Jose Bautista: 1/5 with his 5th HR while hitting .190. Bautista is in the midst of a second straight Adam Dunn/Mark Reynolds home run specialist season. He is fully capable of hitting .260 but Bautista has to get to work there soon.
Edwin Encarnacion: 1/4 with his 4th HR while hitting .210. We really can't start looking at batting average until May as far as worrying about a low mark. Power numbers however are less prone to fluctuation so Encarnacion's home run spike the last few days speaks well to his ability to replicate 2012. I still reiterate though that Encarnacion is more likely to hit 30 bombs instead of 40.
J.P. Arenciabia: 3/5 with his 8th HR while hitting .268. I have always said that Arencibia needs to hit at least .250 before he can be for daily usage and so we are clearly at that point. If he can say above that line of demarcation, Arencibia can threaten 30 home runs which is blockbuster numbers at catcher. This should be of major interest for Victor Martinez owners who continue to wait for his bat to get going.
Todd Frazier: 1/2 with his 6th HR while hitting .263. When it comes to Frazier, his major sleeper appeal came in the power and not the average. While Frazier won't hit .240, he won't hit .290 either. Be that as it may, Frazier is completely fulfilling his sleeper potential which as we have seen countless times in the past, surely is anything but a given.
Mat Latos: 7 IP 4 H 0 ER 1 BB 4 K with an ERA of 2.16. Latos is a not a 200 K guy outings like his 10 K outing his last start come around only once in awhile. The bigger story is that Latos is absolutely dealing right now and looks primed for his best season ever as a pro.
Jayson Werth: 1/4 with his fourth HR while hitting .259. Nothing to talk about here other than that Werth is healthy which means he is a quiet 20/20 threat. Do with that what you must.
Alex Rios: 1/4 with his 6th HR while hitting .297. Rios has burned so many people in the past with his great one year/crap one year performances that his draft price was way too low this winter considering how nice his 2012 season was. Still lots of life left in his legs.
Jose Quintana: 5 IP 4 H 2 ER 2 BB 3 K with an ERA of 2.78. I didn't buy in to Quintana's rookie debut in 2012 but this season is different due to the fact he has picked up 3 mph on his fastball which is showing up in his much inflated K rate. He is a Verducci Rules violator which gives me pause but riding this out until the wheels fall off is the easy play.
Addison Reed: scoreless ninth for his sixth save with an ERA of 1.00. Right there with Jason Grilli as far as being one of the best closers this season. Reed struggled badly when given the closer role last season but fatigue from his first full major league campaign took some of the bite off his stuff. With a full offseason to recharge, Reed looks like the big time prospect he was touted to be. I am convinced.
Chris Carter: 1/3 with his 5th HR while hitting .221. Carter is going to have flashbacks to his other life when the NFL Draft kicks off tonight.
Brett Anderson: 6 ER in IP with an ERA of 7.32. Anderson has to either be tipping his pitches or he is hurt because he is not this bad a starter. I can't see a situation where the A's would demote him to the minors but Dan Straily fans wait with baited breath.
Brandon Crawford: 3/4 with his fourth HR while hitting .320. So far Crawford is holding steady on the nice start he has had to the season and along with Jean Segura, is supplying some much needed young blood to a incredibly shallow fantasy baseball position.
Madison Bumgarner: 7.1 IP 5 H 1 ER 1 BB 7 K with an ERA of 1.87. The only suspense with owning Bumgarner is to see if he deal with fatigue again in September. Until than, enjoy the best priced ace in the game.
Matt Reynolds: scoreless ninth for his second save. J.J. Putz was given the day off and a vote of confidence after he blew yet another save on Tuesday. Check out Reynolds' last two full season ERA's. Yeah so picking him up is not looking so enticing now I bet.
Michael Cuddyer: 1/5 with his fifth HR while hitting .333. Don't let Cuddyer just sit there. Pick him up. This is the classic case of a boring veteran guy who is hitting but no one seems to care. So what that he lost second base eligibility. He plays in Colorado folks.
Josh Rutledge: 1/5 with his third HR while hitting .230. That's now three home runs and five steals while showing eligibility at second base and shortstop. The average will come up as Rutledge is dealing with some poor BABIP luck and when it does, that nice power/speed juice will look all the more better.
Justin Upton: failed to homer. Get out of town. Damn he sucks.
Chris Young: 2/3 with 2 home runs (4 for season) along with his 5th SB while hitting .174. It wouldn't be Chris Young if he didn't hit home runs, steal a bunch of bases, and struggle to hit .200. No one makes the most out of his hits than this guy does.
Jon Lester: 5.2 IP 6 H 3 ER 6 BB 5 K with an ERA of 2.27. We can look past this start given how good Lester has been but no more of that please. The glimpse back to 2012 was not pretty.
Andrew Bailey: scoreless ninth as he struck out the side for his fifth save. Nice knowing you Mr, Hanrahan.
Alex Cobb: 8.1 IP 3 H 0 ER 1 BB 7 K with an ERA of 1.82. Cobb is just the latest Tampa Bay pitcher to come up their system throwing darts and he is already showing signs of having a breakout 2013 season. Do a quick search in your league to see if he is still hanging around on the wire. Cobb has above average strikeout stuff when he is on as he showed in this outing.
Starling Marte: 2/4 with 2 steals (5 for season) while hitting .329. You should have picked him up two weeks ago when I told you to but now it is likely too late. Sorry.
Chase Utley: 2/5 with his 4th HR while hitting .308. I own Utley in both Experts leagues so it is like having Christmas back-to-back days when he hits a home run. A bit too dramatic? No this is fantasy baseball.
Ryan Howard: 2/4 with his 2nd HR while hitting .273. This was a quick reminder that Howard was not in fact retired which I started to think he was due to the lack of impact hits.
Roy Halladay: 6 IP 1 H 1 ER 2 BB 8 K with an ERA of 5.08. Halladay is striking out a batter per inning and his WHIP is 1.08. His last three starts have been brilliant so time to come in off the ledge Halladay owners. Clearly the guy still can get outs without his best stuff.
Matt Kemp: 1/3 with his first HR while hitting .250. By this time last season he had like 15 home runs but you take what you can get at this point. Ultimately Kemp is way too talented to stay down offensively the way he is and April has been like his spring training since he got so few at-bats in Grapefruit League play. He will be all right
Nelson Cruz: 3/4 with his 5th HR while hitting .300. Cruz has shown himself to get red hot like this for two weeks at a time which could be where we are at right now. Than the steroid pills run out and he has to order some more.
Yu Darvish: 6 IP 3 H 0 ER 2 BB 11 K with an ERA of 1.65. Four wins now for Darvish who is placing himself near the front of the list in a VERY early Cy Young watch.