Scott Feldman:
Feldman hasn’t drawn as much attention as a 13-4, 3.87 ERA line would suggest, largely because prior to this August, the peripherals have been underwhelming. Feldman was a GB specialist whose GB Rate was barely eclipsing 45% (good… but not great). With just about 5 K/9 and 3 BB/9, Feldman looked to be far more the beneficiary of an abnormally low .269 BHIP% than anything else. As this number regressed his ERA would carry back closer to the low 4’s and his WHIP would likely trend into the mid 1.30’s which combined with little K production was nothing more than a back-end starter. But something has happened here in August that really is noteworthy; Feldman’s all of the sudden become dominant. His K Rate has jumped to over 1.00 here in August sparked by an 11 K effort yesterday and his GO:AO Ratio has jumped to 1.70 (1.21 heading into August). In addition the improvements have come against some pretty good offenses (CLE, LAA, TB, MIN). It’s awful late to be hopping on the Feldman bandwagon given all the good production his owners have already grabbed so far this year, but as the season wears on his peripherals are only getting better.
Travis Snider:
Perhaps its because he’s the shining star in the lone major league system outside of the US, but I don’t think Travis Snider is getting enough pub in the fantasy world as a prospect looking to make a late season impact. Snider posted a .901 OPS in limited time at AAA as a 20 year old last season and has followed it up with a ridiculous .337/.431/.663 line in 175 more AAA AB’s. The Jays had been messing around with his arbitration clock earlier in the year but he’s up for good now and appears ready to rake. He went deep for the 2nd time in his first 6 games since being recalled and shown good plate discipline already drawing 4 BB’s. He’s struggled with high K Rates in his brief major league appearances and the recent 6 game stretch is no different (33% K Rate), so be prepared for some streakiness, but Snider has a very high ceiling the rest of the way. He’s hit at every level in his professional career and its only a matter of time before he’s consistently raking at the major league level like he has at the minor league level.
Matt LaPorta:
Four games since recall and four games with hits for Indians prospect Matt LaPorta. LaPorta’s also racked up 3 2B’s in those 4 games, while striking out just once. Given that he was posting a .917 OPS at AAA with a strong 0.75 EYE and enters a still pretty deep lineup in Cleveland, LaPorta’s an intriguing reserve pickup in all formats right now. In dynasty or keeper leagues, he’s an obvious pickup candidate but I think there’s value in all formats from the polished prospect. In comparison with another prospect we’ve touched on today in Travis Snider, I think LaPorta is a better bet for impact this season, while Snider (thanks in large part to a huge age differential) is the better long-term bet for fantasy success.
Fausto Carmona:
I think Sunday may have been the exclamation point on Fausto Carmona’s “I’m Back” statement. He’s quietly put together a very impressive August (even before Sunday’s outing) as his K Rate has come back, the BB’s have toned down (just 9 in 24 IP), and the GBs are still there (above 55%). From a peripherals perspective Carmona was never as good as his breakout 2007 season, but the precipitous fall-off in his command AND his ability to generate swings and misses was puzzling. Over the last month, he’s quietly put things back together and while his production may never reach the height of his name value in that 2007 season, he has a chance to resurrect his career as a GB specialist back-end mixed league starter.
Josh Beckett:
After allowing a HR in just 2 of his last 12 starts, Beckett has now allowed multiple HR’s in 3 consecutive outings. On Sunday night it looked like the Yankees were playing HR derby with Beckett as seemingly every ball that didn’t leave the yard ended up being an out. Beckett went 8 innings allowing just 9 hits (0 BB’s), but served up 5 HR’s and stranded just ONE base-runner, allowing 8 ER’s. Beckett’s now given up 10 HR’s in his last 3 outings after giving up just 7 in his previous 17 outings. This seems a bit fluky especially since Beckett recorded 12 ground ball outs on Sunday compared to just 4 through the air. Beckett owners will just continue to run him out there and hope for the best.
