Raul Ibanez (OF - Phillies) - Ibanez continued his hot hitting in August, going 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI, and a BB. He is hitting .400 for the month with a .486 OBP, 7 RBI, 1 HR, and 6 BB. He now has an 18-game hitting streak dating back to July 22nd. He has 7 multi-hit games during that streak, including 4 HR and 17 RBI. He’s been a completely different player in the 2nd half compared to the 1st half. He hit just .243 in the first half and has since hit .393. Keep finding a place to put him in your lineup - he’s not showing any signs of slowing down.
Adam LaRoche (1B - Diamondbacks) - He’s a notoriously hot 2nd-half hitter and he’s not disappointing in 2010. Another HR last night gives him 6 after the all-star break, raising his 2nd half average to .327 (versus .253 prior to the ASG) and his OPS to .960. I’ll go ahead and list his total career 1st half vs. 2nd half and let the numbers speak for themselves. Average: .252 vs. .302, OPS .776 vs. .911, and AB/HR of 24.8 vs. 17.7. So what are you waiting for? If he’s available, he needs to be owned.
Casey McGehee (3B - Brewers) - If you’re still sticking with McGehee, you know how tough its been over the last couple of months. June was easily the worst month when he hit just .223 with an OBP sub-.300. But recently, he has shown some life in August, making you wonder if he still has a little life in his bat. He hit his 3rd HR of the month yesterday, raising his average to .333 and his OPS to over the .800 mark again. He even has 12 RBI already. Third base is a tough position to conquer this season, so if you have the opportunity to make the claim, now would be the time.
Wandy Rodriguez (SP - Astros) - Wandy continues to have a remarkable 2nd half of the season. After early season struggles sent fantasy owners to find a replacement on the wires, patient owners (or those with Wandy man-crushes) stuck through the tough times and it is paying off. Here’s the breakdown: before the All-Star break, Wandy was 6-11 with a 4.97 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, K/9 of 6.8, and a BB/9 of 3.55. Those are just really bad numbers by anybody’s standard. After the All-Star break, he has been brilliant with a 3-0 record, a 1.84 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, K/9 of 8.9, and a BB/9 of 1.31.
Mike Stanton (OF - Marlins) - In one word, Wow. The Nationals just couldn’t figure out how to get him out on Wednesday night. The rookie outfielder went a perfect 5-for-5 with 2 doubles, a HR, and 4 RBI. That’s a total of 10 TB in one night, easily the best performance in his young career. At this point, he needs to be claimed in all mixed leagues. He’s averaging a HR for every 19.2 plate appearances, has an ISO of .259, and an FPI of 0.67. He’s striking out at a high rate (once for every 3.1 plate appearances), but I think fantasy owners can deal with it if he continues to post a .850 OPS.
