Fantasy Baseball: 5 Top-Tier Hitters to Avoid

Mallex Smith, OF, Seattle Mariners

NFBC ADP: 99th

Positional Rank: 27

Draft Round (12-team league): 9th

While speed continues to decline in today's game, one-trick ponies like Mallex Smith are becoming increasingly hard to roster, even when they steal 40 bags like the speedy outfielder did a year ago.

While Smith looks likely to lead off, it becomes hard to spend a top-100 pick on a one-category producer. Smith's .296 batting average was extremely useful, but it's also important to keep in mind that prior to last year, he hadn't topped .270 in the batting average category.

To make matters worse, Smith hasn't cracked double-digits in his walk rate as a professional, leading to only 65 runs scored. And there's not much power to speak of with a .110 ISO.

If the lefty can repeat his .311 second half average from a year ago, he could become a more tantalizing option, but until then he remains a later round pick.