Fantasy Baseball Stats: Daily All-Stars from March 31

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Here are yesterday’s huge fantasy baseball stats.

Daily Fantasy Baseball MVP

Alejandro De Aza — Chicago White Sox.

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I bet you weren’t expecting this one, but those stats are not easy to argue with. As of right now, he’s your league-leader in homers and generally speaking, guys who hit for the most power bring the most fantasy value, as a homer bolsters your numbers in four of the five standard fantasy stats.

No, we’re not saying that it’s going to continue for the rest of the season, or even for another day. But for today, Alejandro De Aza is King.

Daily Honorable Mentions

1. Adam Wainwright — St. Louis Cardinals

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I’d like it better without the four walks, but that’s quite a day to have against any offense, let alone one as good as the Cincinnati Reds, especially in The Great American Ballpark.

With few exceptions, the game’s aces didn’t exactly pitch like it, which is pretty common on Opening Day. But Wainwright did not have that problem. Even more impressive is that since they only won 1-0, every one of those pitches was stressful.

2. David Wright — New York Mets

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I wrestled with a few guys here. Mike Trout, Buster Posey Salvador Perez, Emilio Bonifacio, Marcell Ozuna, and about every hitter from the next spot could have all been in this spot without much of an argument.

But ultimately, Captain America just did a little too much to be ignored. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for the Mets to win, but that’s an issue for another day. If you’re a guy who passed on sluggers like Miguel Cabrera and Adrian Beltre at third base and took Wright a few rounds later, you’re feeling okay about things right about now.

3. Alex Rios — Texas Rangers

People kept talking about this being a high-scoring game and really, I don’t know what they’re talking about. The 14-10 score isn’t confusing. What I don’t get is why the Eagles and Cowboys were playing a game in March. I mean, if it was an April Fool’s joke, they were a day early.

Oh, it was a baseball game? And Cliff Lee was pitching? And he got the win? Yeah, that is confusing.

Anyway, this is what Rios did:

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We could probably devote about five different pieces to this game. Jimmy Rollins (probably) had the best moment with a grand slam, Ben Revere won the Opening Day “Vindicate Nash” award, Chase Utley showed that he can still hit when on the field, but nobody put it together quite like Rios did in the opener.

Rios was an interesting guy on draft day. He’s not a sabermetric darling so people can tend to stay away from him. But he’s also a contributor in every category. So when you take him, you have equal bust concern, and great value excitement. We’ll see what happens over the next 161 but the excitement won the day in the opener.