Fantasy baseball is all about the stats, baby. So with this in mind, Spikes Up unveils the latest installment of our How Do You Figure column, featuring statistical oddities to feed the soul. Let’s get right to it.
Tony Blanco, a Washington farmhand on injury rehab who’s working his way back to the Nationals, started the season at Double-A Harrisburg, batting a robust .290 through 31 at-bats. However, limited to DH duties because of off-season shoulder surgery, the Nats had to send Blanco down to High-A in late-April, as Harrisburg can only employ a DH when an AL team is involved in the game, so he wasn’t getting enough action. And of course, wouldn’t you know it that Blanco is struggling at High-A Potomac, batting just .239 in his first 134 at-bats. Go figure.
This isn’t so much weird as it is an indictment of the Marlins’ lack of depth, but when Mike Jacobs had to sit out Wednesday and Florida re-jigged its lineup, Cody Ross of all people found himself batting cleanup. Career home runs by Ross heading into the contest? Four. Well, if there’s one thing you can count on in the Florida organization it’s opportunity.
First round flop Joe Borchard, now trying to carve out a career with the Marlins, has a grand total of 39 walks in 396 official at-bats in his modest big league career, but somehow he’s drawn two walks in just three plate appearances against Oscar Villarreal.
There’s no doubt that the Blue Jays’ 2000 first round pick, Miguel Negron, had been a colossal disappointment so far, showing some flashes, but mostly plodding along at a rate that did not befit his lofty draft selection. However, playing at Double-A New Hampshire this year, Negron was as hot as he’s ever been, riding an eight-game hitting streak (11-for-34) which included three doubles, a homer and eight RBI. So what happens? The Jays, short-staffed on the hill, added Ty Taubenheim to the roster, removing Negron from the 40-man and thereby exposing him on waivers. The Cubs pounced. And what’s Negron done since shifting over to Double-A West Tennessee? A recent five-game streak in which he went 17-for-28 has pushed his BA to .400 since joining the Diamond Jaxx. This has the potential to come back and bite the Jays in the behind, especially since beyond Vernon Wells and Alex Rios, outfield is an organizational weakness.
And now, moving away from the statistical oddities, here are some recent observations for your fantasy edification.
Minor Leaguer of the Week: Luis Montanez is finally delivering on his high draft status as third overall pick in 2000. He was dominant in Double-A this season (.369), earning a recent call-up to Triple-A, Montanez’s first appearance about the Double-A level. Now an outfielder, Montanez is taking a bit of time to adjust to the higher level, but a recent 2-for-3 performance suggests he’s settling down. It may be time to start keeping an eye on Montanez as he nears Wrigley (and wouldn’t you know that I finally cut him loose from my team this offseason…sigh).
Slowing it Down
While most pitchers believe the harder they throw the ball, the better the results, Mark Buehrle is making a conscious effort to slow his velocity down a bit. He maintains that he gets better sink on the ball when the takes a few miles an hour off his pitches. After getting hit hard by both Cleveland and Texas, he got to try his theory against those same two teams in his next two starts – with dramatically better results. While Buehrle got a no decision against the Indians, he gave up just six hits and two runs in eight innings; and against Texas on Thursday night, he had the same line and walked only one to record the win, his first since May 24.
What a Difference a Year Makes
Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of Hee-Seop Choi’s coming out party, a game in which he homered in his first three at-bats of the game to help the Dodgers to a win. Fantasy owners had been waiting for that kind of performance for a very long time. One year later, Choi has switched leagues and is no longer even in the majors, as he toils for Triple-A Pawtucket in the Red Sox organization. And based on his performance so far, he’s in no rush to get back to the Show. Choi is batting just .229 through 175 at-bats with only six homers and 24 RBI. He still knows how to get on base, though, with a .385 OBP mark. At this point, he looks like John Olerud lite…heavy on the lite.
Rookie Watch: Dodger prospect Chad Billingsley made his major league debut Thursday night, pitching well enough to keep the Dodgers in a huge game they ultimately won against division rival San Diego. The 21-year-old righty had to work hard – almost 100 pitches through 5.1 IP, but he held the Padres to six hits and two runs, while fanning three and walking two. Billingsley even drove in a pair of runs with a base hit. An Adrian Gonzalez single with one out in the sixth finally ended Billingsley’s day. It looks like the kid will stick around and occupy Odalis Perez’s old starting spot.
MAILBAG
Long-time reader Thomas Ruddick of Dayton, Ohio took me to task this week for oversimplifying the pitching-hitting discussion that’s been ongoing for the past few columns, explaining that strategies such as this are very situational depending on the type of league in which you play. He writes:
Rob, I think we don’t want to overlook that different scoring systems mandate different approaches.
In my case, I play mostly on Yahoo! and it limits pitching in its public leagues based on total innings and not appearances. With each default roster at two SP, two RP, and three P of any stripe, I’ve found that drafting starting pitchers is a low-return strategy; they eat innings and average, at best, four points per. Closers, however, will turn in five or six points per inning – much better returns. Therefore my strategy is to get a solid lineup of position players, start to draft closers as soon as others in the league start to do so, trying to end up with four or five good ones, and then grab some starting pitchers with the intent to troll waivers in the first few weeks to replace SP as needed. I tend to lag in the lower half of the league in wins, but I own saves and am competitive in ERA and WHIP most of the time.
It’s also important in Yahoo’s system to pay attention to steals and batting average – home runs are good, but those other offensive categories are harder to get and thus easier to dominate.
The strategy may be less effective now that I’ve published it, but the bottom line is: successful coaches exploit any opportunities in the scoring system.
Thomas E. "TR" Ruddick, Dayton, Ohio
As a final note this week, I'm pleased to announce plans for a new fantasy sports blog, to be launched shortly. Stay tuned for details.
NEXT: Spikes Up returns next week, June 26. Basketball fans should check out Three in the Key. It recently switched to Thursdays and will next appear on June 29.
Comments? Questions? Criticisms or witticisms? You can reach me at rob@creativesports.com if you’d like further information or have a question you’d like me to answer in an upcoming column. Have a suggestion for a column or want to hear analysis about a particular player? Feel free to write. I might even answer!
Rob Blackstien is a freelance writer and the principal of Pen-Ultimate (www.pen-ultimate.ca), a Toronto-based writing and editorial services firm. Position Battles, a column he writes for www.rotoworld.com, also appears on usatoday.com and foxsports.com. Watch for news of his upcoming fantasy sports blog!