Jay Bruce: Finally

While I won't be using any of the same stuff, Bleacher Report also did a Jay Bruce piece today that sparked this from me. . . and it's about time.

Doesn't it seem like Jay Bruce is 31 years old and battling for a free agent contract? It feels like I have been talking to Bob about Jay Bruce for the last 10 seasons. I'm pretty sure that for the last 7 or 8 years, everyone in the fantasy baseball world has been saying, "This is his year. This is the year Jay Bruce will finally be good. This is the year of his breakout." But every year he has been in the league, he has let fantasy baseball managers, myself included, down. While 20+ home runs a year is nothing to scoff at, it is not the kind of numbers that people expect when they draft this supposed fantasy baseball monster.

Then every year I pull up his Baseball Reference page and realize that he is only 2 days older than I am. He still has at least 4 more years before his baseball skill set peaks and he hits his full potential. He won't even be a free agent until 2017, so why have I been so set on him becoming this stud of a ball player? Because that's exactly what Jay Bruce is. When the Reds drafted him 12th overall in the 2005 draft out of high school, the beginning of his 2011 season is what they were looking for.

Now on pace for 32+ home runs this years, his lowest full season strike out total, and his highest batting average, Bruce is just starting to hit his stride. It is Jay Bruce, not Joey Votto who leads the team in most offensive categories. Fantasy baseball man crush or not, I'm more excited to finally be right about him. It will be nasty to see what Votto and Bruce can do with the rest of the season and for years to come.