Jason Kipnis is this week’s fantasy MVP after a monster week. Kipnis hit .478 with 3 HR, 9 R, 10 RBI, and 2 SB, earning $77.60 in the shallow 5×5 Mixed League. He’s on a 12-game hitting streak that has raised his season average to .299, and is now the 10th most valuable batter in that format.
Chase Utley earned $65.80 in the shallow mixed league for batting .400 with 4 HR, 11 R, 5 RBI, and 1 SB, the second highest price of the week, yet interestingly he also ranked second in the two NL-only formats I’m tracking, much deeper 4×4 and 5×5 leagues. The NL-only MVP in both cases was Hanley Ramirez, who hit .455 with 2 HR, 5 R, 8 RBI, and 3 SB. These stats earned $62.24 in the 4×4 league, $57.20 in the 5×5 NL-only, and $59.79 in the mixed 5×5. Utley’s stats earned just $50.38 in the 4×4 format, where his 11 runs scored don’t matter, and $57.10 in the NL-only 5×5. How is Ramirez worth relatively more in a deeper NL-only league than Utley?
In the NL-only league, Ramirez’s 3 SB tied for the league lead on the week, meaning nobody had more value in SB. In the mixed league, however, his 3 SB was only tied for 3rd best, trailing both Rajai Davis and Leonys Martin.
While last week a pitcher was the overall MVP, this week, the best pitcher, Jeremy Hellickson, ranked just 10th overall in the 5×5 mixed, with a $41.43 RotoValue. Hellickson won both his starts, striking out 10 while posting a 0.69 ERA and 1.077 WHIP over 13 innings. Hellickson earned $35.19 to top the 4×4 AL only pitcking list, and $30.16 to top 5×5 AL pitchers. Interestingly new Red Sox closer Koji Uehara was the second best AL pitcher in both formats, earning $33.86 in 4×4 and $27.02 in 5×5 after a week with 3 saves and a win in 4 appearances. Uehara fanned 7 in his 4 innings of work, with a 2.25 ERA and a 0.00 WHIP.
The top NL pitcher depended on format, with Gio Gonzalez edging Stephen Fife in the deep 5×5 NL-only league. Gonzalez had 2 wins, 11 Ks in 13.33 innings, with a 1.125 WHIP and a 1.35 ERA to earn $32.61, while Dodgers’ rookie Fife fanned 8 in 13.67 innings with a 0.805 WHIP and 1.98 ERA to earn $32.47. In the more shallow 5×5 mixed league, those stats earned Fife $40.67, ahead of Gonzalez’s $39.89, and just behind Hellickson, as Fife’s very low WHIP was worth relatively more than Gonzalez’s better ERA. Yet both Fife and Gonzalez took a back seat to Kenley Jansen in the NL-only 4×4 format. Like Uehara, Jansen had 3 saves and a win in 4 appearances, with 6 strikeouts, a 2.25 ERA, and a 1.000 WHIP in 4 innings. In the 4×4 AL, that earned $33.19, ahead of Fife’s $32.72. Gonzalez’s edge in strikeouts didn’t count in 4×4, so he slipped to 4th best NL pitcher in that format with a $29.09 RotoValue, dropping behind the Marlins’ Steve Cishek, who notched 3 saves in 3 perfect innings to earn $30.32.
The week’s best start belonged to R.A. Dickey, who fanned 6 in a 2-hit shutout against the Rays, walking just 1, to give him a 0.333 WHIP and 0.00 ERA. That one start earned $29.02 in the AL-only 4×4, 3rd best in the league, but just $23.04 in the 5×5 AL-only, good for 6th best. Quantity typically trumps quality, especially in a 5×5 league.
While he didn’t win the weekly MVP, Miguel Cabrera had the second-best AL-only week for batting .417 with 5 HR, 7 R, and 7 RBI to earn $49.94 in 4×4, $48.64 in AL-only 5×5, and $60.73 in the mixed 5×5. The triple-crown winner may not have won any weekly fantasy awards lately, but he’s the current YTD leader in all three formats I’ve been tracking ahead of Chris Davis.