This time of the year fantasy baseball always offers a little more excitement than April and May. The ball begins to carry farther in the warmer weather, the players have shaken off their rust—most of them anyway— and slowly but surely we start to hear about those exciting prospects as they get called up.
All month long we’ve had one feature or another discussing various players you may, or may not, have known about.
Well let’s throw another little one out there for you guys, and see who we have in store today.
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Jemile Weeks – 2B – Oakland Athletics:
The little brother of Brewers second baseman Ricky Weeks had a horrible debut back on June 7th, but since then, Weeks has put together a nice couple of days collecting 6 hits and an RBI (.353 in 17 AB overall).
Weeks won’t be around for very long as he is sure to be sent back to the farm for some additional seasoning, but that won’t happen until Mark Ellis returns (another 10 days or so), so if you need a deep league flyer, you could certainly do worse than Weeks.
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Anthony Rizzo – 1B – San Diego Padres:
Well it really didn’t take Padres manager Bud Black too long to harvest his favorite first baseman prospect, did it?
Since Rizzo was called up he has performed admirably as he currently sits on an eye popping .429/.667/1.286 batting line and that was after he ripped the Triple-A level with an equally impressive .365/.444/.715 line with 16 homeruns and 63 RBI in 200 AB.
Rizzo is here to stay so he is safe for all formats, but just keep an honest outlook on him as his power numbers are sure to eventually feel the effects of playing 50% of the time in PETCO Park.
Rizzo has an enticing 22% ownership, but be aware that the percentage spiked dramatically in the past few days, so if you’re interested, grab him now before it’s too late.
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Charles Blackmon – OF – Colorado Rockies:
According to the Denver Post, the Rockies have called up Blackmon to hit seventh in their lineup, but to also be their “lead-off hitter of the future”.
"Yeah, I'd like to see that eventually," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "It's very important right now for us to give Charlie a chance to settle himself in a little bit, and don't just thrust him in at the top of the order. We're also trying to get Carlos Gonzalez completely untracked….”
I’d hate to be Dexter Fowler right now.
I still think it is a bit too early to go out and grab Blackmon—unless you’re the grab and wait type—as he hasn’t shown us enough just yet.
But keep in mind he does play at Coors Field, and he has tremendous speed and above average power, so it is worth putting him on your watch list for the interim.
As for Dexter Fowler owners, you may want to consider dropping him, or dealing him as Fowler is worlds away from what everyone had hoped for in 2011.
In another article by Troy Renck of the Denver Post the Rockies are thinking of having Dexter Fowler hit exclusively from the right side of the plate when he returns from his tummy injury.
An interesting shot in the dark if you ask me.
