Michael Fiers - Fiers is, ahem, on fire right now for the Brewers, tossing his 5th straight quality start last night against the Cards in a 3-2 loss. Fiers has allowed 3 runs over 34 2/3 innings in his last 5 starts, walking 11 and striking out 35. I watched him for a few innings last night, and although the data says that he only throws his curveball 15% of the time, it sure seemed a lot more than that to me. He doesn't overpower anyone, as he didn't even hit 90 on the gun that I saw, but he mixes his pitches pretty well and keeps hitters off-balance. His minor league numbers were terrific for the most part, but he's a flyball pitcher without excellent stuff that relies on solid control and offspeed pitches to survive. Looking at what he's been able to do thus far, I think you have to expect some major regression. His swinging strike% won't support this kind of K rate, and he allows way too many line drives and fly balls to justify this BABIP and HR/9. He's shown me enough that I expect him to be able to provide back-end starter value, but keeping his ERA under 3.50 will likely prove to be a struggle.
Alexi Amarista - I'm kind of enjoying Amarista's tenure with the Padres, as the 23 year old waterbug is playing all over the field, slapping the ball around, stealing bases, and generally just playing with a lot of energy. Amarista hit in his fifth straight games yesterday, picking up a single, a double, and a steal in the 2-0 loss to Houston. Amarista is hitting enough line drives to give you a solid AVG, he's stealing bases, and he's shown enough pop that he isn't a complete cipher there. In 5-game eligibility leagues he's already logged enough time to be eligible at 2B, SS, and OF, and he's picked up a game at 3B as well. I love having guys like this on the roster, as they will give you a little bit across the board while allowing you a tremendous amount of lineup flexibility. I think that as long as he's going to play he's worth a look in formats of moderate depth or greater.
Matt Harvey - There has been some speculation that Matt Harvey will get the call this weekend to take Dillon Gee's spot in the rotation, and as a top-100 prospect he's going to get some attention if that's the case. Harvey is a big right-hander with swing and miss stuff, and pitching in that park is going to help him a lot more than Binghamton and Buffalo have. His control is the one thing that hasn't progressed very well in moving up the ladder, and it's likely to keep his ERA in the 3.75-4.25 range off the bat. He projects, for now, as a #4/#5 starter with good K rates, and potentially he could become a #2 guy if the control improves enough. He is likely going to be worth a pickup, at least as a reserve, in most formats if he does indeed get the call for this weekend, so watch the wire closely.
Todd Frazier - Frazier is hitting .364 with 3 homers in the month of July despite struggling for playing time, but he definitely warrants a pickup now with Joey Votto hitting the DL for 3-4 weeks with a meniscus tear. Frazier does strike out a lot, but when he makes contact it's been basically nothing but line drives and fly balls all year long which bodes well for both his AVG and HR totals remaining at solid levels. He's quite possibly going to be eligible at 1B/3B/OF very shortly if you have 5-game eligibility rules in your league, and at third and OF he's definitely a useful bat in most formats.
Scott Moore - At 28 years old, Scott Moore is finally getting a crack at some consistent playing time after languishing at AAA since the end of 2006. Moore has power and will take a walk, and he's hit for higher and higher averages as the years have gone by as well, so I'm not so sure that will be a huge weakness anymore. He does still strike out quite a bit, but the real potential downside for him is Brett Wallace, who has hit very well at AAA this year and is likely to return to Houston fairly soon. Moore is strictly a 1B/3B guy, so the options are limited for him. I firmly believe that he will have value if he plays, so for the short-term I'd take a chance on him in deeper leagues and NL-only formats. His playing time is likely too suspect to justify a pickup in standard leagues, unfortunately.
