Fantasy baseball is a game full of taking risks where making going out on a limb on a player and risking your season on him can help you bring you a championship at the end of the season.  Make sure you do your research and when it comes time to draft that player that you know can carry your team in the playoffs you will be better equipped to pull the trigger and get that player on your team.  Risks need to be taken in fantasy if you build your fantasy team by playing it safe you can end up missing out on some of the best players making it difficult to win your league.  Here’s a look at some of the players in the 2014 season that are going to be high risk high reward players.

1. Giancarlo Stanton

Stanton has been teasing us for years with his potential as a 50 home run player.  Health issues have plagued him virtually every year of his short career, and despite that he has still managed to hit 117 homeruns in just four injury riddled seasons.  

At only 24 years old Stanton has barely touched his potential as he still has few more years before he hits what is considered his “prime years”.  While he has yet to show that he bat for an average there is undeniable power potential here upwards of 50 home runs if he can play a full season.  

Unfortunately playing for the Marlins greatly limits his overall numbers potential as batting cleanup in a lineup as anemic as the Marlins does not provide one with many RBI chances or runs scored.  However if you just want some pop in your lineup there is no denying that Stanton brings a ton power to any team he’s drafted on. 

2. Troy Tulowitzki

Undeniably the best player at his position and one of the most productive players in all of baseball Tulowitzki is a huge injury concern.  Only three times in his eight year career has he played over 143 games.  Nobody puts up the types if numbers Tulo can at such a prime position.  You can easily expect 30 homeruns, 90 plus RBI and a .300 batting average and coming from a shortstop these numbers are virtually irreplaceable.  You’ll have to use a first round pick on Tulowitzki if you want him on your team but if you get 140 or more games played then Tulowitzki is well worth the risk.

3. Jose Fernandez

Not many starting pitchers can ramp it up on the radar gun the way Fernandez can, making him a very rare talent.  Fernandez jumped into the major leagues last year and dominated every step of the way.  It’s impressive enough when an established pitcher finishes a season with a 2.19 ERA and strikes out more batters than innings pitched, let alone a rookie pitcher.  

The risk here is obvious though, one: its asking way too much for a pitcher to repeat that type of season especially one going into just his second season.  Many players tend to go through a sophomore slump as others adjust to him the question is how much will Fernandez slump.  The other problem is that if your league counts losses and wins Fernandez is likely to get more losses than you would like and far too few wins due to the AAA level lineup the Marlins will be trotting out every day.

4. Yasiel Puig

Another sophomore who busted onto the scene in a big way last year Puig looks to pick up right where he left off.  It’s always risky selecting a guy as early as Puig is getting drafted when he doesn’t have the resume yet to back up the numbers that he put up last year.  Puig does however seem legitimate, he uses the whole field when hitting and hits line drives which should lead to success for Puig’s future.  Batting in a powerful Dodgers lineup should help provide solid fantasy numbers for this five tool rising star.

5. Justin Verlander

Verlander was having a down year (by his terms) for most of the season before he had a bounce back October.  Verlander’s velocity was down for much of the season which is always worrisome for a power pitcher but Verlander has good enough off speed pitches that he should be able to survive with a decrease in velocity.  Fortunately the last month of the season Verlander seemed to regain some of his velocity back bringing hope that Verlander should be able to go back to his former self where he was one of the three most dominant pitchers in all of baseball.

This of course was before the abdominal injury that required surgery in January.  This could be a problem if it causes Verlander to lose even more of his velocity or worse if the injury causes him to alter his mechanics, meaning Verlander may not be as accurate meaning he may not be as dominant as years past.  I however wouldn’t bet against Verlander and I fully expect him to come close to his former self from prior to last season.  Draft Verlander with the confidence that others may not have due to his recent struggles and injury.