Matt Garza - Garza has been overlooked a bit this year, both by the Twins and by most fantasy players, after a poor MLB debut last season. The fact remains, however, that Garza has managed a strikeout rate of 10.36 per nine innings during a rapid climb through the system, and he is still only 23 years old. How many pitchers were successful during their first ten MLB starts? He keeps the ball down well, he helps himself with the strikeouts, and his control is spotty but not terrible. I think he has the potential to be a terrific surprise in the second half, and he could very well be the Twins' #2 starter by September.
Kevin Millar - Millar has stunned me this year by (thus far) following up a 300/417/400 June with a 341/442/614 July batting line. I figured Millar was nearing the end after slugging .390 through the first three months of the year, but he's now up to .462 with a fantastic BB:K ratio. He's been the most productive hitter on the O's, which is sort of like winning a reality TV show, but still. Millar is worth owning, and starting, in al formats at present, and although I don't have the highest opinion of his future he could still have a few years where he has value in a Matt Stairs sort of fashion.
Kurt Suzuki - Billy Beane finally managed to unload Jason Kendall's contract to the Cubs, so that means Kurt Suzuki will suddenly become the A's starting catcher. The 23 year old has only been in pro baseball since the middle of 2004, but Suzuki has already shown himself to be a typical Oakland player, posting more walks than strikeouts at his first few steps on the minor league ladder prior to this season. Suzuki's power has not developed very much just yet, so he isn't likely to be a big help to you here in 2007, but he has shown enough in the minors (ISO of .147 in his first three seasons) to make you think that he might be able to slug .450 or so down the road, whch if coupled with a .350 or better OBP (of which he is very capable) would make Suzuki a fairly valuable backstop. I think Suzuki's future is that of an above average catcher, and while I wouldn't use him as more than a second catcher here in '07, he is worth having in keeper leagues and deeper single-season leagues.
Hideki Matsui - Godzilla is back. Matsui has hit in 11 straight, with six homers in his last ten games to bring his ISO back up to .213. He always seems to hit well from July through the end of the year, so he definitely needs to be in the starting lineup the rest of the way if you saw fit to remove him during his struggles.
Franklin Gutierrez - Gutierrez is one of those prospects (like Brandon Phillips, for example) that fell off the radar after some early success. Consequently, it seems that people have forgotten just how talented the kid is, a fact that Gutierrez seems compelled to remind us about of late. Gutierrez was 4-5 in last night's wild affair against the White Sox, cracking a double and a homer and swiping two bags as well. He has five homers and five steals in only 77 AB's so far, and while he's being protected against right-handed pitching to some extent, he is still posting a serviceable 270/357/486 in 37 AB's against them. The strikeouts are still a major issue with Gutierrez (more than once every 4 AB's), but everything else looks promising. The problem, of course, is playing time. Much like Wilson Betemit in LA, Gutierrez has stumbled into a situation that is allowing him to show flashes of his potential once again, but is at the same time limiting his upside by blocking his ability to play every day. Until that situation resolves itself, which is more likely with Gutierrez than Betemit to be honest, Gutierrez remains a roster option only in the deepest of leagues. We all, however, should remain aware of his vast power/speed potential. In an optimal situation, a 30/30 season for Gutierrez would not be out of the question......remember, this is the same guy that slugged .513 with 17 steals in 2/3 of a season in the Florida State League at age 20.
