Nick Evans - Nick Evans has started the last 5 games for the Mets, including a 4-8 performance yesterday during the Mets' sweep of the Marlins. Evans has posted a minor league ISO of .200 over 2735 AB's, so there's a bit of power here, and he's still just 25. I don't think he's anywhere near the bat Lucas Duda is, to give you an idea of expected value, but in NL-only formats anyone getting playing time deserves a look. He had 72 XBH and an AVG over .300 last year at 3 levels, and was hitting .313 in a half-season at AAA this year as well, so perhaps his hit tool (very questionable in the low minors) is a bit better than we've expected. He's mildly intriguing, but still probably not a worthwhile rostered player in mixed leagues.
Randy Wells - I'm not sure Wells was healthy at all the first half of this season, as the significant velocity drop and awful performances speak of something drastically wrong, but after his first career shutout yesterday it appears that he's finally righted the ship. Wells has now thrown back-to-back quality starts for the first time this year, his control seems to have stabilized (under 2.0 B/9 in August), and the velocity is slowly coming back. I think he can help most teams down the stretch, and his yearly stats will likely make him a sleeper once again in 2012.
Jordan Schafer - Schafer has had four multi-hit games in his last 7, and he's hitting 310/394/414 as an Astro thus far. He's also homered once and swiped three bases, so all in all not a bad first week. I remain intrigued by his potential for all of the reasons outlined last week, and would certainly consider him a solid sleeper for 2012.
Nick Hundley - A single and a double last night bring Hundley's August line to 420/453/820, and even with the expected BABIP adjustment you've got to think that he's still an easy #1 catcher in most formats. The 27 year old is hitting basically like he always does, with 20-30 points of AVG built in due to this year's fluky BABIP. He's a solid low-end starting catcher, who if he can ever have health and opportunity in the same year could easily hit 15-20 homers even playing half his games at Petco.
Andrew McCutchen - McCutchen moved one homer away from 20/20 last night, and despite the fact that his stats almost appears stagnant the past few years, he seems poised to breakout into the superstar category to me over the next year or two. The subtle jumps in BB rate and ISO, combined with a reasonable increase in LD rate (which has resulted in a lower BABIP, rather than an improvement) make me think that there's going to be a step forward, and age 25 (his 2012 season) is a reasonable time to expect it. Combined with the improvement of the surrounding bats, I am definitely bullish here.
