Sleeper of the Week

After discussing one of the Brewers’ outfielders of the future last week (Prince Fielder), it’s time to remind fantasy owners of the man currently playing left field in Milwaukee. Geoff Jenkins, once considered one of baseball’s hottest power hitting prospects, saw his stock fall dramatically as injuries derailed his 2001 and 2002 seasons. Now Jenkins is healthy again, and is worth keeping an eye on.

Jenkins isn’t quite back at his pre-2001 level, when he hit over .300 with an ops over .930 two years running, yet, but he’s getting there. Take a look at his numbers so far this year compared with his 2002 season totals: hits, home runs, runs, walks and strikeouts are nearly identical, while rbi, average and on slugging are all up significantly. Not bad, considering that Jenkins has played in 15 fewer games this year.

There are also a few negatives to consider when evaluating Jenkins. He still frequently takes an all or nothing at the plate, which will hurt in leagues that penalize strikeouts. He could use better table-setters in front of him (although the surprising Scott Podsednik has helped). He could also use a bit more protection in the lineup.

Those are fairly minor points, however, considering that many fantasy owners had written him off completely. Don’t fall into that trap: over the last month, Jenkins has been one of the most valuable fantasy outfielders, hitting .313 with 8 home runs and 22 rbi, including a three-homer outburst in a 10-0 rout of San Diego. Those look like numbers that any fantasy lineup could use…