Austin Kearns (OF - Indians) - Well, it took 8 years but Austin Kearns is finally producing fantasy results. Ok, that wasn't fair to Austin, you, or your fantasy team from 2002. But in all fairness, Kearns is on a roll and is giving his owners what we thought he would give them when he was first called up to the major leagues. With 2 HR and 4 RBI in Cleveland's win over the Nats, Kearns raised his average to .307 and his OPS to over .900 with an FPI now over 0.75. That's pretty impressive for a guy found on the fantasy scrap heap to start the season. Kearns has always battled injuries, averaging just 105 games and about 400 plate appearances per season since 2002. But if he can stay healthy, there's no reason for him not to continue to put up solid numbers.
Jason Bartlett (SS - Rays) - Rays manager Joe Maddon indicated that Jason Bartlett may come off the DL and be ready to go on Tuesday. He's been on the list with a strained hamstring and has not played since late May. Even leading up to the hamstring injury, it has been a disappointing season for Bartlett and his owners. He isn't even coming close to last year's performance. Let's make a quick compare with last season's stats listed first and this year's numbers second. AVG: .320 vs .231, OPS: .879 vs. .657, XBH% 8.8% vs. 6.6%, and Line Drive % of 27% vs 22%. There's plenty of time to turn it around if his hamstring doesn't give him too many problems and playing SS keeps his value higher than usual, but I think we're looking at 2009 as a "career-year."
Jake Peavy (SP - White Sox) - I know Jake Peavy hasn't been great this year and he's one of the guys I was really wrong about heading into the season. With that said, his two starts in June are both quality starts and he's looking a lot better than he did through the first two months of the season. Granted, his last two starts were against the Indians and the Cubs, but those two outings produced 14.0 IP, 12 H, 4 ER, 8 K's, and 2 BB. The biggest cause for concern here is that he's not recording nearly as many K's as we're used to seeing out of him. Sure, the move to the AL doesn't help. But from 2004 through 2009, Peavy averaged a K/9 of 9.4. This year, he's at 7.6. Maybe the warmer weather and the summer months will help Peavy stay on this quality start roll, but he will have to string a few more together before I become a believer again. For now, he'll go into the "I was way wrong about this guy" column.
Andy Pettitte (SP - Yankees) - Another quality start for Pettitte keeps his streak alive at 4 in a row. That makes him 9-for-12 on the season. I wrote about Pettitte in a previous column and speculated that it was unsustainable. I stick by my claim. Either this season will end as a weird anomaly or Pettitte will have to regress to the mean at some point during the summer. For the last four years, he has posted 4.00+ ERA marks (4.20, 4.05, 4.54, and 4.16 from 2006 through 2009). This year, he has a sub-3.00. Same trend with WHIP - 1.44, 1.43, 1.41, and 1.38 through the same time period while he boasts a 1.15. All of this with fairly equal BB/9 and K/9 rates. I'll be the first to admit I was wrong if Pettitte can maintain this pace through October, but I find that highly unlikely for a 38-year-old. Sell high.
Alex Rios (OF - White Sox) - Rios is having quite the comeback season. With a very impressive 4-for-4 performance against the Northsiders in Friday's matinee, Rios boosts his average to .322 and his OPS to .967. He did it all on Friday, from hitting a dinger to stealing a base. That one game is indicative of the kind of season he is having with a total of 13 HR and 19 SB. Maybe Rios was just a late bloomer to reach his prime age, turning 29 before the 2010 season began. Either way, he is producing at a fantastic level and is showing no signs of letting up. This isn't a sell high candidate. This is Rios finally reaching his potential.
