My Favorite Fantasy Baseball Players Going into Week 5

Well week four of the Major League season saw the St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Braves four times and Braves come back to defeat the Houston Astros three times.

Jason Heyward is proving that when he is hot the Braves will be hot, and when he is cold, the Braves are cold. Heyward got hot against the Astros and finished the fantasy week with 33 fantasy points.

My top-10 hot fantasy players of the year so far are New York Yankee pitcher Andy Pettitte.

Pettitte racked up 44 fantasy points in week two. He ranks as my highest fantasy point producer so far this year. Pettitte is 3-0 on the year with 34 innings pitched and 25 strikeouts. Week five will not be a two start week for him.

Detroit Tiger Miguel Cabrera is my second hottest fantasy player of the year.

In two weeks Cabrera has scored 60 fantasy points. On the year he has five home runs, 11 doubles and 26 runs batted in.

Arizona Diamondback Kelly Johnson is third on my list and was one of the upgrade players last week on Sportsbuff. After four weeks, Johnson has produced 111 fantasy points for a weekly average of 27.75. Johnson is on track to have his best season in the big leagues. So far he has belted nine home runs. His career best was 16 home runs for the Braves in 2007.

Behind Johnson is two pitchers tied for fourth place on my list.

Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Zack Duke 54 fantasy points on the year for an average of 27 points per selection.Duke has lost his last three starts dropping his record to 2-3 on the year.

Tied with Duke is Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants. Zito is 4-0 on the year and has a 1.53 ERA. If you can't afford the likes of Josh Johnson and Roy Halladay, give Zito a look on his next two start week.

In fifth place is Detroit Tiger Johnny Damon. Damon has scored 96 fantasy points in the first four weeks of the season. On the year he has 10 doubles and a total of 31 hits and 15 walks. So far he has been a solid pick.

In sixth place is Chicago Cub Alfonso Soriano. Soriano has put up 95 fantasy points in the first four weeks, 43 of those points came in week 4. He has four homers on the year and 13 RBIs.

In seventh place is Houston Astro pitcher Roy Oswalt with 23 fantasy points. Oswalt struck out seven Braves in losing effort this week. He is 2-3 on the year with a 2.73 ERA. He will try to improve his numbers this week with the possibility of two starts.

In eighth place is Colorado Rockies pitcher Greg Smith with an average 22.5 fantasy points. Smith should get two starts this week and should rack up some innings. On the year he is 1-2 with 23.1 innings pitched.

The afore mentioned Braves rookie Jason Heyward is ninth on my list. Heyward's week four started off slow but ended hot as he racked up 33 fantasy points to raise his yearly total to 66 for a 22 points per week total. The J-Hey kid has seven homers and 20 RBIs on the year and was one of the Sportsbuff upgrade players.

Kansas City Royal pitcher Kyle Davies sneaks into my top- 10 this week with 33 fantasy points this week and 43 on the year. Davies is 2-1 on the year while teammate Zach Greinke is winless.

Dropping out of my yearly top-10 this week are San Diego Padre third baseman Chase Headley, Minnesota Twin reliever John Rauch, Los Angeles Dodger shortstop Rafael Furcal, Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann, Texas Rangers designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero, and Diamondbacks first baseman Adam LaRoche. However LaRoche had a great week four scoring 36 fantasy points.

My top overall fantasy players based on stats kept for the past 16 years are:

New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez with 1,824 fantasy points scored in a total of 63 weeks for an average of 28.95 fantasy points per week.

Second on my list is Houston Astros starting pitcher Roy Oswalt. I have selected Oswalt 11 times and he has averaged 28.36 fantasy points per week.

Cardinal slugger Albert Pujols is third on my top -10 list. Pujols has been a member of my fantasy team 79 times and is averaging 27.65 fantasy points per week. So far this year Pujols has belted five homeruns.

Fourth on my list is former Atlanta Brave turned Red Sox turned Cardinal pitcher John Smoltz. In 71 selections Smoltz is averaging 26.94 fantasy points per week. He is currently in the broadcast booth but has not officially called his career over.

Yankee pitcher Andy Pettitte is fifth on my overall list. In 50 selections he has averaged 25.98 fantasy points per week.

Tiger's first baseman Miguel Cabrera is in sixth place on my top-10 list. Cabrera has played on my fantasy team 47 times and is averaging 25.14 fantasy points per week.

Alfonso Soriano of the Cubs rounds moves up to seventh place, averaging 25.1 fantasy points per week in 39 selections.

Pitcher Glendon Rusch is in eighth place.Rusch has only appeared on my fantasy team two times, scoring 50 fantasy points for an average of 25 fantasy points per week. Rusch missed 2007 with injuries. In 2009 he appeared in 11 games with the Colorado Rockies recording two wins and striking out 13. It is still a mystery how much playing time he will see in 2010.

Milwaukee Brewer Prince Fielder is in ninth place. In 50 selections, Fielder has scored 1,237 fantasy points for a weekly average of 24.74 fantasy points.

Cubbie Carlos Zambrano rounds out the top-10 with a 24.61 fantasy point average.

Chase Headley, the San Diego Padres third baseman falls out of my overall top-10.

My top players by position are: 1B, Albert Pujols, Cardinals; 2B, Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox; SS, Rafael Furcal, Dodgers; 3B Alex Rodriguez, Yankees; C, Brian McCann, Braves, and Alfonso Soriano, Johnny Damon and Jason Heyward are my three highest ranking outfielders.

My top three ranking starting pitchers are Roy Oswalt, John Smoltz and Andy Pettitte. My top ranking relief pitcher is Mariano Riveria.