Josh Hamilton: The Rangers will decide this weekend if Hamilton’s injured ribs will require a DL stint, but are hopeful that he can rejoin the lineup early next week. You can count him out for this weekend. Hamilton had a...

As we did Tuesday with the NL, today we will be looking at some of the AL hitters with respect to their Singles Average (BHIPx), which can help identify what effect luck may be having on a player’s production. If...

Jorge Cantu (1B – Marlins) Jorge Cantu homered again on Wednesday, which now gives him 6 on the season and 3 in his last 2 games. Cantu also took 2 free passes in the game, giving him 8 on the...

Each week here with the prospect updates, we provide a sampling (five starters and five pitchers from each league) of the updates made to our our top 50 hitting and top 50 pitching prospects. Again, this is just a sampling,...

Phil Hughes (SP - Yankees) - Hughes looked great on Tuesday night against the Tigers. In his first start of 2009, Hughes posted a quality start of 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 K, and the W....

Adam Dunn (OF – Nationals) Adam Dunn launched his 6th homer of the season on Tuesday night. The 6 HR are expected from Dunn, but the real story of significance is his current EYE of 1.54. As a basis for...

Michael Young - Young is off to the best power start of his career, but as Michael mentioned over the weekend a supremely fluky 40% HR/FB rate is the culprit, something that will work itself out in good time. I'm...

Today we will be looking at a lot of the early extreme performances of hitters in the NL through the lens of Singles average (BHIPx). This information is one of the valuable tools you can find in the Player Charts...

Pablo Sandoval (3B-SF) – Moved back into the three-hole Sunday seemed to agree with Sandoval, who went 4-for-4 with a double and his first home run of the season in a 5-4 Giants loss to the Diamondbacks. Since opening with...

Adam Jones: Stardom might be coming a bit earlier for Adam Jones than most anticipated. Jones went 3-4 with his 3rd HR of the season, his first SB of the season, 2 more runs and 3 more RBI’s. He’s now...

Brian Matusz - LHP Baltimore Orioles The Orioles landed the best pitcher in last years draft at #4 in Brian Matusz. The 6-4 lefty from the University of San Diego is already physically developed and his pitching skills are highly...

Robinson Cano – Cano, as anticipated, is rebounding from a down ’08 campaign. Yesterday afternoon, he belted two homers, his 4th and 5th homers of the season. He is now hitting .366. Last year, Cano struggled both in terms of...

Burke Badenhop: Badenhop, who was part of the bounty for Miguel Cabrera in 2007, was recalled from Triple-A to start today against the Phillies. From a skills perspective, Badenhop showed some good potential with Marlins last year, 6.7 K/9 and...

Jeff Francoeur - Francoeur hasn't shown the increase in walks that we've all been hoping to see, but he has shown a bit more discipline this year if you dig a little deeper. The 25 year old had been fairly...

Vernon Wells – Wells and the Jays continued to swing hot bats last night. Wells finished the game going 3-5, driving in 2 runs and scoring 2 as well. He also walked once and struck out once. It seems to...

Mike Fontenot: After having tremendous success last season as a platoon/role player, Mike Fontenot is having a difficult time adjusting to his everyday role to start the season. Fontenot’s mired in a 2-26 slump that has driven his 2009 line...

Mike Sweeney: Sweeney left Wednesday’s game with back spasms, which is should keep him out a couple of games. Back problems are nothing new for Sweeney who has missed huge chunks of the last three seasons with back issues. Even...

Carl Crawford- TB- Hot- Crawford added 46 points to his batting average with a 4-for-5 effort in which he scored 3 runs, knocked one in, walked and stole a base. The walk is only his second of the season, as...

American League 13 Lars Anderson BOS 1B A- Slow start, but 7-for-13 stretch gets AVG up in the .280s. 0.30 EYE should trend up. 15 Austin Jackson NYY OF A- Big spring and now 12-for-25 with 5 BB in AAA....

Nelson Cruz (OF - Rangers) - The Nelson Cruz experiment continues to roll along. He hit his 6th HR of the season on Tuesday night, bringing his HR/AB to 8.2 and further solidifying his fantasy role on rosters. This will...

Jeff Karstens (SP – Pirates) Jeff Karstens continued the early-season success of the Pirates’ starting pitching by allowing 1 ER, 3 hits, and 2 walks through 6 innings on Tuesday. Buccos fans around the globe can be heard singing the...

Jordan Zimmerman- WAS- Rookie- Zimmerman has a nice repertoire of off speed pitches to go with his mid-90s fastball. Despite being forced by the Nationals to throw at least 15 changeups per start last year in order to develop the...

Coco Crisp - Despite batting only .200, Crisp is off to a solid start with the Royals, posting an OPS of .923 in the first few weeks. A breakout from Crisp wouldn't be all that surprising if you look at...

James McDonald (LAD) - In just his second start of the season Sunday, McDonald held the Rockies scoreless. That’s the good news. The bad? McDonald was able to record just 13 outs on 95 pitches, as he continually missed with...

Scott Downs: Even as BJ Ryan strengthens his hold on the closer’s role, Scott Downs seems to be improving his value each day. I’ve been a big proponent of the effective use of middle relievers in Roto formats in the...

Jarrod Parker - SP Arizona Diamondbacks Jarrod Parker was the 9th overall pick in the 2007 draft and played the entire 2008 season as a teenager in the Midwest League. His 6-1, 180 listing is suspect but Parker generates seemingly...

Kevin Millwood – Millwood threw a complete game last night, allowing just 2 runs, but he was outdueled by Zack Greinke. Millwood has been spectacular in three starts for the Rangers so far this season, allowing just 3 earned runs...

Jordan Schafer: Schafer is mired in a 1 for 21 slump. The rookie is making the jump from Double-A, where he showed great plate patience, 14% BB%, moderate power, 10 home runs in 297 AB, and poor contact skills, 70%...

Carlos Marmol / Kevin Gregg / Chicago Cubs (Closer Situation) - The boxscore doesn't always tell the full story. While Carlos Marmol did earn the save on Friday night (his second of the season), it doesn't mean Kevin Gregg is...

Anthony Reyes (SP – Indians) Anthony Reyes struck out only 1 batter through 5 innings on Friday, leaving him with 3 K and 6 BB in 11 IP this season. Reyes’ declining K rate is very concerning. Through five seasons...

Nyjer Morgan: A year after a big breakout in the Pittsburgh OF buoyed fantasy owners to a number of titles, the Pirates have another OF posting impressive early season numbers in Nyjer Morgan. The question is: is this one for...

Ervin Santana: Santana, who is rehabbing from an elbow injury, threw his first bullpen session on Wednesday and reported no problems. The Angels are targeting an early May return for Santana. He made big strides across the board last year,...

Elvis Andrus- TEX- Hot- Andrus is yet another Texas hitter who made mince meat of Baltimore pitching last night. He went 2-for-3 with a triple, 4 runs scored and 1 knocked in. most significantly, though, may have been the 2...

Pablo Sandoval – Many people had Pablo Sandoval pegged for a breakout season. We were a little bit conservative than most with our projections for Sandoval, calling for just 12 HR and a .283 average. First, let’s discuss the power....

National League 2 Pedro Alvarez PIT 3B A 3-for-4 with HR and 2B, 4 RBI in 2009 debut. Could they rush him with LaRoche's struggles? 3 Jason Heyward ATL OF A 6-for-25 with 3 XBH but just one walk. .871...

National League 2 Pedro Alvarez PIT 3B A 3-for-4 with HR and 2B, 4 RBI in 2009 debut. Could they rush him with LaRoche's struggles? 3 Jason Heyward ATL OF A 6-for-25 with 3 XBH but just one walk. .871...

Javier Vazquez (SP – Braves) Javier Vazquez struck out 12 batters in 6 innings on Tuesday while allowing 3 runs to score, and 6 men to reach base. The Ks are wonderful, but Vazquez still can’t manage to get his...

Nick Swisher (OF/1B - Yankees) - I've heard it a lot recently: what are the Yankees going to do with Nick Swisher once Mark Teixeira is 100%? When you're hitting this well, manager Joe Girardi will find a place for...

Jason Kubel - Kubel singled and homered last night against the Jays as he continues to provide some sorely needed offense for the purposely punchless Twins. I still contend that Kubel is finally catching up from the lost year of...

Justin Upton- ARI- Cold- The potential is there, but it has certainly not been realized this season. Upton was lifted for a pinch hitter yesterday, after remaining hitless for 2009 in an 0-for-3 game. The strikeouts have been plaguing him,...

David Purcey - The good and the bad of David Purcey was on full display yesterday, as the young left-hander allowed ten baserunners and five runs in just 4 2/3 innings to the Indians while striking out ten. Purcey did...

Chan Ho Park (PHI) – A dubious choice for the team’s No. 5 starter job, Park forced the issue after a great spring (2.25 ERA, 25:2 K:BB in 21 1/3 innings). Coors Field was somewhat of a factor Sunday, but...

Jason Motte Motte has grabbed the attention of the fantasy world by not just making the Cardinals roster this spring, but starting the year as the team's de facto, if not officially named, closer. More interesting perhaps is the fact...

Cliff Lee – A drop off from last year’s CY Young award winner was expected, but he has been brutal through the season’s first two games, allowing 11 earned runs in ten innings of work. Lee has a solid K...

Doug Brocail: After a disastrous performance in which he allowed a home run and 3 walks in one inning, Brocail had his shoulder examined by team doctors. He said he couldn’t find an arm slot to throw from which he...

Miguel Cabrera (1B – Tigers) Miguel Cabrera continued to build upon his hot start by going 3 for 5 with a HR and 6 RBI on Friday. After a somewhat painfully slow start to last season (10 HR in his...

Kevin Gregg: The fantasy community was outraged by manager Lou Pineilla’s decision to utilize his best reliever as a middle man and insert Kevin Gregg into the closer’s role this spring, and that community is likely to get louder about...

Clayton Kershaw: Typically 5 innings of 2 hit ball, allowing just 1 ER would be something we’d be rejoicing about, but with young Clayton Kershaw the bar is set pretty high. Last year Kershaw was able to post strong numbers...

I hadn't seen the story of Adenhart's car crash before getting an e-mail from Anthony Perri, our fearless leader at Fantistics. The story stunned me. It was only hours ago, possibly after Adenhart died, that I had written a blurb...

Dana Eveland- OAK- Hot- Eveland had very similar numbers to his counterpart on the Angels last night, Nick Adenhart. He gave up 8 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4 in 6 IP. The difference was that Eveland’s Oakland...

Jimmy Rollins – Rollins is off to a cold start, going just 1 for his 14 at bats, with that one hit being a single. That can’t be comforting to owners, especially since his ’08 season was a disappointment. Still,...

National League 2 Pedro Alvarez PIT 3B A Some think he could be PIT 3B by this summer. May even open the season in Double-A. 3 Cameron Maybin FLA OF A Bonifacio's Opening Day probably keeps Maybin in the eight-hole....

Jim Thome (DH - White Sox) - Thome may be turning 39 this year, but its not of the realm of possibility for him to equal his age with his homerun total. He got off to a hot-start yesterday, going...

Freddy Sanchez (2B - Pirates) Freddy Sanchez has kicked off the season by going 4 for his first 9 with a home run and a double. Please do not get overly excited about this early display of unusual power. Over...

Travis Snider - Snider is definitely one of the favorites for ROY in the AL, and he got off to a solid start yesterday with a double and a homer in four trips against Detroit. Snider hit 25 homers across...

John Lannan- WAS- Cold- Lannan was a pleasant surprise for the Nats in 2008, posting a 3.91 ERA. If he had been given more support, his 9-15 record would have at least turned around as his Deserved Wins was 7...

Shawn Hill (SD) – Hill had his contract purchased by the Padres on Sunday and is slated to be the team’s No. 5 starter. Hill battled forearm stiffness this spring before the Nationals finally got fed up and cut him...

Jeff Niemann: With Hammel out of town, Niemann was officially announced as the 5th starter in the Rays rotation this season. Last year in AAA, Niemann posted a 3.59 ERA and 1.14 WHIP with a 8.7 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9...

John Danks – Expect Danks to see a slight jump in his ERA as the 76% LOB% he posted last season is likely not sustainable. Other than that, though, Danks’ numbers are legitimate. He showed good control last season (2.79...

Felipe Lopez: The D’Backs have installed Lopez at second base and the top of the order. Leaving Washington will help his power, but the 23 home runs he hit in 2005 looks to be a fluke, 2006/2007/2008 home run of...

Choosing relief pitchers is extremely difficult to do because of both the difficulty in projecting saves and the lack of job security that a lot of closers face. So, it is good to take a couple solid guys (hopefully without...

The must haves Tim Lincecum 1310 – Lincecum is our top ranked pitcher and a no-brainer in this contest. At his price he’s probably a must play almost every week. Yovani Gallardo 670 – Gallardo is a top 15 pitcher...

Scott Baker (MIN) – Big news in Minnesota is Baker unexpectedly opening the season on the 15-day disabled list with what is being diagnosed as shoulder stiffness. Baker finished his spring with a 6.85 ERA and a batting practice-like nine...

There are a lot of good 1st base options this year for the DC, and selecting the correct combination will be key towards winning a league championship. The must have Ryan Howard 1490 – With all the slugging first baseman,...

David Freese/Troy Glaus - Last night's news that Troy Glaus won't be available for much of the first half (if at all this year) certainly bumps David Freese's stock upwards, and you don't have to squint to much to see...

David Freese/Troy Glaus - Last night's news that Troy Glaus won't be available for much of the first half (if at all this year) certainly bumps David Freese's stock upwards, and you don't have to squint to much to see...

Today I went to what is possibly the last spring training game to be held at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. Next year the Orioles are likely headed to Vero Beach or Sarasota, much farther away from my Palm Beach County home....