In our continuing series on the the "Over" and "Under" producers, presented is the June Hitter's edition. As we mentioned in the last report, all Major League Players hit hot and cold stretches during the season....and since our first report this season, quite a few players have "righted their ship"...drifting ever closer to our performance indicator FPI .

Regression to the mean, and in our case regression to FPI, is by no means a flawless evaluator.  As we mentioned in the May strategy segment: In over 80% of the cases among veteran position players, torrid player starts that exceed their projected FPI by more than 10% are a statistical aberration that are short term in nature.

Although many players are starting to revert to their expected numbers, there are still quite a few that we still consider excellent opportunities. Last year in this space struggling players like Brian McCann, Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, Lance Berkman, Carlos Delgado, Michael Young, Garrett Atkins, Scott Rolen, Alfonso Soriano, Manny Ramirez, Carl Crawford, Andrew Jones, Bobby Abreu, and Nick Swisher  all busted out big sticks in the summer months.

This year players like Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, Richie Sexson, Robinson Cano, Howie Kendrick, Aaron Hill, Placido Polanco, Freddy Sanchez, Jimmy Rollins, Derek Jeter, Khalil Greene, Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera, Ryan Zimmerman, Chone Figgins, Russell Martin, Victor Martinez, Ramon Hernandez, Travis Hafner, Matt Holliday, Carl Crawford, Alfonso Soriano, Grady Sizemore, Adam Dunn, BJ Upton, Carlos Beltran, Vlad Guerrero, Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, Alex Rios, Matt Kemp, Jeremy Hermida, Curtis Granderson, Delmon Young, Nick Swisher, and Brad Hawpe  are undoubtedly disappointing their fantasy owners. Realistically none of these guys may match their 2007 totals, however it's reasonable to expect a majority of these guys (3 out of 4) to go on a tear and come within a reasonable proximately of their historical norms.

With a third of the season in the books, it means that a player like Ryan Howard is going to have to Slug at a .700+ clip to get his current .462 Slugging Percentage back up to his .584 Slug from a year ago.....although it seems foreign right now, do consider that he did hit at a .607 Slug clip during the second half of last season and .705 during his 2006 second half. If Howard was to go at a .700 clip through the remainder of the season it would be equivalent to having a $38 player on your Rotisserie 5x5 team (if you play in that type of league) as opposed to the $22 valuation he currently offers.

As an astute fantasy baseball manager, it's up to you to go out and seek these players out from their owners. Often their owners are fed up with these players, making it an opportunity that you shouldn't pass up.   As you view the player analysis below, you'll get a good indication how valuations can swing from month to month....keeping your focus on our preseason FPI is a solid reference point.

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