases are off the grid.
They also do not hit at the top of orders, usually having crappy hitters behind them. This leaves them wanting in another category.
Only one catcher scored even 80 runs last year, Joe Mauer (81)
54 players had more runs scored than Mauer.

Let's wax on about Trout a little more-
He had seven games in which he had BOTH a home run and stolen base. More than once a month, folks.
He had 12 games with two or more stolen bases. We all love instant gratification.
But, this stat is the stat that slays me.
Dividing home runs and stolen bases into games played, there was a 57% chance that in any game Trout played, he would have either a home run or steal.
57%. Not bad for a Rook.