If you learn nothing else from the Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame, I hope you take home the fact that “five-tool” players provide immense value to fantasy owners.  The five tools are of course the five standard scoring categories – AVG, R, HR, RBI, and SB.  How valuable is a player who performs in all five tools?  Of the 30 batters we have enshrined, over 80% of non-first basemen (historically a pure power position) have averaged at least 20 stolen bases per season.  I point this out for reasons I hope obvious – many a player have accumulated prolific amounts of HR, RBI, and Runs while compiling a high batting average, but only a few greats have added stolen bases to this mix.  Further, no player has scored 80 FBHOF points – a mark of unheralded greatness – without contributing in all 5 offensive categories.

Having said this, there is of course a need on each and every fantasy team for players who ‘only’ contribute in two or three categories.  These players may not be Hall of Famers, but they are almost as critical to fantasy success and deserve mention in these spaces.  Today we’ll look at the batting side of this equation, bucketing players into three types of categories - Power Guys, Run Producers, and Table Setters.  A bit on each:

Power Guys – Think Mark McGwire; think home runs and RBI.  “Power Guys” deliver both without tinkering too much in the batting average department and swipe few bases.

Run Producers – Most Run great producers are already elected to the FBHOF, but a handful over the years have delivered Runs and RBI at impressive rates, only to fall short of Hall of Fame requirements due to a lack of power, average, or speed.

Table Setters – Kenny Lofton lovers unite.  Need stolen bases and a high average?  These are your men.  Sometimes overrated but often underrated, each winning owner seemingly has one of these gems per season.

A few notes before proceeding:

- Normal FBHOF requirements call for the creation of two scores for each stat category, one based upon the league in total, and the other based upon the position.  For this exercise I cut out the positional requirements.  I wanted more of a “beer and pretzels” feel than math geek.

- Elected players to the FBHHOF are not eligible

- Each player must have at least 5 years of being “fantasy worthy”, and their 5 year peak score is all that we are looking at today.

Let’s get it on.

Power Guys

So many of us were McGwire lovers prior to the steroid accusations.  And you know what I have found, anecdotally at least, so many of us still are.  (I once paid $350, or maybe it was $300, for a McGwire Olympic card.  Purchased from my brother of all people.  It is worthless now, but I still have it framed sitting it my room.  McGwire was one of those bigger than life stars, where you just had to stop what you are doing to watch his at bats.  Maybe the next pitch leaves the park, or maybe it kills a casual fan.  I will never forget that feeling even though I am a Yankee fan).

For the Power guys, we need to start our conversation with McGwire.  During his 5-year peak the man averaged 58 HR and 129 RBI, topping out at 70 and 147 (the latter twice).  Sure he was slow and only batted .300 once, but more than one owner would watch his team HR totals soar when McGwire was on one of his famous tears.  He is one of just three players to score 5.5 points in the HR department, which he did in 1998 by hitting 70.  Barry Bonds (2001) and Mike Schmidt (1980) were the other two.

Next on our list is Big Daddy, Cecil Fielder.  I mostly think of  Fielder in the twilight of his career, helping he Yankees to their 1996 World Championship, but Fielder was of course a dominant player long before the Yankees snuck in a decent 200 at bats from him.  Prorating for the 1994 strike season, Fielder averaged 42 home runs and 126 RBI when it meant something (early 1990’s).  His period of greatness ended with the offensive explosion beginning in the mid-1990’s when 50 HR became the normal high; when he hit 51 in 1991 it was a major accomplishment.  His batting average was under .260 but he did score on average more than 90 runs a season, not too shabby for a slow big guy.

The last power guy who warrants a paragraph is Juan Gonzalez.  Remember his 1998 campaign?  101 RBI and 26 HR at the break, pure insanity.  He cooled off considerably but still ended the season with 45 dingers and 157 RBI, great numbers for sure, but behind three Fantasy Baseball Hall of Famers (Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey Jr., Albert Belle) and the aforementioned McGwire.  One thing about Gonzalez that we should never forget – he too showed power when it wasn’t fashionable.  “Juan Gone” hit 89 home runs between 1992 and 1993 and his peak 5 year average was prolific – 45 HR & 132 RBI.  By the way, he is shutout from the FBHOF, and perhaps unfairly, because his late peak numbers of 1996-1998 aren’t all that impressive when compared to his peers of the day.

Here are the top 20 Power Guys of the fantasy era.  Those highlighted are in the FBHOF.

Run Producers

Only one player falls into the top 10 of all time but is not elected to the FBHOF – Dwight Evans.  One day we’ll know if Evans lost his bid to the FBHOF due to missing 916 Games, 413 R, 383 RBI, and 110 HR to the 1970’s (when I get around to looking at the decade).  But he still has a place among the greats, if not along side them, because of his ability to drive in and score runs at impressive rates.  Totaling HR and R together into one stat, Evans ranked 2^nd in 1981, 1984, and 1987; 4^th in 1988; and 5^th in 1982.  Not bad for one who didn’t average 30 HR during his fantasy peak. 

One of my all time favorites, Dave Winfield, also gets a mention though well down on the list.  He too is hurt by the exclusion of the 70’s.

Below are The Top 20 Run Producers of the Fantasy Era.  Those highlighted are in the FBHOF.

Table Setters

Here is where we find most of the elite one or two category stars that didn’t make the FBHOF.  Seven of the Top Ten Table Setters missed the cut and only 20% of the top 20 are enshrined as well.  This makes sense though, almost by definition Power Guys tend to contribute in at least three categories (add runs to the mix) and Run Producers can often produce in four.  These table setters though, can truly specialize in Batting Average and Stolen Bases and not see their other fantasy categories improve as a corollary.

The best of these is likely a future FBHOF’er himself, Ichiro Suzuki.  Suffice to say he’s excellent at what he does, averaging .338 with 39 SB and 112 R during his 5 year peak period.  The next three on the Top-10 list are all similar players – Kenny Lofton, Vince Coleman, and Juan Pierre – though Lofton was a cut above the other two.  During his peak, he maintained a .311 batting average with 60 stolen bases, and could score runs as well reaching the 100 mark five times.  Lofton also had seven seasons of double digit home runs, so perhaps he is more of a “Suzuki light” than an improved version Coleman and Pierre.  Coleman was a pure base stealer - .268 AVG & 97 SB during his peak; and Pierre had absolutely no power but hit for a good average – .306 AVG, 1 HR, and 55 SB.

It’s about time Tony Gwynn gets some recognition (.351 AVG, 37 S and Carl Crawford likely will one day find himself higher up on the list (.300 AVG, 54 S.  Finally, and I had forgot he once stole 79 bases, we end with Willie Wilson.  The Royal did average 51 SB during his peak, along with a sweet batting average of .308, but his average of 40 RBI is outlandishly poor and only topped 100 Runs once.

We end with the Top 20 Run Producers of the Fantasy Era. Those highlighted are in the FBHOF.