Jonathan Sanchez - Have you ever seen that web site that tracks the movement of dollar bills through the country? I think its called http://www.wheresgeorge.com/. Well, I want to stamp Jonathan Sanchez in fantasy leagues and track how many times this guy is added and dropped. Playing in multiple mixed leagues, he seems to be the guy that gets passed around on a spot-start basis more than anyone else. Is that fair? Probably. He's just good enough to be considered for spot-starts, but is just bad enough to miss out on becoming a regular rotation guy in most vanilla mixed-leagues. He's 4-for-10 in quality starts with a 4.39 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, and a 2-3 record. Sanchez is usually good for a decent amount of K's, averaging a K/9 of 9.3 this season in 10 starts and posting 2 games with 10 K's back in April. The guy certainly has talent and now has 2 quality starts in a row to show for it. With the Giants having an off-day on Monday, Sanchez won't pitch again until Wednesday, pushing any possibility of a 2-start week until Fantasy Week 10. His start next week will be a challenging one against the Diamondbacks. As an FYI, he faced Arizona on Apr 14th and pitched decently giving up 3 ER in 5.0 IP on 6 hits and 3 K's on 99 pitches).
Shane Victorino - The Flyin' Hawaiian flew around the bases after hitting his 2nd HR in the past week. Obviously he's known more for his speed than his power, but he did hit 12 HR in 456 AB last season and, hitting in Citizens Bank could yield another double-digit HR season. On the speed side, he's 7-for-9 in SB so far this season. I'm a huge fan of Victorino simply because he gets to hit in the middle of Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard. That means plenty of good pitches to hit and a ton of run scoring opportunities when he gets on base. His OBP of .321 is down from his previous two years of .340+, but I think that turns around soon. Up-arrow for Victorino, especially in roto leagues for runs and SB purposes.
Ryan Howard - Ryan Howard continued the road back to respectability on Wednesday, knocking out 2 HR and bringing his season total to 12. Good 'ol reversion to the mean at its best. After hitting just .168 in April with a .648 OPS, 0.39 FPI, and a HR/AB of 19.0 (5 HR total), Howard has gone on quite a run in May with a .227 average, .883 OPS, .63 FPI, and a HR/AB of 10.7 (7 HR with at least a week left in May). Its still not the superstar / "1st round" numbers you look for from Howard, but its a great sign that he's heading in the right direction. The overwhelmingly disturbing stat that continues to bother fantasy owners (and Phillies fans) is the strikeout. He continues to trend toward shattering his own single-season record of 199 K's from last season. He already has 68 K's for the season, averaging a K for every 2.9 plate appearances. Adam Dunn is his fellow-NL strikeout/homerun partner-in-crime, but the difference between these two guys is that Dunn's OBP crushes Howard's. Howard is posting a .305 OBP and a batting eye of .397 BB/K. Dunn has a .384 OBP this season and a BB/K of .895.
Brian McCann - McCann has been one of the most valuable fantasy catchers throughout his career, but he's definitely putting up some big numbers in 2008 (and quite quietly I might add). He's hitting .331 with a .395OBP and a 0.84 FPI this season, crushing last year's results and exceeding his 2006 break-out year when he posted a .333 average, .389 OBP, and a 0.81 FPI . His OPS is 1.002 and his HR/AB is 20.0. While all of these production totals have been fantastic, I'm especially intrigued by his BB/K of 1.13, crushing his previous two season rates of 0.76 and 0.47 in 2006 and 2007. Aside from being one year more mature at just 24-years-old, he benefits from a full-season of hitting in a MarkTexeira/Jeff Franceour sandwich, getting plenty of pitches to hit and lots of RBI and run scoring opportunities as well.
Stephen Drew - Drew was a big name in the 2007 fantasy draft, but after a disappointing debut season, he now flies under the radar with the other young stars in Arizona in 2008. He's hitting .292 this year with a 0.70 FPI and a .889 OPS. Consider that production given last year's .238 average, 0.49 FPI, and .684 OPS. This year isn't an anomaly, but rather a young prospect becoming more comfortable with big-league pitching. He was a highly-touted prospect for awhile and deserves the recognition for his solid performance for the first two months of '08. The one surprise is Drew's power surge this season. After hitting just 12 HR in 2007 at a HR/AB of 45.3, he already has 6 this season and has a 25.7 HR/AB rate.
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