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: Jason Heyward, OF, St. Louis Cardinals
LWOS Ranking 18, Captain’s Value: $16.33
Sometimes, being the hometown hero works out great in your first few seasons but other times these players are rushed to the Pros and show some flashes but ultimately the pressure weights down too heavily on their shoulders. In this case, growing up in the Atlanta area, Jason Heyward may have put undue pressure on himself to make up for deficiencies in the Atlanta roster over the past few seasons. After a hot 2010 rookie season where Heyward finished second to Buster Posey for the NL ROY Award, the next four seasons were met with three disappointing years surrounding a strong 2012 season (.269 AVG-27 HR-82 RBI -93 R-21 SB).
Exit Atlanta, enter St. Louis; this could be the change of scenery that allows Heyward to settle into a career season by getting the monkey off his back. It still seems amazing that the Braves gave up on him considering he is still only 25 years old entering this season. Busch Stadium is not a haven for hitters, but it is a better hitting park than Turner Field; couple that with the fact that Heyward will be moved to a better run producing spot in the lineup and has been a better career hitter on the road in both AVG and HR, and you can see why I am bullish on him this season.
Batting behind OBP monster Matt Carpenter and ahead of good contact hitters like Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina, the pieces are in place for Heyward to put up some great numbers at his current draft price (78.2 ADP). Do yourself a favor, grab Heyward as your first or second OF in the 5th or 6th round and get ready to bank a 20/20 season with 160+ combined Runs and RBI.
| Year | Team | Pos | G | PA | AB | R | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| 2011 | ATL | OF | 128 | 454 | 396 | 50 | 14 | 42 | 9 | 51 | 93 | 0.227 | 0.319 | 0.389 | 0.708 |
| 2012 | ATL | OF | 158 | 650 | 587 | 93 | 27 | 82 | 21 | 58 | 152 | 0.269 | 0.335 | 0.479 | 0.814 |
| 2013 | ATL | OF | 104 | 438 | 382 | 67 | 14 | 38 | 2 | 48 | 73 | 0.254 | 0.349 | 0.427 | 0.776 |
| 2014 | ATL | OF | 149 | 649 | 573 | 74 | 11 | 58 | 20 | 67 | 98 | 0.271 | 0.351 | 0.384 | 0.735 |
| 2015 Proj | STL | OF | 650 | 577 | 91 | 22 | 72 | 16 | 65 | 101 | 0.281 | 0.359 | 0.461 | 0.820 |
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