St. Louis Cardinals’ Best Fantasy Draft Targets

Oct 10, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter (13) celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning in game two of the NLDS at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 10, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter (13) celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning in game two of the NLDS at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
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Oct 10, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter (13) celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning in game two of the NLDS at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 10, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter (13) celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning in game two of the NLDS at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Which St. Louis Cardinals players should you look to take in your fantasy baseball draft?

As March approaches that means Spring Training games will soon be starting. It also means that your fantasy baseball draft is likely right around the corner.

With that in mind, I take a look at the top St. Louis Cardinals fantasy options for you to target come draft day.

Matt Carpenter

Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter is by far the best fantasy option on this St. Louis team. He’s also the highest ranked Cardinal player in both Yahoo! and ESPN’s 2016 Top 300 Fantasy Baseball rankings. Carpenter comes in at 34th on ESPN’s list and 66th on Yahoo’s list. There are some discrepancies with the rankings as the 34th ranking for Carpenter is on ESPN’s Top 300 Roto rankings. Carpenter came in at 62nd on ESPN’s Top 250 Rotisserie 6×6 rankings. For the sake of this article, we’ll stick with ESPN’s Top 300 Roto rankings.

Still, whether you are doing a rotisserie, categories, or even a points league, Carpenter is the best Cardinals player to target in 2016. Last season, Carpenter showed that he has more than just doubles power by blasting 28 homers while hitting .272/.365/.505 with a .871 OPS. And he still hit 44 doubles on top of that.

Carpenter will do just fine in batting average for your team, but he will really excel in providing a high OBP, 100 plus runs scored, and solid slugging and OPS numbers. Carpenter has a career on base percentage of .375 and his OBP hasn’t been below .365 in any season of his career so far (minimum 200 at bats).

Carpenter is easily a top 10 third baseman in fantasy baseball. ESPN has him ranked as the 6th best third baseman, while Yahoo! has him ranked 7th. Depending on where you sit in your draft order, you could have to take Carpenter earlier than expected, but odds are you won’t be disappointed with the pick.

This could be an MVP type season from Carpenter, and I expect the 30-year old to continue to show solid plate discipline and even eclipse 30 home runs for the first time in his career.

Next: Uncle Charlie

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