Second Opinion Player-Profile Game, Question #4

Note: Tomorrow’s question will be IN TWO PARTS. Get ready to rumble answer a kinda nerdy baseball question.

Play the player-profile game every day this week at 11:30am ET. Each day, we’re giving away a free copy of the 2011 Second Opinion to the first reader who guesses correctly the identity of that day’s mystery player. (Limit one copy per customer).

As announced recently, FanGraphs will once again be offering to the public its fantasy companion guide, The Second Opinion.

In the meantime, we’re playing the player-profile game that I intoduced in these pages last offseason.

The game is easy: one person (me, in this case) offers the text of single player profile, being careful to omit any proper names that might reveal the identity of the player in question. The other person (you, the reader) attempts to identify the player using only the details provided in the profile.

First reader to guess correctly (in the comments section below) gets a free copy of this year’s Second Opinion — approximately a $1000 value!

Today’s entry comes to us courtesy of Second Opinion mastermind Marc Hulet.

Who is it?

[BLANK] surprised a lot of people in 2010. The former first-round draft pick had some disappointing minor-league seasons and had one foot out the door before a solid 2010 showing in Triple-A gave him one last shot. [BLANK] isn’t going anywhere now and he’s the odds-on favorite to start at second base for the [BLANKS] in 2011. His value is still down a bit from when he was drafted, simply because he doesn’t catch anymore. However, he will likely serve as the club’s third-string catcher and an injury to one of the top two could increase [BLANK’S] fantasy value significantly depending on the games-played requirement in your fantasy league. He may already have third-base eligibility in some leagues after making six appearances there in 2010. Like fellow rookie [BLANK], [BLANK] has the potential to hit .280-.300 but he’ll hit for more power and could slug about 15 homers. He could potentially reach the 20-homer mark if his line drives (22.4%) get a little more loft.

Former first-round pick. Quasi-catcher. Breakout-ish 2010.

Also: MUST BE SPELLED CORRECTLY.