Player Profile #53: Nelson Cruz | OF | TEX

This might sound like an exagerration, but Nelson Cruz has been one of the best per-game fantasy baseball players over the last three years. If you take his per-game averages over the last three seasons and extrapolate them over 150 games you have the following player: .278/.338/.534 slash with 82.9 runs, 35 home runs, 100.4 RBI and 19.2 steals. Yes, that’s comparable to Justin Upton. Unfortunately that fun little exercise doesn’t really mean much because Cruz has about as much a chance of playing 150 games as I do winning the lottery (spoiler alert: I don’t play the lottery). So just make sure you prepare for Cruz to miss around a month and cherish the days he’s in the lineup. Best case scenario: Mike Stanton (MIA) with more steals Similar players: Josh Hamilton (TEX), Justin Upton (ARI) on a per-game basis, Jay Bruce (CIN) with more steals Worst case scenario: Injuries catch up to him and he plays in fewer than 100 games Strengths Power/speed, RBI, lineup/...