FANTASY BASEBALL STATUS REPORT: YADIER MOLINA CATCHER ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

Yadier Molina has been a name that I have hated to talk about over the last few years due to his clutch home run against Aaron Heilman in the 2006 NLCS against the Mets. (Obviously I'm a Met fan.) However, I have to give it to the guy, he is one of the best catchers in the game. He's been with the Cardinals for eight years, but it feels like its been a lot longer than that. In my next edition of my fantasy baseball status report, I'll take a look at Molina's career so far and how his future may look.

Molina was drafted in the 4th round of the 2000 draft by the Cardinals. He hit pretty well in the minor leagues, and played his position like a pro. He earned a brief call-up to the big leagues in 2004, and hit .267 in 151 plate appearances. Apparently that performance convinced St. Louis' front office to make Molina their starting catcher. In 2005 he played in 114 games, and hit .252 with 6 homers and 49 RBI. In my opinion, that isn't very good, but yet again, Molina didn't have too much upside right away, so I guess the Cardinals didn't expect him to come right out of the gate and start raking. In 2006, he had a very poor year. He hit .216 with 6 homers and 49 RBI. Right there, I'll be honest, I probably would have gave up on Molina after that dreadful season, despite his clutch hitting in the NLCS. Now, I realize that most Cardinal fans would get angry at me for saying that, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Anyway, next season he started to develop into a solid, reliable backstop, hitting .275 with 7 homers and 56 RBI. From 2009-2011, he gradually became a better ballplayer with every passing season. His batting average rose substantially, and he started to get more RBI's.

Now, entering 2012, Molina was a safe player to pick in the draft. However, I'm sure that very few people expected that he would be having the season like he is having right now. He is currently hitting .325 with 17 homers, 62 RBI, and even 11 stolen base, especially at his age which is when catchers usually see their stats tumble. His on-base percentage is also .375 , which is very impressive. However, recently, Molina was in a home plate collison and may be seriously injured. Monitor his status and if he is out for the rest of the season, simply just drop him. Molina will definitely be a safe pick again next year, but don't expect him to continue this strong performance.? While I have good hitter, father time will come calling soon enough and his draft price will be higher than it should in 2013?off this nice season.? That my friends is negative draft value and is the main reason you should look elsewhere.??

Written by Dan Zito

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FantasySportsBoss/~3/ye-VwD5HBk8/fantasy-baseball-status-report-yadier.html

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