The following is every MLB team’s most surprising fantasy baseball star of the year. All rankings are from Yahoo standard fantasy rankings. Teams are listed alphabetically by division from East to West starting with the AL.
AL East
Baltimore Orioles
You could argue that the biggest surprise of the year for the Orioles, and quite possibly the MVP of fantasy baseball based off of where he was drafted, is first baseman Chris Davis and no one would argue with you. The biggest fantasy surprise for the O’s, though, is starting pitcher Chris Tillman. Everyone knew that the O’s had a really good offense coming into the year, but the biggest challenge was a starting rotation that wasn’t great last year, and Tillman came out of nowhere to solidify the top of the rotation. Tillman is currently ranked 123rd and has 16 wins to go along with his solid 3.66 ERA.
Boston Red Sox
You could argue that the entire team is a fantasy surprise, but the biggest surprise on the team is current closer <a href='http://edraft.com/mlb/player/koji-uehara/statistics/43637/'>Koji Uehara</a>. Uehara was not even in the closer conversation when the season began, but after taking over he has been one of the most consistent closers of the year. Uehara is currently ranked 32nd and has 19 saves, 91 strikeouts and a stellar 1.10 ERA.
New York Yankees
There should be no surprise who the biggest surprise of the year is for the Yankees, Alfonso Soriano. On the Cubs Soriano was having a nice season, but nothing spectacular, but back in the pinstripes Soriano has played like an MVP. He is currently ranked 16th overall with 32 home runs, 98 runs batted in and 17 stolen bases for a very good all-around year.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays have a few surprises this year, one has to be Matt Moore turning into the ace of the starting rotation, but the biggest surprise of the year is the return to glory of first baseman James Loney. Loney had only hit over .300 once in his long career, in his second season where he only played 96 games. This year he is currently hitting .307 and has had a decent season all around. He hasn’t knocked in a ton and isn’t hitting for power but his consistent numbers make him the most surprising fantasy player on the Rays.
Toronto Blue Jays
The most surprising fantasy player on the Jays has been most of the team and their lack of production, but the biggest surprise of the year is Rajai Davis. Before the year began it was on the bench for Davis, but with an injury to Melky Cabrera, Davis has turned into the everyday left fielder. What he has done hasn’t been surprising, Davis is really good at one thing, but the surprise that he was able to get back into the starting lineup to do it is what makes him the most surprising player on the Jays. He is only ranked 227 and owned in 28% of the leagues, but his 40 stolen bases and decent .267 batting average make him a solid player to have on your team for the stolen base category.
AL Central
Chicago White Sox
The biggest surprise on the White Sox is, much like their season, a disappointing one. Paul Konerko was ranked 91st before the season and is currently ranked 746th, or not good enough to be on any fantasy roster.
Cleveland Indians
By far, Justin Masterson is the surprise of the Indians. He has 14 wins and 188 strikeouts on the year, and is currently ranked 96th. With a preseason ranking of 364 Masterson was a pleasant surprise for any fantasy owner who took a chance and drafted the ace of the Indians staff.
Detroit Tigers
Everyone knew the Tigers were going to be good, but no one knew that the leader of the vaunted starting pitching staff would be Max Scherzer. Mad Max is leading the league in wins, has an ERA of 3.01, and is second in the league in strikeouts to Yu Darvish. As of right now he is in line to win the AL Cy Young as he overshadows his team mate, former MVP and Cy Young winner, Justin Verlander.
Kansas City Royals
The Royals went all-in in the offseason in the starting rotation when they went out and traded their top prospect to acquire two starting pitchers, but it was the one they acquired in a separate trade that has been the biggest surprise of the year. Ervin Santana only has 8 wins, but a solid ERA of 3.35 and a WHIP of 1.15 turning around his career. He was ranked preseason at 370, but is currently ranked 140, better than both James Shields and <Wade Davis, who were acquired in the trade for top prospect Wil Myers.
Minnesota Twins
Brian Dozier is eligible at both second base and shortstop, that alone makes him valuable in fantasy baseball. What makes him the most surprising fantasy player for the Twins is his all-around good play, not great, but good. He is batting only .244, but has 66 runs scored, 61 knocked in, 17 home runs, and 11 stolen bases to fill out the stat sheet all around. Not bad for a player who was ranked 406 before the season.
AL West
Houston Astros
The biggest surprise of the Astros season was not only a fantasy surprise, but a surprise to the league as well as he was the only member of the Astros to make the All-Star team. Jason Castro is someone no one knew of before the season started, but that can be said for 99% of their roster. He is a top ten catcher right now in the league, and next season will be ranked much higher than the 405 he was ranked preseason.
Los Angeles Angels
It is easy to look at the Angels season and be surprised. With this lineup the Angels should have run away with the division, on paper. The problem is the surprise on this team was how poorly some of the big named stars performed, and the most surprising of all is Albert Pujols. It is obvious most of it is because of injury, but Pujols greatly underperformed before his season ended and when he was shut down for the season it caused his fantasy value to spiral and killed the hopes of owners who were hoping he would bounce back in the second half.
Oakland Athletics
You could go anywhere on the A’s and be correct. The underperformance of Josh Reddick and Yoenis Cespedes or look at the top three offensive players who are all ranked in the top 100 currently but were ranked far outside of the top 100 prior to the season, Coco Crisp, Josh Donaldson and Brandon Moss. The surprise of the year, though, has to beBartolo Colon. The strikeouts aren’t great, but 16 wins at the age of 40 and a stellar 2.72 ERA make him the easy choice for biggest surprise.
Seattle Mariners
How could I go anywhere other than Hisashi Iwakuma with this? Iwakuma might be the biggest surprise of the year, not just in Seattle, but all over MLB. He was ranked 283 before the season, and right now he is ranked higher than teammate Felix Hernandez. Absolutely no one could have predicted that this would happen, but he has a lower ERA and WHIP than Hernandez and the same amount of wins.
Texas Rangers
It was hard to pick a surprise on this team because the majority of the team performed around or slightly better than where they were ranked in the preseason. The biggest stand out when looking at this team, though, is the fact that Alex Rios is now the starting right fielder. Before the steroid suspensions came down Nelson Cruz was having a great season, but the Rangers ended up needing a new right fielder and Rios fit the bill and has played above par.
NL East
Atlanta Braves
12 wins, 154 strikeouts and a 3.05 ERA are fine stats for any pitcher, but fantastic stats for a rookie in his first full year in the bigs. These are the stats for Julio Teheran, the biggest fantasy surprise on the Atlanta Braves. Teheran was an afterthought on draft day, ranked 303, but is currently ranked 91 overall.
Miami Marlins
What hasn’t Jose Fernandez done this season? He has 12 wins on one of the worst teams in the league, he has struck out 187 batters, and he hit a homerun and stared at it much to the chagrin of the Atlanta Braves. He’s only 21-years-old and he is easily the most surprising player on the Marlins and probably the NL rookie of the year.
New York Mets
It would be easy to say that Matt Harvey has the most surprising player on the Mets. He came virtually out of nowhere to be the ace of the staff before his season ended. Fantasy wise, though, Daniel Murphy is a far bigger surprise. Murphy has had a good all-around year with 93 runs, 10 home runs, 67 RBIs, 18 stolen bases and an average of .282. Murphy is eligible at first and second and increased his offseason ranking of 314 all the way up to 62.
Philadelphia Phillies
In one month, where he hit double digits in home runs, became easily the most surprising fantasy player in fantasy for the Phillies. Domonic Brown went from a 253 ranking preseason to a ranking of 69 currently and his 27 dingers are by far a career high. His surprising season can be summed up in one outstanding month, but if Brown isn’t the most surprising, you would have a whole list of people to look at for negative surprises.
Washington Nationals
What happened to the Washington Nationals? Well, it could be because a number of their players underperformed their fantasy ranks. Almost their entire starting pitching underperformed there. The most surprising fantasy player has to be Jayson Werth and his fabulous beard. Werth has finally been healthy for a full season while on the Nats, and he is having a fantastic season. He is currently ranked 30th, batting .327, hit more than 70 runs and RBIs and hit 23 dingers for a great overall season while everyone else seems to be underperforming.
NL Central
Chicago Cubs
There are a lot of ways you could go with the Cubs. Travis Wood and Nate Shierholtz both far exceeded their preseason rankings, but it is the fall of Starlin Castro that is the most surprising fantasy performer on the Cubs. Castro was a preseason top 40 player. That puts Castro in the third or fourth round on the draft board depending on the amount of teams, and for the season he has performed like a backup shortstop, possibly undrafted. A fall this large outweighs anything Wood has done this season.
Cincinnati Reds
It is hard to pick a player on the Reds because for the most part they have all performed right around where they were predicted. You could make a case that that ageless wonder that is Bronson Arroyo is the most surprising player, but the inability of Johnny Cueto to stay healthy is the most surprising to me. He was drafted high, ranked 70th overall in the preseason, and only pitched in 48.2 innings all season, and it’s not looking like he’ll make it back before the playoffs.
Milwaukee Brewers
Jean Segura is by far the most surprising fantasy player on the Brewers. He is no longer hitting over .350 like he was for quite a while early in the season, but he is still playing at a much higher level than predicted preseason. He is still batting .298, has stolen 40 bags and scored 70 times making him the highest ranked shortstop in fantasy baseball.
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates are a fantasy surprise all by themselves. They’ve produced multiple great closers this season, a man who led the NL in home runs for some time, but most importantly, they have a left fielder to count on for years to come. Starling Marte has scored 79 runs, stole 36 bags, and is hitting a solid .282 for the season as the leadoff batter for a winning team, that’s right, a winning team in Pittsburgh.
St. Louis Cardinals
Matt Carpenter was a utility man last year, this year he is a starting second baseman and second at the position only to Robinson Cano. He has scored 114 times, knocked in 70, and is batting .317 making him the key cog in the machine that is the first place Cards. Many have argued that Yadier Molina might be the MVP of the league, but he may not even be the MVP of his own team.
NL West
Arizona Diamondbacks
No one expected Paul Goldschmidt to play at an MVP caliber level. No one expected Patrick Corbin to be so dominant and turn into the ace of this staff. Most surprising of all, though, has to be Brad Ziegler locking down the closer role with J.J. Putz and Heath Bell on the roster. Ziggy hasn’t had the closer role long, but since taking over he has been lights out. He only has 10 saves, but if you picked him up on the outside chance of him being handed the role you’ve gotten a splendid surprise.
Colorado Rockies
Everyone had high hopes for Michael Cuddyer when he came over to the Rockies before last season, but injuries derailed him and caused his preseason ranking for this year to be low. All he did to respond from his injury plagued season was have the season’s longest hitting streak and better his preseason ranking by 141 places. He had a good all-around season scoring 70 times, knocking in 80, but it is his .334 average that really sets him out as the biggest fantasy surprise of the Rockies.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Yasil Puig didn’t even start the season with the club, Kenley Jansen wasn’t the closer when the season began, but easily the biggest surprise is Matt Kemp. Kemp was ranked five overall, FIVE! Now he is ranked 835 and can’t get healthy to save his career. Whenever a first rounder wouldn’t even be picked if you were to draft today, it has to be the biggest fantasy surprise.
San Diego Padres
Before the suspensions were brought down Everth Cabrera was by far the biggest fantasy surprise on the Padres, but at this point, it is easily Will Venable. Venable was ranked 353 to start the season, but is now ranked 111 for the season so far. A great increase, but his all-around good play is what makes him a good fantasy surprise this season. He is hitting a solid .271 with 58 runs, 51 runs batted in, and 21 home runs to make him the best player on the Padres this season.
San Francisco Giants
Last but not least is the Giants and Hunter Pence. I could have gone with a number of players who have underperformed, but Pence has had one of the best all-around seasons in Giants recent history and become the first 20-20 guy on the team since Barry Bonds. It is safe to say Pence has been the biggest surprise of the year for the Giants, and is in for the biggest payday of any free agent this coming offseason.