Not Qualified To Comment » Fantasy Baseball: Pickups of the Week

Fantasy Baseball: Pickups of the Week

July 7, 2010 at 11:00 am | Fantasy Baseball
By: The Bad Guy

The Bad Guy is here with a couple players currently owned in less than 25% of Yahoo! leagues. These guys have been rockin and rollin and should definitely be owned across the board.

Matt LaPorta 1B/OF Cleveland Indians (16% owned) – Most people know LaPorta as the star studded prospect who was shipped from Milwaukee to Cleveland in the blockbuster deal that sent CC Sabathia to the Brewers back in 2008. After struggling in 2009 and a less than stellar start in 2010, he was sent down to AAA. The move benefited LaPorta, as he quickly turned things around and went on to hit .373 with five HRs and 16 RBI in 17 games. Unsurprisingly, this got the attention of the Indians’ front office, who traded away Russell Branyan in order to make room for the young slugger. LaPorta has continued to rake at the major league level, hitting .300 with 4 HRs and 9 RBI in his first nine games since getting called up. Unfortunately LaPorta had to leave Monday night’s game after getting struck in the head by a Elvis Andrus elbow during a close play at first base. He is reportedly suffering from concussion-like effects, and wasn’t in the lineup last night. Hopefully he can make a quick recovery and get back to mashing the ball.

Jason Hammel SP Colorado Rockies (23% owned) - What does this guy need to do to get some fantasy love? All he has done in his last eight starts is go 5-0, with a 2.10 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP with 42 Ks and only 13 BB. The fact that he is only owned in 23% of leagues is kind of mind boggling. Granted Hammel has been the beneficiary of some easy match-ups, but that’s exactly the kind of thing fantasy owners should be on the lookout for. His next start is currently scheduled for July 10th against the less than terrifying San Diego Padres, and Hammel should without a doubt be in your lineup come Saturday.

Ricky Nolasco SP Florida Marlins (83% owned) - I’ll start off by saying that I know Nolasco doesn’t fit the requirements of this post, but I wanted to mention him because he is about to explode. He is 3-0 in his last three starts and has 28 K in only 21 innings pitched. Nolasco’s K rate had been way down for most of this season, but if his past three starts are any indication, he could be in line for a huge second half. With that being said, he is also the only pitcher in baseball who has given up more HRs (20) than BBs (19). He has always given up a ton of HRs, but for every 6.5 fly balls that Nolasco is allowing, one is leaving the yard - a trend that is unlikely to continue throughout an entire season. If he can cut down on his HRs and keeps striking guys out, he could be a top 10 pitcher the rest of the way.