Welcome back to the 2015 Last Word on Fantasy Baseball Guide. Over the next several months we will be releasing player profiles, projections, position rankings, and a number of other articles that will help you dominate your fantasy league this season. Whether you play rotisserie or head-to-head; whether you have a standard draft, a snake or an auction league, and whether its keeper league or a one-year deal; we have all the fantasy information you need.
For the rest of our fantasy baseball profiles and articles, please check out our Fantasy Baseball Guide Page
FANTASY PROFILE: LUCAS DUDA, 1B, NEW YORK METS
LWOS 1B RANKING: 12, CAPTAIN’S VALUE: $4.07
Lucas Duda finally broke through in 2014. For years, Ike Davis was the main reason he wasn’t getting regular at-bats. Ike Davis. I’m totally serious. Duda and Davis are both lefties who can’t hit lefties, so platooning them at first wasn’t really an option, but Duda’s bat was good enough that the Mets wanted him in the lineup, so he was mostly relegated to corner outfield duties. The problem with that was that his defense in the outfield was absolutely repulsive, so he still struggled to get regular plate appearances.
When the Mets traded Davis in the early part of the 2014 season, Duda finally got the full-time first base gig, and went on to quietly hit 30 homers and finish as a top-10 fantasy first baseman. Looking at his career numbers, nothing really drastic was different about Duda in 2014 other than regular playing time. He is atrocious against lefties, has a decent BB% and OBP, a “meh” K%, and good power numbers. The only change in peripherals of note for Duda was a career high in ISO and HR/FB %.
His struggles against lefties are still a cause for concern, however. The Mets brought in Michael Cuddyer in the offseason, who has plenty of experience playing first base and is pretty good against lefties (career .291 AVG and .379 OBP against them). If Duda can’t improve against lefties, it is very possible that Cuddyer takes a significant amount of plate appearances away from him. The negative of that is it would hurt his overall totals, although how much is debatable, seeing as only 2 of his 30 HRs in 2014 came off of lefties. The positive is that if he only plays against righties, Duda’s overall percentages would most likely greatly improve, at the cost of about 120-130 total plate appearances.
Overall, Lucas Duda should be a nice value in 2015. Even if he is platooned with Cuddyer, he should still put up about 20-25ish home runs and 70ish RBI, certainly serviceable in all leagues. The Dude abides.
| Year | Age | Team | G | PA | HR | RBI | R | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| 2012 | 26 | NYM | 121 | 459 | 15 | 57 | 43 | 1 | .239 | .329 | .389 | .718 |
| 2013 | 27 | NYM | 100 | 384 | 15 | 33 | 42 | 0 | .223 | .352 | .415 | .767 |
| 2014 | 28 | NYM | 153 | 596 | 30 | 92 | 74 | 3 | .253 | .349 | .481 | .830 |
| Projected 2015 | 29 | NYM | 153 | 595 | 25 | 75 | 66 | 2 | .243 | .340 | .465 | .805 |
For the rest of our fantasy baseball profiles and articles, please check out our Fantasy Baseball Guide Page.
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