With the fifth pick...

[GiantsFan14]

Pujols for me. I think he's still a relatively safe pick and has a good shot at putting up elite numbers.

[Pogotheostrich]

I like Votto here.

[Ender]

I voted Kemp with the caveat that I'd want to see him play more before committing to this pick. Votto is the other easy choice here but again I'd want to see how healthy he is. McCutchen is a bust waiting to happen this year, I don't trust Pujols and the other names don't seem to belong in the discussion at all.

[BronXBombers51]

I think I go Votto here.

I voted Kemp with the caveat that I'd want to see him play more before committing to this pick. Votto is the other easy choice here but again I'd want to see how healthy he is. McCutchen is a bust waiting to happen this year, I don't trust Pujols and the other names don't seem to belong in the discussion at all.

Curious as to why you think Cutch will bust.

[GiantsFan14]

I think I go Votto here.

I voted Kemp with the caveat that I'd want to see him play more before committing to this pick. Votto is the other easy choice here but again I'd want to see how healthy he is. McCutchen is a bust waiting to happen this year, I don't trust Pujols and the other names don't seem to belong in the discussion at all.

Curious as to why you think Cutch will bust.

People are drafting him expecting a .300+ hitter. He is not one. I still like him in the later first round though.

[Ender]

I think I go Votto here.

I voted Kemp with the caveat that I'd want to see him play more before committing to this pick. Votto is the other easy choice here but again I'd want to see how healthy he is. McCutchen is a bust waiting to happen this year, I don't trust Pujols and the other names don't seem to belong in the discussion at all.

Curious as to why you think Cutch will bust.

To be clear I meant drafting him 5th is nothing but a bust potential, I like McCutchen. His skills don't support his AVG from last year. That is likely the upper end of his power potential that he reached last year. He is not a good basestealer and as the franchise player they are less likely to run him as much so I think 20 SB is the peak as well. It still is not a good lineup so the R+RBI are somewhat iffy as well since they were so high last year. I think McCutchen is a downside pick in every single category compared to what he did last year. Most of the time when a player breaks out you see a small regression the next year and not another step forward. A small regression of his season last year means late 1st round, not #5.

[GiantsFan14]

I like Votto here.

I think my biggest problem with Votto in fantasy is that he actually walks too much. Sure he'll score more runs for it, but I think it caps his power and RBI potential a lot lower than you would think given his ability. I think expecting more than 25-30 HR is a mistake this year given injury concerns and the amount he walks.

I've got him at .314-93-26-98-8 which puts him 13th overall by my rankings.

[GiantsFan14]

That is likely the upper end of his power potential that he reached last year.

I thought this as well, but I read this awhile back and wasn't sure what to think about it. Only 12% of his homeruns last year were of the "gust enough" variety. Ninth least in all of baseball. Small sample, but it's interesting.

Wow, and I thought Andrew McCutchen had little chance to repeat that inflated HR/FB rate. That rate jumped by a bit more than 50% over 2011, so the knee-jerk reaction would be that it is due for regression, perhaps to a severe degree. But, aside from his appearance here, his average HR + FB distance climbed above 300 feet and ranked 8th among all hitters. In 2011, his distance ranked just 60th. So maybe his huge home run outburst was indeed for real.

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index. ... ood-names/