Fantasy value can be accrued in a variety of ways.

You can be Chris Carter and bash 41 homers with 94 RBI.

You can steal 30 bases like Jarrod Dyson.

You can hit .304 like Yunel Escobar.

All of those guys had a place on fantasy rosters in 2016. However, there was significant downside with each as well.

Carter was one of eight men in baseball with 40 homers and 94 RBI. He also struck out 206 times and hit a mere .222, crushing owners in that category.

Dyson stole 30 bags, one of 14 men to get to that level, but that was all he did. Do you realize that he hit one homer with 25 RBI? That’s sickly offensive production.

Escobar hit .304 but he had five homers, 39 RBI and zero steals. Those are simply horrible numbers in the counting categories and that batting average by no means makes up for those pathetic digits.

It’s not always about a player producing in one category and not in another. Sometimes players just produce their value in different ways.

Let’s look at a one-on-one comparison. Here are the fantasy numbers from two men, with totally different “games,” last season.

 

AVG

HR

RBI

RUNS

SB

Elvis Andrus

.302

8

69

75

24

Justin Upton

.246

31

87

81

9

Your first reaction is likely – those guys are totally different players and really shouldn’t be compared. Your second thought is likely that Upton had the better effort last season. Actually, not really. Due to the fact that steals are so hard to come by these days, and because of the .056-point advantage last season for Andrus in the batting average category, would you be surprised to learn that both men produced exactly the same $ value last season in the fantasy game? Yep, true story. They both earned the same amount. They just did it in completely different ways.

However, the deficiencies of many players – Andrus in the power categories and Upton in batting average – can severely drive down each player’s fantasy value, or at worst, cause major issues for your squad as you scramble to fill statistical “holes” on your roster. You can try to mix and match three power guys with three average guys, add a speedster who does nothing else, and hope it all works out. Or, you could also do your best to roster players who contribute across the board by targeting a whole host of well-rounded players. Those type of multi-category players should be the type of fellas you go after hard on draft day. Unfortunately, they are pretty hard to find which makes it paramount for you to target players early on draft day who can help in five categories.

Let’s take a look at some fellas who produced in two categories to start – homers & steals – before we expand things.

How many men went 30/30 in 2016? The answer is zero.

How many men went 25/25? Three: Mookie Betts, Wil Myers and Mike Trout

How many men went 20/20? Nine: Betts, Myers, Trout, Jose Altuve, Ian Desmond, Paul Goldschmidt, Bryce Harper, Jean Segura and Melvin Upton.

How many men went 15/15? Twenty-one men did that.

How many men went 10/10? Forty-five men did that.

Let’s add the other categories as we go.

How many men hit .300 and went 20/20? Just four men: Jose Altuve, Mookie Betts, Jean Segura & Mike Trout.

Too high? Let’s lower the bar.

OK, how about .285 and 15/15? How about 11 men: Altuve, Betts, Segura, Trout, Charlie Blackmon, Ryan Braun, Ian Desmond, Paul Goldschmidt, Odubel Herrera, Francisco Lindor and Jonathan Villar.

Want some more inclusion, and to see how many names pop up when we really lower the bar? How about we lower the limits to .275 with 10 homers and 10 steals. How many qualify then? The answer is just 21. Only 21 men went .275 with 10/10 in 2016. Think about that the next time you get down on a guy like Adam Eaton.

What about a season of .275-10-75-75-10? That seems like a very Melky Cabrera-ish line which, in most folks’ minds, is akin to ‘very boring.’ How many guys hit all five of those numbers last season? It’s going to blow your mind. The list is just 12 people long:

Altuve, Betts, Blackmon, Xander Bogaerts, Braun, Desmond, Goldschmidt, Ian Kinsler, Jason Kipnis, Lindor, Jose Ramirez and Trout.

That’s it.

Pretty shocking right?

The truth is that multi-category guys are pretty hard to find. Sometimes you throw a dart and it ends up on Jose Ramirez. But take a look at that list of 12 men again. Really, does anyone stand out as odd to be included on the list besides Ramirez? I can give you Desmond as he certainly didn’t seem like he had a .275 season in him, but the rest of the guys all seemed like, heading into last season, a .275-10-75-75-10 was totally possible. Keep these guys in mind when putting together that 2017 squad.

Here are a few players who just missed out on some statistical milestones in 2016.

Wil Myers was two homers and two steals short of 30/30.

Mookie Betts was four steals short of a 30/30 effort.

Jose Altuve was a homer short of a 25/30 season.

Jonathan Villar was a homer short of a massive 20/60 effort.

Freddy Galvis was three steals short of a 20/20 season.

Gregory Polanco was three steals short of a 20/20 season.

Charlie Blackmon was a homer and three steals short of a 30/20 season.

Jason Kipnis was two homers short of a 25/15 season.

Francisco Lindor was two RBI, a run and a steal from a .300-15-80-100-20 season.

Paul Goldschmidt was two hits short of hitting .300. He was one homer short of 25. He was five RBI short of 100 RBI. That’s right, he was on the cusp of a .300-25-100-100-20 season which is epic for a first baseman since those numbers have only been reached by a first sacker four times – Jeff Bagwell twice, Carl Yastrzemski once and Goldschmidt once.

Do your best throughout the draft, to find those men who contribute across the board. As we’ve seen, even moderate producers in all five fantasy categories aren’t easy to find.