Brett Myers has an ERA of 3.18 despite a relatively average .322 BABIP and 74.6% LOB-Rate.  Myers is striking out 9.15 hitters-per-9 and sporting a 1.16 WHIP in June.  Shockingly, Myers has yet to go fewer than 6 Innings all year.  Myers has posted a quality start in 9 of his 13 chances this year.

After posting ERAs of 4.97 and 5.03 in the previous two months, Javier Vazquez is posting a 3.31 ERA in June thus far.  Hitters have been hitting a mere .157 (on a .158 BABIP) during the same time span. After a couple months where Vazquez posted 4.50+ BB/9, he’s finally settled down to the 2.14 BB/9 region in June.  Vazquez has always posted terrific K:BB numbers and may have finally turned the corner.  Vazquez won’t be the sub-3.00 ERA pitcher that he was for the Braves last year, but he’s still very talented and a terrific buy at this point.

Josh Hamilton is quietly putting together MVP-type numbers after catching fire in June.  Hamilton’s tied with Carlos Pena for the league lead in HR since June 1st with 7.  Hamilton’s slow start to the season has been overshadowed by his ascent up the leader boards.  Hamilton’s currently 5th in HR, 8th in RBI, 11th in RBI and 13th in batting average.

Jonny Gomes is holding his own against righties.  Primarily a platoon slugger, Gomes now has a slash-line of .285/.324/.485 with six of his nine homers against righties.  Against lefties, Gomes is almost a must start with only an 18.6% K-Rate, 13.7% BB-Rate and a 1.082 OPS.  Considering that Gomes only has a  9.7 HR/FB against lefties, he should be in for a homer-binge at some point soon.

Shin-Soo Choo hit a couple of dingers in the CLE/CIN game.  Choo has a freaky way of maintaining a ridiculously high BABIP, so don’t worry about his .355 BABIP.  The LD% is down but remember that Choo had a .367 and .370 BABIP over the past couple years.  With Choo’s walk-rate up and K-Rate down, he should have absolutely no problem posting a 20-20 season in Cleveland.

Kerry Wood gave up a homer in a non-save situation but also struck out a couple of batters.  Wood’s probably an injury risk and Chris Perez has been solid but at this point, the stuff is there.

Joey Votto stole a couple bases — that’s 6 on the year.  I think Votto’s finally entered the “elite” category of first basemen, but keep an eye on his 50% GB-Rate.

Lefty J.C. Romero retired two batters to get the save for the Phillies against the Red Sox.  Romero relieved Baez, who’d put a man on first and second, in a 4-run game.  Romero got J.D. Drew to ground-out (advancing the runners) before plonking Beltre.  Finally, Romero got David Ortiz to fly out to deep-center.  Romero was more than likely brought in to deal with the lefties and did just that; even if it wasn’t pretty.

Jimmy Rollins was back atop the lineup with Victorino hitting behind  Ibanez.

Tim Hudson shutdown the Pirates.  Hudson has a 2.09ERA and a 3.88K/3.43BB rate — guh.  Obviously, Hudson’s gawdy 66% GB-Rate has been keeping him elite but at some point, the .213 BABIP and 87% LOB-Rate will abandon him.  I don’t see this ending well.

The Orioles are actually starting to hit:  Adam Jones had his first homer since April 24th.

Javier Vazquez got well against the Mets.  Takahashi pitched a very solid game for his first start: 6IP, 5H, 1BB, 0ER, 5K.  Takahashi is now striking out over 10 batters per 9 IP with a 2.91 tERA and a 3.56 xFIP.  Definitely someone to take a look at in deeper leagues (even with a Mets’ bullpen that has WHIPs that resemble ERAs)

Colby Lewis shut down the Cubs even though he walked 3 in 6 IP.  Lewis is striking out a batter per inning and is a solid bet to post a sub-4.00 ERA on the year.  Lewis is going to his Slider quite a bit more than previous years — it’s up to 30% and the Curve’s down to 8% versus last year’s 13% SL/23% CU split.

That’s 12 Saves on the season for Neftali Feliz.  I don’t understand why Texas gave up so soon on the dream of Neftali being a starter but to each his own, I guess.

Brett Myers is now (3-3) on a 15-27 Houston team.  Seven strike-outs in seven innings certainly doesn’t hurt his value.  Myers allowed a single unearned run in the first inning.  Myers is still a grade-A douchebag but his O-Swing is up 5% and his contact-rate is down 5%.  Myers also hasn’t seen his Swinging Strike percentage at 9 in a couple of years.  Myers has been going to his slider more often which has the best downward movement in his career.

Matt Lindstrom picked up his 10th save of the year and has his BB-Rate below 2.  A 3.75 K:BB Matt Lindstrom is a very useful Matt Lindstrom.  He’s left 93% of runners stranded but every other indicator shows that Lindstrom is just better.

Mark Buerhle pitched a great game: 8IP, 3H,  3K.  Buerhle does this from time to time before reminding the world that he’s spectacularly average. Sergio Santos pitched the ninth and struck out a couple batters.  This is me tooting Carlos Quentin’s horn for the third straight day.

Nick Punto was the only Minnesota Twin to not touch home plate and score a run last night.  Nick Blackburn is now 5-and-1.  That’s that for that 15-3 rout.

Jose Guillen hit a couple more DINGERS!  Twenty-two percent of his fly-balls are going for a long ride over the fence.  Unless you’re a baseball purist, there’s absolutely no reason to dislike the hilarity that follows Jose Guillen.

Colby Rasmus tripled for his lone hit of the day.  As a Rasmus owner, I’m absolutely terrified.  Rasmus is striking out 35% of the time and has a .368 BABIP.  Rasmus has a .930 OPS and has been graded AAA by Moody’s, S  & P and Fitch — Obviously, it’s buying time. Banking Sarcasm!

I can’t believe I turned off the Blue Jays / Diamondbacks game last night.  The Diamondbacks (397K) are number one in strike-outs and the Blue Jays (361K) are number 2.  Almost as if these two things were connected, the Blue Jays are number 1 in DINGERS! (72) and the Diamondbacks are number 3 (56 HR).

Here’s the DINGERS! from last night’s game:  Fred Lewis, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Adam Lind, Adam LaRoche, Chris Young.

In six and two-thirds innings, Trevor Cahill struck out four and only walked one.  Walks will be the biggest factor in Cahill’s development.  I love the kid.

Cliff Lee got the win after giving up 7ER?  The weird part is that the Padres didn’t take a single walk, they just aimed and fired en route to 15 hits.

Mike Sweeney hit a couple of DINGERS! but really doesn’t deserve too much attention at this point.

Austin Jackson had two more hits and is still hitting 36% line-drives.

This practice is definitely not limited to just Colby Rasmus; it pretty much spans every non-switching hitting uber-prospect.  Like Colby Rasmus, Travis Snider only saw 16 AB in 15 G against left handed pitching. Even if it’s a small sample size, Snider did manage to hit .313 in those 16 AB.  Jordan Schafer wasn’t ready, but he too only saw 52 AB in 27 games against lefties.  Carlos Gonzalez hasn’t been up long, but he too has only seen 4 AB in 4 games against same-handed pitchers.  Gerardo Parra rounds out the tentative list of top-100 prospects that simply do not get to face left handed pitching.

Can it be good for a young player to know that he’s sitting every time a left-hander starts?  Watching Travis Snider earlier this year was painful, as his frustration shone through.  There was no way that he was getting into a schedule and in turn, looked terrible against lefties and righties alike.  Strangely enough, he was sent down to the minors to get every day at-bats.  Whether you agree or disagree with the practice doesn’t particularly matter when gauging a player’s fantasy value.  You just have to know who sits, and when they sit.

If you’ve got a solid bench player, Colby Rasmus is entering must-own territory.  Against righties, Rasmus is hitting .331 with a .365 OBP and a .561 slugging percentage, which is good for a .926 OPS.  These are numbers that play in almost every league, even if his counting stats don’t match ‘em at this point. LaRussa still has Skip Schumaker leading off, but has let Colby Rasmus bat second 4 of the past 5 games. For obvious reasons, batting directly in front of Albert Pujols is beneficial.  If Rasmus can keep up his hot hitting against righties, his counting statistics which are currently pretty average, should sky-rocket.

Rasmus is going to have to start adapting shortly as he’s now been up long enough for pitchers to have fairly precise scouting reports.  He’s currently sitting below a 6% BB which will have to change if he plans on being successful through September.  There’s definitely a lot of risk associated with Rasmus, any youngster for that matter, but as a plug-and-play candidate against righties, Rasmus brings very solid value to the table. In the end, Rasmus should show some regression, as he’s been getting slightly lucky on his balls-in-play but that should be off-set by him running a little bit more.  There’s no reason why an athlete the calibre of Colby Rasmus shouldn’t be allowed at least a shot at stealing 10 bases

Onto Fantasy Baseball!

IF you’re going to be making moves, here are some eye-catchers for Tuesday:

1. Josh Johnson – P – Florida Marlins
2. Colby Rasmus – OF – St. Louis Cardinals
3. Nick Johnson – 1B – Washington Nationals
4. Franklin Guetierrez – OF – Seattle Mariners
5. Erik Bedard – SP – Seattle Mariners (trade for?)
6. Emmanuel Burris – 2B – San Francisco Giants
7. Josh Fields & Chris Getz – IF – Chicago White Sox
8. Converted  OF Skip Schumaker / Mark Teahan – 2B – Cards/Royals
9. Wandy Rodriguez – SP – Houston Astros

Marlins / Nats

Josh Johnson looked great against the Nationals tonight, striking out 8 batters over 6 and two-thirds innings. Johnson also avoided walking a batter, which is nice to see from the kid.  With Johnson’s strike-out ability (~8K/9), he’ll be very valuable if he can limit his walks. He’s posted career BB/9 totals of between 3 and 4, so this is definitely a great start for the kid.

Keep an eye out for Johnson, if he can keep his walks down to under 3 per 9 — he’ll be a damn good investment in any league. You can do a lot worse than Johnson at this point.

This is the second straight game that Manny Acta has benched Elijah Dukes in favor of Austin Kearns.  It’s obviously not punishment as there are no news stories, and Dukes has been pitch hitting.  Maybe ownership wants to showcase Kearns?  If they’re lucky, they’ll get a player to be named later for Kearns.

Nick Johnson is healthy and raking, and if the rest of the Nationals ever start getting on base — Johnson will have value.  Unfortunately, Johnson will be hurt by that point.

Ronny Paulino and John Baker should form a nice little platoon down in Florida, neither will have value unless they get starter’s AB.

Pirates / Cards

Ian Snell of the Pirates had a rough day, surrendering 8 runs, 6 of which were earned, to the Cardinals.  Lots of good stuff coming out of Cardinals camp: Skip Schumaker’s start at second base didn’t go overly well, as he went hitless and committed a throwing error. Khalil Greene continued hitting, and Colby Rasmus got the start in right-field. Rasmus managed two singles and a walk in 5 plate appearances, not quite Schafer-esque. Strangely enough, both Rasmus and Duncan played with Ludwick riding the pine.  I still think this shapes up as Ludwick, Ankiel and Rasmsus as the starting outfielders.

M’s / Twins

A few line-up maneuvers that should peak your interest:  Guetierrez is batting second for the M’s, a spot in which he should flourish — I’d roster him in deep leagues, especially when Ichiro returns.  Denard Span is batting lead-off for the Twins with Gomez batting 7th.  Alexi Casilla, a nice sleeper, is batting in the 2-hole. Erik Bedard only went 5 innings, but struck out 8 — Hope you drafted him! In that park, with his skills, there’s going to be some serious value….if only he wasn’t a huge injury risk.

Jays / Tigers

Toronto’s 2-0, and first place in the AL EAST, thanks to the Detroit Tigers. On behalf of all Torontonians, Thank you!

Starting Pitchers Edwin Jackson and David Purcey looked stellar; each went 7 innings and gave up 2 and 3 ER, respectively.  Jackson struck out 4, while walking only a single batter. Purcey struck out one more batter, as he whiffed 5, but also walked 3.  Purcey should have more K-value long-term, but Jackson could be primed for one of those “never-saw-dat-coming” seasons.

I’d be worried if I owned one of the closers in this game though.  Lyon’s technically not the closer, but earned a blown save after allowing the game-winning run in a tie ball game.  Ryan was also very hittable, and I’d be picking up Scottie Downs ASAP (if you’re in a league where closer speculating is required)

Braves / Phillies

The Braves handed it to Philly again, and Mike Gonzalez owners exhaled.  Jurrjens didn’t allow a run, but wasn’t all that sharp. Schafer fell back down to earth, but even if he’s going hitless, so long as he’s taking walks — I’m buying it. Nothing terribly interesting…

Red Sox / Rays

Tampa and Boston finally got their seasons going, and I ended up watching a good chunk of this sucker on mlb’s gameday application.  Beckett’s release point was noticeably different between his fastball/curveball, one-two punch — early season kinks, I’m sure.

Tampa’s 3-4-5-6 of Longoria, Pena, Burrell and Joyce is going to strike-out a lot.  I’m actually quite worried about this team, but Maddon’s a bright guy and I’m sure he’ll find a way to split this up.  Other than Iwamura, Bartlett and Gabe Gross each stealing a base, there’s not much of note in this game.  James Shields was hittable, but I’d expect him to post stellar WHIP and K numbers for the rest of the year.

Giants / Brewers

Tim Lincecum is apparently a mortal, a very, very pale mortal that’s starting to look more and more like Kate Moss during the ‘addicted-to-heroin-and-cocaine-era’ or…. Skeletor.

Rickie Weeks is hitting the ball, and JJ Hardy isn’t — Welcome to Bizzaro World.  Hardy left 7 men on base.

Burriss got the start at second base over Frandsen, and Travis Ishikawa is proving me wrong by looking like a big-leaguer.

The Brewers ran wild against Bengie Molina.

Royals / White Sox

Mark Teahan started at second base, and looked good.  Trey Hillman has way too many guys hitting ahead of his two best hitters, Gordon and Butler.  They’re both young, but they shouldn’t be batting 6th and 7th.

The White Sox’ Josh Fields is batting 9th, but I’m not sure where Ozzie Guillen moves him to even if he keeps up his hot hitting. You can flip the White Sox line-up backwards, and it’ll probably look just as good as it does now: Fields (9th), Ramirez (8th), Pierzynski (7th) and Konerko (6th) vs. Wise (1st), Getz (2nd), Quentin (3rd) and Thome (4th).

Cubbies / ‘Stros

Soriano struck out 3 times, but did manage to homer — I’m thinking there’s going to be a lot of these games for him, wadda leadoff hitter.

Wandy Rodriguez looked solid, and does have some pretty solid K potential.  He’s probably one of the top players left in your waiver-wire so keep an eye out.

Not really much to report out of this game, but someone should inform the Astros that Ivan Rodriguez is no longer a viable number-2 hitter.

Rockies / D-Backs

Summary: Lots of Strikeouts.

Ubaldo Jiminez has a blistering fastball, but until he learns to pitch he’s going to have some issues in Coors.  Dan Haren is still Dan Haren.

Justin Upton played, but hit 8th — not good for fantasy owners.

Games in Progress – Dodgers / Padres & Angels / A’s

I love Chris Young this year, and he hasn’t disappointed so far.  I didn’t realize that Chase Headley had third base eligibility in your standard Yahoo! league and if third wasn’t so deep this year, he’d have some value.  If he gets hot, snap him up — otherwise he’s going to be your league average third baseman (fantasy wise).

Kemp batting 7th lowers his value.  I understand starting with Furcal and Hudson but…c’mon!  Obviously, if Hudson sticks in the 2-hole, he’ll have value.

Top prospect, Trevor Cahill, went 5 but walked 5! He also gave up 5 hits! How did he only allow 2 ER?  He has more strike-out potential than the 1 that he posted tonight.

…hopefully the Blue Jays game will be on basic cable tomorrow.  It’s the second game of the year, and the game’s already been shifted into the 400′s on Rogers cable.

Luckily, I wasn’t fooled by Sportsnets’ trickery and promptly switched away from the Maple Leafs game.

Ted Rogers, if you’re reading this in Heaven? could you please magically allow our cable box to get MLB extra innings for free?

Going into Spring Training, I’d say this is a no-brainer:  Rasmus over Schafer in a walk.

But in Bizzarro world, it’s Schafer with the starting gig and Rasmus fighting for AB.  There’s really no way that Chris Duncan can hold off Rasmus, unless Rasmus goes through some serious woes.  The only thing that could derail Rasmus is Skip Schumaker forgetting that he played a competent second-base all spring long.  I followed Rasmus early in ST, and the results were not pretty.  He was batting .200 for a damn long time, and striking out way too much:

Top prospect Colby Rasmus seemed to take La Russa’s advice to heart after a five-for-26 start to camp that included seven strikeouts. La Russa suggested a pressing Rasmus strive to hit for average rather than power while trying to work the middle of the field. Rasmus, 22, hit .328 after March 3 and made the opening-day roster as no worse than fourth outfielder. -stltoday.com

Schafer on the other hand has put that HGH-problem (snitches get stitches) behind him and killed the ball all spring. He looks to have the job all to himself, as he’s really the only capable center-fielder of the bunch, with the exception of Brandon Jones who was just optioned.

If Bobby Cox believes in Schafer, then so do I.

If we’re just looking at skill set, and pure talent: Rasmus wins, hands down — or at least as hands down as your average-joe can predict development, hands down.

Schafer’s still tough to judge, especially when you consider the HGH scandal.  I’m not sure how long that shit stays in your system for, but I’m guessing it’s longer than the 50 Game suspension.  Rasmus does project to have better power, and a better knack for picking the right time to steal.

This is why Rasmus cracks the top-5 on Baseball America’s rankings, and Schafer comes in around 50th.

Opportunity is a whole different ballgame.  Schafer will probably start out batting 8th, but could easily be moved up into the lead-off spot in that Atlanta line-up.  Rasmus on the other hand will undoubtedly fill LaRussa’s wonderful creation, the ‘second lead-off man’, for a good chunk of the season.

Part of what makes Rasmus great, his plus-power for a CF, will be negated if he ever steps up to lead-off for St. Louis. If Rasmus takes what LaRussa said to heart, he’ll continue to hit for average rather than power, which should at least in theory, keep his K-rate at a respectable percent.  With Rasmus’ walk rate, realistically he only needs to hit .270 to be a useful lead-off hitter, even if he does strike-out 15-18% of the time.

Rasmus will eventually develop into a 3-hole guy, with the perfect combination of power-speed-patience; but at this point in his career his best shot at fantasy success is the lead-off role ahead of Ludwick, Pujols, Ankiel, and Schumaker.

In the end, both Rasmus and Schafer have a very solid shot at hitting atop of their respective line-ups by May.  Unfortunately, breaking Rasmus of many of the habits that’ve helped him succeed thus far, could be a challenge.

This one might not be close in the end, as I’m assuming one of these two is going to smash-kill the fail-button pretty hard. At this point though, Rasmus’ upside really negates Schafer’s initial advantage out of the blocks.

One of these two could end up with 15 HR and 20 SB, which sits pretty well in deep leagues, even if they both end up batting in the .260-.270 range.  I’m tempted to predict slightly better Run and RBI numbers for Rasmus, with Schafer not that far behind.

In the end, this is a PUSH.  If you like Risk, go with Rasmus.  If you’re down for the safer bet, take Schafer and his opening day gig.  Basically, I’m bitching-out fairly hard-core on making a decision, but if this were a starting spot in my line-up, I’d more than likely lean towards Schafer.  If this were a bench spot, or a keeper league — Rasmus for sure.

Schafer Photo Courtesy of Wallyg-flickr
Rasmus courtesy of MWLguide-flickr

Kevin Frandsen (2B – SFG) is hitting .303 with a .424 SLG which should probably be enough to hold off the charging Emmanuel Burriss (2B-SFG) who’s hitting .397 with a .492 slugging percentage.  Eugenio Velez (2B/OF – SFG) isn’t that far behind hitting .339 and slugging .548.  Everyone but Frandsen possesses solid stolen base potential, but it looks like a two-horse race between Frandsen and Burriss.  Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he’d announce the winner of the open-competition before the Giants left Arizona on Wednesday.

Daniel Murphy (LF – NYM) seems to be going higher and higher in drafts and with the spring he’s having; it seems warranted. Murphy’s hitting .333 with a .455 slugging percentage.  He hasn’t hit a dinger yet, which should worry you a little bit considering he’s only going to have OF eligibility.

This may be the year that Corey Hart (OF – MIL) puts everything together.  He’s your typical tools guy, who hasn’t quite put it together.  Hart’s already got 6HR and is batting .404.  It seems as though our favourite free-swinger may have put some time in this off-season. 13 strike outs to only 3 walks is still concerning though.

Our favourite error-prone Canadian Mark Teahan (2B/OF – KC) has hit 5 HR in only 39AB. He’s hitting .487, and only has 8 strikeouts compared to 5 walks.  Fellow Royal, Mike Jacobs (1B – KC) has hit 6 HR, but has also struck out 18 times! I still would have some issues rostering Jacobs. Billy Butler (1B – KC) has been posting terrific numbers too.

Two aging first basemen are both healthy and raking.  Todd Helton (1B – COL) and Paul Konerko (1B – CHW) are both hitting over .400 with 4 HR. Both of these guys should be rosterable in deep leagues, and borderline in shallow leagues.  I wouldn’t be surprised if both of ‘em go through streaks where they perform in the top-10 first basemen.

Sweet-Swinging Jeremy Hermida (OF – FLA) may have finally put it all together. He’s hit 4 HR, and is batting .340 with 5 walks to 9 strikeouts while slugging .642. Delmon Young and Jeremy Hermedia are two post-hype sleepers you probably want to keep an eye on.

The perennial prospect, Brandon Wood (3B-LAA), looks primed for at least a useful year. He’s hitting .347 while slugging .735.  The key stat for Wood is 8 strikeouts in 49 AB.  For someone who’s known for putting up a 30 percent strike-out rate, this is spectacular.

I’m really starting to worry about everyone’s favourite American League Sleeper, Chris Davis (1B/3B – TEX). 21 strikeouts in 61 at-bats during Spring Training is concerning, very concerning.  I’m sure he’ll put up solid numbers in Texas, but he’s going to be streaky. Two other youngsters, Colby Rasmus (OF-STL) and Chris Dickerson (OF-CIN) are also posting unhealthy strike-out numbers.  Dickerson is still very worthy of a draft-pick at this point, even in shallow leagues.

Carl Crawford (OF-TAM) seems healthy again, Thank God.  He’s stole 6 bases in 37 AB. Not many people think the Rays will compete with the Red Sox and Yankees in 2009.  This should help Crawford’s stolen base numbers.  40 Stolen bases from this former first rounder isn’t out of the question.

I wouldn’t put too much weight on it, but Adam Jones (OF – BAL) is having a great spring. Jones is a ball player, with a very solid shot at 20/20 this year. Last year’s 9 HR and 10 SB just seems ridiculous considering his talent.  Jones is one hell of a sleeper in just about any format. It also appears as though Jones will open the year hitting second in the new Orioles line-up, which should mean an increase across the board.

Pablo Sandoval ( UTIL – SFG) just won’t go away.  I really don’t like Sandoval as a sleeper, something just seems off.  He is however hitting .448 with 39 total bases in 58 AB.

Everyone’s favourite Toronto Blue Jay, Travis Snider (OF – TOR), is hitting a very solid .381 with a .690 slugging percentage.  Snider’s my favourite player, so don’t expect unbiased information from this analyst.  The single, paltry, walk is still concerning.  We’ll see how long it takes pitchers to start adjusting to him.  The Blue Jays won’t be hesitant to send him down, but he belongs on the big league roster.

Staying on Travis’, Travis Buck (OF-OAK) and his beautiful Man-Mane is starting to come into his own and continuing the Athletics trend of walking just as much as you strike-out.

One of my favourites, Kendry Morales (1B – LAA) appears to be posting a solid spring with a .356 AVG and .576 SLG.  I’m not sure why more people aren’t hyping him up — when he came out, he had all sorta of hype, and then got the “fat and lazy” tag.

Hey, Shouldn’t You Be Striking Out?

Nelson Cruz (OF – TEX) strikes out at 25 percent clip has 5 strikeouts and 4 walks in 31 AB.

Hank Blalock (3B/UTIL – TEX) also seems to be showing last year’s huge decline in K-rate is the real deal.  He’s struck out 6 times, and walked 7 times in 48 AB.

Ian Stewart (3B – COL) seems to have shown improvement over last year’s 35 percent strike-out rate. He’s only struck out 7 times in 44 AB, to go along with 5 BB.

In addition to killing spring training pitching, J.J. Hardy (SS – MIL) has only struck out 5 times in 52 AB.  That’s the same amount he’s walked.

Does Rick Ankiel (OF – STL) ever stop improving? He, of the 2008 25% K-Rate, is hitting .356 with 12 K and 11 BB in 73AB.  I’m starting to buy this whole “Rick Ankiel Is Awesome” talk.

Khalil Greene ( SS – STL) has seriously only struck out 3 times in 60 AB. Greene still doesn’t walk, but he’s an annual 25% strike-out guy. Maybe we’re onto something, maybe he’s just enduring one of his hot-streaks.

Jason Kubel (UTIL – MIN) and his 20 percent career strike-out rate has only 3 K’s in 45 AB.

Cameron Maybin (OF – FLA) and his 12 strike-outs to 7 walks in 54 AB, is intriguing — very intriguing.  Every projection model out there has Maybin striking out at a 30 percent clip.

Who’s Getting the At-Bats?

Managers are fairly simple creatures.  If they want to know more about a group of players, they’ll play them.  If they impress, maybe they’ll earn an invite to the show or even a starting gig. With that said, here are the guys that are being trotted out there for more than an inning or two.

Pitching Statistics will follow tomorrow.

Colby Rasmus, St. Louis Cardinals – 19AB: Rasmus hasn’t been killing it, but he hasn’t been downright awful.  His defensive versatility helps his cause.  Rasmus’ Line: .211/.318/.263.  LaRussa will continue to trot him out there, until he gets a feel for him.  I think Rasmus nabs a starting gig and contributes enough to help a fantasy squad. Unfortunately his declining batting average will keep him off rosters. The strike-outs are troublesome.

Daniel Murphy, New York Mets – 18AB: Murphy’s definitely one of my favourite sleepers at this point.  I’m not sure why the Mets haven’t gotten into the Manny sweepstakes at all this offseason.  After last year’s utter collapse, a player as relaxed as Manny might help.

Murphy’s seen all of his AB in LF, but his ability to play multiple infield positions will definitely help his chances. While he wont shine at second or third base, he’ll play them competantly enough.  Murphy should be able to snag himself somewhere between 500-550 AB from the looks of it.

Micah Hoffpauir, Chicago Cubs – 15AB: Hoffpauir has been killing the ball, slugging .800 while batting .400.  The problem for Hoffpauir is opportunity, obviously.  Hoffpauir played a bit of outfield and first base in limited action last year, but unfortunately all of positions are already accounted for.

The good news for Hoffpauir is that neither Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, nor Milton Bradley are the picture of perfect help. 300AB seems like a fair estimate for Hoffpauir.

Nyjer Morgan, Pittsburgh Pirates – 13AB: Morgan seems to have the left field gig on lockdown. With Nate McLouth and Brandon Moss currently pencilled in for the other two starting spots things don’t look good for the youngsters.  Steven Pearce and Andrew McCutchen are still interesting prospects to keep an eye on throughout Spring Training.  Morgan hasn’t been lighting it up, hitting only .231 without a single walk, but he’s got the kind of speed that’s worth a rosterspot if he holds onto the left-field gig.

Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds – 13AB: I like Votto, and he’s somewhere around Derrek Lee in my rankings.  I didn’t think Votto would fall into the sophomore slump that haunts even the best rookies, but I also didn’t think he’d break out.  So far he’s been smash-killing the ball — slugging 1.000 and batting .571.  Not bad for a weeks work.

Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies – 12AB: Gonzalez has been playing quite a bit, and has been playing in every conceivable outfield position.  While his hitting hasn’t been spectacular, he’s only struck out twice.  Gonzalez can hit, but what you want to keep an eye on is his BB-Rate and K-Rate. I’m still pretty high on Gonzalez for no apparent reason.

Travis Ishikawa, San Francisco Giants – 12AB: The Giants are praying that Ishikawa can win the job and he’s not dissapointing so far.  He’s batting .500/.500/1.083 so far.  He’s got some pop, but he’s still a bottom tier first baseman in a very bad line-up.

Chris Dickerson and Jerry Hairston Jr, Cincinatti Reds — Dickerson has hit 2 Home Runs in 6AB. Unfortunately, he’s also struck out twice. Hairston hasn’t faired all that well, batting only .125. Hairston has, however, been playing all over the diamond.  I think Dickerson takes the left-field job, and Hairston Jr. ends up as a super-utility type player.  Dickerson brings a nice speed/power combo to the table at a very reasonable price.

Scott Thorman, Milwaukee Brewers – 11AB: Thorman hails from my home-town: Cambridge, Ontario. He’s been killing the ball, going 7-for-11, but Prince Fielder is pretty entrenched at the 1st base position.

Spring Training, Who’s Impressing and Who’s Depressing.

Brian Buscher of the Twins has been staking his claim to a starting gig since the Joe Crede signing. Talent and line-up are in his favour.  It’s just the dreaded “lack of opportunity” line.

While I can’t whole-heartedly recommend a Mariner in good faith, I will advise you that Franklin Guetierrez makes a terrific addition to any fantasy squad.

It appears as though Ryan Sweeney wants that starting-CF gig more than Rajai Davis, so far. Sweeney’s the better all around player, but Davis brings boatloads of speed to the table. 

Delmon Young is having a great spring going 6-for-7 so far, unfortunately the power-outage is still in effect. Young only has one extra-base hit so far, and he’s going to have to show something soon.

Andruw Jones has been awful, and I’ve documented his love of the strike-out in every spring training post.  He leads spring training with 8 strike-outs in 9AB.  Colby Rasmus is the next closest with 6K’s in 19AB. Another uber-prospect, the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen, is also striking out too much: 5K’s in 10AB.  Jordan Schafer, yet another prospect, is killing the ball while tallying up an impressive K total: 5K-11AB.

Nothing’s more useless than Spring Training stolen base statistics, but Ryan Freel has stolen 4 bases. Corey Hart is next with 3 SB.

Brett Gardner leads spring training so far with 13 TB but I can’t see Melky Cabrera not starting in CF.

…it’s getting late, we’ll finish this up tomorrow.

Spring Training Statistics From MLB.com

It appears as though St. Louis is more than just a stop over for migrating internally displaced, yet fully functional, gang members.

Feel free to let “Ross Kemp On Gangs“ verse you on the subject. He’ll brief you on how to tell if PCP is real, and what an ounce in St. Louis will run you.  Rather than reading this article, I highly suggest spending 45 minutes watching that documentary solely for the laughs.

So Tony LaRussa  has this crazy idea whereby your ninth hitter is your second lead off hitter. Tony’s kind of nutty, but his “snitches get stitches” frame of mind has saved many careers.

Remember Tony’s interview with the Bryan Burwell of the  St. Louis  Post – Dispatch?

Q: You have more than your fair share of Mitchell Report guys on this team.
Does it bother you that there’s a perception that you give safe harbor to steroid guys?

LaRussa: “No, and I’ll tell you why not. One way I was taught to survive is my No. 1 accountability factor is myself. This is my 30th year doing this at the major league level. There isn’t anybody – the commissioner, our owner, the fans, you – there isn’t any person, man or woman, who can make me any more accountable than I am now right now because of myself. And I know there isn’t anything we’ve done in all those years that was – with one small exception where we stole signs, a little hiccup – there isn’t anything else that has happened on our ballclubs in Oakland or St. Louis that there’s a hint of illegality. There isn’t anything that we didn’t actively and proactively attempt to do it right.”

http://www.stltoday.com/

Anyways, Tony generally brings the awesome and with his recent move to turn Skip Schumaker into a second basemen — he brings it hard.  Now I recall reading something about Schumaker playing second at some point during his career, but all I can find is 6! games at third base during his 2004 season in AA with Tennessee.

With Schumaker presumably moving to second, Brendan Ryan gets left out in the cold. While this may be a heart-breaking loss to Brendan’s family — I think the fantasy world will survive.  What this does do is open up the RF spot for none other than CHRIS DUNCAN!

Wait, I mean: COLBY RASMUS! Remember him? Top-10 Prospect Colby Rasmus?

Rasmus has the perfect range and arm combination to play any of the outfield spots. Tony LaRussa digs this, and has hinted that Rasmus may just fit the role of SECOND-LEAD-OFF-MAN.

Now, I’m not sure who gets the bigger bump due to these circumstances.  Schumaker will make one hell of a late round draft pick, and his value only increases if he plays second base but isn’t eligible out of the gate.  If you’re in a league where you can’t spare a roster-spot for 10 Games…You need a reality check, or OCD meds.

Schumaker has a great deal of value as a MI and while his offensive stats may take a dip, he should be just fine. Schumakers a legit .300 hitter, and that oughta do something for his run scoring / producing numbers.

Rasmus on the other hand had a few injury issues in 2008, just a few. Rasmus’ batting average has been free-falling over the past few seasons, and it’s at the point now where the ROBOTS predict him to hit .250 in the Show.  If Rasmus suits up for the Red Birds, I’d expect closer to a .275 average with a month or two of .300+ smash-kill-ball type hitting. This obviously means that he’s going to have more than a couple of months where he battles the Mendoza line (and wins! victory, at last!)

So long as Rasmus can keep his BB% above 10, there’s no reason to fret. If he stops taking the free pass, his 20+ percent strike-out rate will haunt him though. Even if Rasmus ends up splitting time with Duncan, he’ll get AB against lefties as Duncan’s OPS splits are stupid-silly: .893 OPS against righties vs. .602 OPS vs. lefties. Mather could also factor into the equation with a good camp, and a hot start.

Conclusion:

Watch Ross Kemp. Rasmus is still young and although he was mentioned in the same breath as Jay Bruce last year, things have changed.  Rasmus is worth a risk in just about any format if he breaks camp with a starting job.  If you have to pencil him into a starting position though, you’re playing with fire.

Photos:
Skyline of St. Louis Courtesy of Express Monorail (Hiatus) - Flickr,
Arch: hz536n - flickr