1. David Price (SP - Rays) - David Price is starting to settle into a groove. Being inconsistent during the first two months of the season, Price has now posted 3 straight quality starts and has lowered his ERA to 3.35 and WHIP to 1.01. Price, who has gone 8-for-13 in QS this season, has also posted an incredible K/BB of 5.9 on the season with a K/9 of 8.2. I see a long string of QS for Price who may emerge as a top Cy Young candidate if he is able to mimic his last three starts throughout the summer months. Pretty impressive for just 25 years old.
2. Francisco Liriano (SP - Twins) - As expected, Liriano has been activated from the disabled list and will make a start today against the Indians. He admits his shoulder isn't 100%, which makes me a little nervous to throw him into my lineup on his first day back. However, before going on the DL, Liriano was 3-for-4 in QS in May (including the no-hitter) after a dreadful month of April that yielded more ER than IP. Because his health remains an issue, its probably best to keep him stashed through this start until he proves he's back to form. One thing to watch is his dropping K-rate. In seasons where he was healthy enough to post 100 IP or more, Liriano has averaged a K/9 of 9.4. This year, he's at just 6.3.
3. Ichiro Suzuki (OF - Mariners) - Ichiro was moved to the DH role again on Monday night allowing him to get some rest, according to manager Eric Wedge. After a very Ichiro-like April of hitting .328 with more BB than K's, 10 SB, and an OBP of .380, Ichiro fell into a deep slump in May. Last month he hit just .210 with a .270 OBP and was only able to swipe 3 bags. June hasn't been much better for Ichiro yet with juts 5 hits in 26 AB with a .192 AVG and a .222 OBP. This is one of the longer slumps that I can remember in Ichiro's career in the U.S., but I can't imagine it lasting long. The 37-year-old has yet to post a full season below .300 or with an OBP below .350. He's currently at .264 and .317. He'll have to really turn it on to post his 11th straight season of 200 hits or more. With 102 games left on the Mariners schedule, Ichiro would have to hit about .315 from here to generate 134 more hits and reach 200. That would still leave him with a sub-.300 average of .296 for the full year though. All of this assumes he averages about 4.17 AB per game - the number of AB he has averaged per game to date (if you'd like to check the math at home).
4. Vernon Wells (OF - Angels) - Wells could be back with the Angels on Tuesday. He has been on the DL since early May with a groin injury. Wells was off to a really slow start before heading to the disabled list, hitting just .183 with a .224 OBP and .303 SLG. He had already recorded 30 K's for a K% of almost 20%. Compare that to his career K% of 13% and his previous 3-year rate of 12%. While Wells seems to be on the decline, remember that last year he hit 31 HR, generated an XBH% of 12.1%, AB/HR of 19.0 and an OPS of .847. Wells is owned in about 75% of leagues, so frustrated owners may have had a quick release button on him when he got injured. I'd take my chances on a nice rebound through the summer if I could get him on the cheap.
5. Paul Konerko (1B - White Sox) - Dare I say Konerko is underrated in fantasy talk? Year-in and year-out Konerko posts consistent power numbers and 2011 is no different. With his 13th HR of the season yesterday, Konerko now has an AB/HR rate of 16.9 while posting a .314 average, .923 OPS, and 46 RBI. While much of the southside talk has been about the underperforming Adam Dunn and the injuries to Jake Peavy, Konerko has quietly repeated what he has been doing since the late 90's. His career AB/HR rate is 18.2 and he is now working on his 8th consecutive season of a sub-20.0 rate. He finished 5th in MVP voting last season and he is repeating his 2010 rates almost exactly through the first two months of the year.
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