Danny Valencia (3B—Twins) So who's the hottest hitter in baseball? Josh Hamilton? Miguel Cabrera? Naw. How about rookie Danny Valencia. Valencia has been going crazy like a hamster on a spinning wheel and just doesn't seem to know when to stop. Over the past 4 games, Valencia has collected 14 hits and is hitting .737. And one of those hits was a grand slam. On the season, Valencia is batting .376. He's been chewing up both left handed pitching (.378) and right handed pitching (.375) equally and has been a tough guy to strikeout having whiffed only 10 times in 90 at-bats. Granted, this kind of hitting won't last for ever (he did have a minor league career average of .298) but if you are looking for a guy who has the hottest bat right now in baseball, you'll need to consider Valencia for your team.
Jose Bautista (3B/OF—Blue Jays) Did anyone see this coming? Jose Bautista became the first player to reach the 30 home run plateau this season with two long balls on Tuesday night. I know that Joe did a blurb on Bautista just yesterday. And when I chose players to write about on my days, I try very hard not to pick someone that my colleagues have just written about. But with a 4-for-4 performance and the long balls, well, a day like that needs to be pointed out. Personally, I don't get it. I noting this season down for Bautista as just one of those incredible years. But I'm just not buying into this being a continuing trend from year to year. Sure, he has an OPS of .944. But he has a career OPS of just .765. And think about this: he has 89 lifetime home runs. That means a third of them over the course of six seasons in the bigs have come in 2010. Yes, play him. Get him active in all formats. Consider yourself the blessed fantasy owner for grabbing him when no one else did. But I'd be very hesitant in expecting a repeat for next year.
Gavin Floyd (SP—White Sox) Gavin Floyd pick up just his 6 victory of the season pitching 7 shutout innings on Tuesday. His control was spot on allowing no walks and punching out six batters. Floyd has pitched far better than his six victories would indicate. His FIP is 3.18 which is better than his ERA of 3.66. He's has a poor strand rate of 68% which has been primary undoing this season. But he's got solid component stats (K/9 of 7.37 and BB/9 of 2.70) and a GB rate of 52%. Perhaps most impressive is that he hasn't been burned by the long ball as he has only allowed seven this season and has shown steady improvement from year to year in that department. If there is anyway way that you can trade for Floyd, I predict a solid second half and for keeper leagues, he could be a nice under the radar guy for next season.
Josh Tomlin (SP—Indians) It was an unlikely outcome for Josh Tomlin as he made his major league debut going against a stacked lineup of Yankees. But on Tuesday, David did take down Goliath (Sabathia) as Tomlin pitched 7 strong innings allowing just 1 earned run. He stymied the Yankees' offense with just three hits without walking a batter. Down in the minors, Tomlin has shown promise at Triple-A Columbus where he amassed an 8-4 record and 2.68 ERA. Even in the minors Tomlin has shown good control with a BB/9 of 2.8 and allowed just seven hits per nine innings. Certainly, not a big guy, he throws around 90-91 mph and really can't be counted on for strikeouts. But he showed that he could keep hitters off stride with a mixture of cutters , 4-seamers and a change-ups. The book is not out on Tomlin, so the Yankees may have been thrown off by unfamiliarity with this rookie pitcher. But it was an impressive debut and worth watching his next start.
James Shields (SP-- Rays ) James Shields hasn't exactly turned out to be the ace pitcher that he was promised to be a season or two ago. This season, he has shown some solid efforts, like Tuesday's victory over the Tigers in which he collected his 9th win to even out his record. But very few of these wins have looked easy. He does have very good peripherals, with a K/9 of 8.1 and a BB/9 of 2.0. Those are very solid. But he averages over 10.2 hits per nine innings and he has allowed a league leading 22 home runs. In truth he has pitched better than his 4.79 ERA would suggest but he has been absolutely done in with a HR/FB of 14.6%. Shields will need to manage those long balls better if he is to put together a solid second half. If he can do that, he could be a strong asset to a fantasy team as Shields should notch more wins playing for the contending Rays.
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