Rafael Furcal (SS-Dodgers) Once players start to become labeled as injury prone, it’s sometimes difficult to embrace that player going forward. Sometimes it’s more of a headache to worry about that player day to day than the actually results he might produce on the field. I’m looking at you Chipper Jones. But after missing most of the month of May, Rafael Furcal put together a terrific June that raised his average 38 points up to .333. For June, Furcal’s slash line was .362/.408/.585 with more than 33% of his hits going for extra bases. Furcal’s torrid hitting will slow down but when healthy he is a solid contributor and have given many fantasy teams a solid boost in June in many areas including stolen bases as he is on a pace for about 25 nabs. He should be starting in all leagues while he is going so well.
Clayton Richard (SP—Padres) Although his ownership numbers have been going up, Clayton Richard is still owned in just 74% of CBS leagues. Richard has been one of the primary reasons for the Padres’ success this season as he has made 16 starts this season and has not allowed more than 4 earned runs in any of them. Richard is currently working on a string of 10 games where he has pitched 6 innings or more and has been very stingy allowing home runs with just 6 against him this season which amounts to about one every eighteen innings. Opponents are batting just .242 against him and his GB% is at 52.4% which has accounted for much of his success. Richard’s popularity should be increasing as he has been a very solid starting pitcher on a Padre team that is notching wins.
Corey Hart (OF—Brewers) Going into tonight’s game, Corey Hart has put together a 16-game hit streak that has him batting .353 over that span, raising his average 25 points. Hart’s been hitting the ball far more solidly in June with a LD% of 21.3% compared to his overall LD% of 16.6%. But despite the overall mediocre line drive rate, his fly ball percentage is a pretty high at 48.3% which accounts for the 18 home runs on the year which will yield about 36 for the season at this current pace. His ISO is a solid .289 and he currently has an OPS of .916. He’s been a nice sleeper pick from the start of the season and should continue to produce.
Carlos Lee (OF—Astros) Overall, it’s been a supremely underwhelming season for Carlos Lee. The slugging outfielder has managed just a .234 average on the season. While this is far below his career .289 average, it does represent an improvement as he has struggled from the first half of the season to get his average above .200. I guess if we are looking for some silver lining, Lee has hit .283 for the month of June and has knocked 5 home runs. The other positive (trying to find more silver in that lining) is that Lee’s BHIP of .232 and his LD% of 17.4 are not really in synch. His LD% for June was at 22.2% so his BHIP should be much higher which means that there should be some base hits coming Lee’s way. Expect a pick up in Lee’s average for July as he is due for a hot steak and a boost in numbers.
Martin Pardo (2B—Braves) Perhaps one of the nicest surprises for fantasy owners this season is the breakout year that Martin Prado is putting together. The Braves obviously had no qualms about letting Kelly Johnson go to Arizona as they apparently were well aware of Prado’s potential. The Braves were struggling to find the right lead-off guy and since Prado has been inserted into that spot, he has truly flourished with a slash line of .349/.384/.526. The Braves are 29-15 since he has been batting leadoff. Stolen bases won’t be his forte but his overall average of .333, coupled with a 90% contract rate should allow Prado to maintain his excellent average. As an extra bonus, Prado’s infield versatility provides even more value as owners can play mix and match.
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Also you can follow Richard all season long on Twitter at @rsgross
