BaseballHappenings.com

One of the interesting things about spring training is the old statement that spring numbers do not matter. We are told to not use spring statistics as a measure of success in the regular season. I can partially buy into that statement. But, why is it that position battles are won or lost based on how each of the players perform in spring game action against lesser talent. Also, the players who are competing are not locked in a competition that is entirely equal playing field . For example, one player may be facing Jake Peavy in game action and does not get his hits off of him. Where as, another batter may face the guy who is a minor league pitcher and takes him deep. How can you compare performance between the two. Additionally, with spring there is a small sample size. Thus, the correction factor that a batter makes over the course of the season does not come into play much in the spring. So, the guy who is hot right from the start may not be the best suited player for the position over the long season. In other words, the team who has a player who makes adjustemnts to get out of a cold streak might be better overall than the player who temporarily is experiencing success.

So what I am saying here is buyer beware. If you are making your fantasy decisions based on the hot players from the Cactus and Graipfruit, you may want to go with that information along with the players track records. Also, General Managers throughout baseball have a tough job deciphering thru the spring information. The astute GM will base his player evaluation only partially on spring data. They must also factor in if a player is dealing with an injury, or if the player is experimenting with something new that he would rarely try in regular season.