After seriously contending for the Triple Crown, Carlos Gonzalez has emerged as a fantasy superstar.  His line was stellar – 111 Runs, 34 HRs, 117 RBI, 26 SBs, paired with a .335 AVE, .376 OBP, and a .598 SLG.

Wow.

He’s always been a highly prized prospect, but after being traded twice in 3 years (once for Dan Haren and once for Matt Holliday), some were wondering if he would ever get his chance.  Landing in Colorado was the best thing that could have happened.

He easily shook off any platoon possibilities, hitting equally well against lefties (.320) and righties (.345) and feasted when runners were in scoring position with a .350 AVE.  The Giants were the only N.L. West team to keep him somewhat in check (.253 AVE), but he ran over the rest of the division: Arizona (.418), Dodgers (.323), and the Padres (.368).  There’s no worries about his glove either, since he only made two errors, good for a  .996 FLD%.

CarGo did display some pretty dramatic home/away splits hitting .380 with 26 HRs at Coors Field versus a .289 AVE and 8 HRs on the road.  Also, seeing a batting title winner with over 100 strikeouts is pretty rare, let alone the 135 Ks that he tallied.  Unfortunately, the fact that he’s a great defender can work against him, getting dinged up several times during the year as a result of risky defensive efforts.

Gonzalez will certainly be a highly sought after commodity during 2011 fantasy drafts.  He can easily be mentioned among the top-3 outfielders along with Ryan Braun and Carl Crawford and he will be targeted in many first-rounds.

He finally got his chance, and fantasy owners are rejoicing everywhere.