Kosuke Fukudome

[kretz330]

I'm excited to watch Kosuke Fukudome play in the majors this season. I even got him in my keeper league as part of a 5 player deal. I keep reading about how his defensive skills might be gold glove calibur but I'm curious as to what kind of numbers he will put up offensively. Since he was just handed to me on a platter, I had to take the risk on him I'm just not sure what he's projected offensively. What do you guys think about him?

[RedHopeful]

I think he'll bat around .285 with 15 HR's. He's going to have to adjust to american pitchers, the league, etc. Runs and RBI's all depend upon where Pinella puts his bat. I've heard that there is a strong chance he'll end up batting 5th. That would present a lot of RBI situations following Lee and ARam. I'm unsure about any possible SB's...

[Steelers Rule]

can't wait to see him play

[speculed]

Anything was an upgrade over Jacque Jones. I am anxious to see him play in a regular season game when pitchers aren't tinkering with pitches, arm angles etc. What I have gotten from watching him hit this spring is I move Soriano down to the 2 or 4 hole and bat Fokudome lead-off. The guy is very patient at the plate and I think he would thrive in the lead-off role giving soriano a better shot at driving in more runs and also giving us a better chance of scoring 1 or 2 out runs with anyone from the bottom of the order on base and moved over by a pitcher sacrifice.

[kretz330]

I'm impressed with him so far. I know it's still early, but I don't see how he isn't the rookie of the year, especially if he keeps playing the way he has thus far. He's looking to be my wildcard in my fantasy league this season and I'm pretty stoked about that.