Our annual series identifying popular fantasy baseball players expected to be overvalued in drafts is nearing its end, as this is the fifth of six articles to be published. The breakdown for these articles is by division. We've already hit the National League East, the National League Central, the American League West and, most recently, the American League East.
Now it's time to tackle the National League West...
Brandon Crawford, SS, Giants
Crawford entered the 2015 season with 26 career home runs over three full seasons and part of a fourth. He left 2015 with 47 career home runs thanks to a power surge that saw him belt 21 dingers in 561 plate appearances. It was a career year for Crawford on nearly every offensive front, as he set highs in RBI (84), runs scored (65), batting average (.256) and even steals (6). It was a breakout in the truest sense of the word.
Now that we've acknowledged his impressive 2015 season, we must also acknowledge that this wasn't the emergence of an offensive star.
Rather, it was a year in which a lot of things went really well for the 29-year-old. Of his 21 home runs, 11 were deemed "just enough" or "lucky" by ESPN's Home Run Tracker, and even with those leaving the park he couldn't keep his batting average above .260. A regression to the mean in homers in 2016 will hurt all his numbers.
