Casey McGehee is a player whose value could vary a great deal depending on who you talk to.
One thing is for sure, fantasy owners of Prince Fielder last year are certainly well aware of McGehee’s ability to scoop up base-runners and bring them home. In 2010 Mcgehee drove in 104 runs while his more notable counterpart Fielder, had just 83.
Now let’s be honest here, we are not talking about a guy like McGehee for his speed. His .288 lifetime average is respectable, but the value McGehee will show this year is directly tied to how many runs he can drive home.
Some people think that McGehee’s RBI numbers last year were a mirage, and that more of them will be driven in by Fielder (who is in a contract year) and Braun. That the RBI total was a quantified product of his 610 AB (7th most in NL).
However, no one is questioning the likes of Ryan Braun to produce runs, and he had 619 AB’s with one less RBI than Casey did.
Am I implying that McGehee is the same caliber hitter as Ryan Braun? Of course I’m not saying that, but there is good value to be had with a guy like him. McGehee still has some possible room for growth too, if he can learn to start hitting right-handers with more authority.
In 2010 hit .316 with eight hrs in just 158 AB against lefties, while hitting .274 with 15 hrs in 452 ab’s against righties.
I believe that McGehee should have pretty similar numbers to what he posted last year, with maybe just eight to 10 less RBI to be predicting on the more conservative side.
Fantasy-wise he is a nice value pick in fairly late rounds, especially if you’re looking for some cheap quality run production that won’t punch a hole in your batting average. The amount of value he can bring will mostly be on how well he can progress against right-handed pitching, since hoping that twice as many lefties will suddenly show up in the bigs is futile.
Be sure to tune in to plenty of MLB action this summer and find out what will happen when McGehee is up to bat.
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