Fantasy Baseball Around the Majors: May 7: Starlin Castro, David Price & More

Talk about making an immediate impact as Starlin Castro had a record setting debut.  Rod Barajas has entrenched himself as a usable option in all formats.  Phil Hughes & David Price continue to shine.  Let’s look at these stories and all the rest from yesterday’s games:

Hitters:

• Ike Davis (2-3, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 3 R) -  Amazingly, the two home runs came against Jonathan Sanchez (7.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 K), who hadn’t allowed a hit to a left-handed hitter all year, let alone a home run.  Davis has certainly helped to be a spark for the Mets, now hitting .314 with 3 HR and 8 RBI.  He’s certainly proven that he’s worth owning in all formats that utilize a corner infielder.
• Rod Barajas (2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R) -  Over his last five starts he’s gone 8-20 with 6 HR, 9 RBI and 7 R.  No one could’ve expected this type of start for him, who currently has made himself worth using in all formats (at least while he’s hot), not just 2-catcher formats.
• Cody Ross (2-3, 1 RBI) -  He has yet to get the long ball going, but give it time because it’s going to come.  His bat has started to come around, now on a 10-game hitting streak (14-36).  He’s currently usable in all five-outfielder formats.
• Yadier Molina (4-5, 3 RBI, 1 R) -  He’s on a four-game hitting streak, going 10-15 with 4 RBI, 1 R and 1 SB.  We all know he’s not going to produce much power, but with results like this does anyone really care?
• Starlin Castro (2-5, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 1 R) -  Are people still worried about his bat?  He homered in his first AB and added a triple later on in what can only be considered a monster major league debut.  In fact, the RBI set a modern-day record for RBI in a Major League debut.  Obviously, hitting sixth, we shouldn’t expect results like this but as we said yesterday, he clearly has value in deeper formats.
• Alex Gonzalez (1-6, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 R) -  He’s now hitting .264 with 9 HR and 25 RBI on the season.  This is the same player who had just 8 HR in 391 AB last season and has only once hit over 20 HR in a season.  His flyballs are up in the early going (career 46.5% vs. 54.7% in ‘10), which does help to explain it.  Needless to say, he’s going to slow down, so keep that in mind.

Pitchers:

• Jamie Moyer (9.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K, W) -  Troy Glaus was the only person to get a hit, going 2-3.  It is an extremely impressive outing, but obviously you can’t expect many nights like this from the 47-year old.  In fact, this is actually just the second time all year that he has allowed less then 4 ER in a start.  Outside of deep NL-only leagues, he really has little value.
• Josh Beckett (5.1 IP, 9 ER, 9 H, 3 BB, 8 K) -  Has the time come to push the panic button?  It’s the third time in four starts where he has allowed 7 ER or more.  Well, that can’t be seen as a good thing in any way, shape or form.  You have no choice but to stick with him for the time being, but I no one could fault you for slipping him to your bench until he proves he can post a solid outing.
• Phil Hughes (7.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 7 K, W) -  He just keeps on rolling.  In five starts he has not yet allowed more than 2 ER and has established himself as a must-use option at this point.
• C.J. Wilson (9.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K, W) -  I spoke about him earlier in the week (click here for the article), so I won’t take much time here.  The fact of the matter is that he has proven that he is worth using in all formats at this point.
• David Price (7.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 6 K, W) -  I’ve said it before, but this clearly is the pitcher we’ve all been waiting for.  Yes, there is some luck at play, with a .231 BABIP, so we clearly should be expecting a regression to come at some point.
• Jered Weaver (7.1 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 7 K, W) -  He carried a no-hitter into the seventh as he got things back on track.  He out pitched Felix Hernandez (3.1 IP, 7 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 3 K) to improve to 4-1 with a 2.66 ERA on the season.  There is some luck, with an 84.6% strand rate, but the number to really look at is the strikeout rate, which has jumped over 2 K/9.  He was a big-time strikeout artist in the minor leagues (11.0 K/9), so don’t say that it definitely is an aberration.  His next start comes against David Price in what could be a tremendous pitchers duel.
• Mat Latos (8.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 9 K, W) -  It came against the Astros, so let’s keep it in perspective.  Still, he’s had only one true terrible outing and has shown that he has fantasy value in all formats.  While I wouldn’t use him for every start, when the match-up is right, I wouldn’t hesitate.  His next outing comes against the Giants.
• Edwin Jackson (7.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 7 K) -  While Yovani Gallardo (5.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 10 K, W) continued to roll, Jackson made strides in righting the ship.  We all know he’s struggled, as feared, but he is clearly better then what he’s done in ‘10.  This performance lowered his ERA to 7.32 and there’s still a long ways to go.  Don’t give up hope on him yet.  If someone in your league does, snatch him up and stash him away.  There are certainly better days ahead.

What are your thoughts from yesterday’s games?  Which of these stories interests you most?  Did anything else catch your eye?

To read the previous article, click here .

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