Much has been made of late regarding Peter Bourjos’ defense and how much ground he covers in center field. When the Rays met the Angels at a game at Tropicana Field, I made the comment to another writer that I would seriously entertain the thought of Bourjos and Mike Trout manning the gaps and playing a fifth infielder against certain hitters given how much range both guys have. Bourjos’ defense has been on display since he was promoted last season, but the bat has taken some time to get there. Last season, Bourjos struck out 40 times in just 193 plate appearances while walking just six times. The .237 OBP limited his stolen-base opportunities, yet the speedster still swiped 10 bases in 13 attempts. Even with the disappointing callup, Bourjos was a popular speed target in AL-only drafts; he went for $15 in AL Tout Wars, but was not popular enough to escape dollar days in the mixed-league draft.

With nearly two months of the 2011 season behind us, let's take a look at which players are leading the pack at their respective positions, and whether or not we can expect those starts to develop into trends, or if we should be selling high before the bottom falls out.

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In the last two weeks, I have written about both Royals prospects who were expected to make it to the majors in 2011 and pitchers who are striking out a significant number of batters in the International League. Because of those specifications, Danny Duffy, who starts tonight for the Royals against the Rangers, didn't make the cut for either—Duffy's ETA, according to Kevin Goldstein in his Top 11 prospects ranking of the Royals, was 2012, and he has been blowing away hitters in the PCL, the league I had not yet covered.

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Today we will take a look at a few pitchers who are striking out at least a batter per inning in the International League, and who may make their way onto a big league roster near you this summer.

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Eric Hosmer is in the major leagues, and earlier than expected. He is just the first of many prospects who may become Royals in 2011; what kind of fantasy impact is the rest of the bunch likely to have this year?

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Even knowing what we do about small samples, it's often all too tempting to hope that a player who has seen ups and downs in his career is back for real based on a good April. With that caveat, today we will look at a few cases of players who struggled in 2010—either due to injuries, bad luck, or just general ineffectiveness—who have started out hitting well in 2011, in order to see if what they are doing is realistically sustainable.

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The first month of the season is over, bringing us one month closer to prospects starting to earn summer promotions to the majors. Where the players these prospects would replace are already struggling, it's even more likely that fresh blood will soon be available for your fantasy team. Here are three first basemen who may end up reaching the majors during 2011—though some may be more successful than others.

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The minor league season has been going for even less time than its major league cousin, but that won’t stop us from taking a look at some prospects who may end up in the majors at some point in 2011. Today, we will examine a few Triple-A outfielders who are hitting well to start the season, and who you may want to keep an early eye on in AL- or NL-only leagues.

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On Mondays throughout the season, Fantasy Focus looks at rookies and prospects likely to end up in the majors this year. As the minor league season isn’t even two weeks old yet, this week we will focus our efforts entirely on MLB rookies.

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The 2010 season was an incredible one for National League rookies. Tyler Colvin hit .254/.316/.500 with 43 extra-base hits (20 of them homers) and still finished outside the top 10 in VORP for NL rookies. Logan Morrison (.283/.390/.447) and Jose Tabata (.299/.346/.400 with 19 steals) also missed making the top 10, as the NL produced a ridiculous amount of positional talent in one year. Jason Heyward, Buster Posey, Starlin Castro, Mike Stanton, and Pedro Alvarez lead this group, and all five of them are already capable of making an impact in both real and fantasy baseball.

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On Monday of this week, we introduced the column Don't Believe the Hype, a weekly look at add/drop trends in fantasy baseball. The idea is to provide a way for you to find out if you should be following the wisdom of the crowd, or if that so-called wisdom doesn't have much substance to it. The thing is, it seems like you folks want this thing to run on Fridays, so that you have the weekend to ponder moves. So, here we are: Don't Believe the Hype will now run on Fridays instead, starting right now, and Mondays will see fantasy-oriented prospect coverage instead.

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It was a night for debuts Tuesday evening, as rookie Michael Pineda of the Seattle Mariners faced off against converted reliever Alexi Ogando in the first start either pitcher had made in the major leagues. Pineda was the main event—the reason that people tuned in on mlb.tv—but Ogando put on an intriguing show during his own six innings.

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