Neil Walker - Walker reached base for the tenth straight game, going 2-4 with a double and a homer in the 11-2 rout of the Astros. Walker is taking his time heating up this year, but has increased his ISO a bit in each month thus far, he's walking more, and he's hitting a ton of line drives without really being rewarded for it on the AVG front. He's also running more than ever, giving me some hope that with a hot second half he can end up posting close to 15/15 with an AVG above .280, which is pretty darn useful at 2B. Walker is still just 26 and remains a pretty underrated player that deserves to be utilized in most formats.
Alexi Amarista - A road trip to Houston, Arizona, and Colorado is probably second only to a road trip to the moon as far as power numbers go, as Alexi Amarista homered for the 4th time in 5 games last night against Arizona, helping the Pads to a 6-2 win. Amarista has 11 RBI's in those 5 games, which is generally more than a month's worth for the 5'8", 150 pound 2B. The 23 year old hasn't been completely powerless in the minors, tallying 53 XBH as a 20 year old in A-ball three years ago, but he isn't going to be a big HR threat despite what we've seen the past week. He has plenty of speed and a career minor league AVG above .300, so there's a bit of talent here....he has shown me enough to warrant a look in deeper leagues and certainly in NL-only leagues at a weak position.
Luis Valbuena - Luis Valbuena had the big blow for the Cubs last night, cracking a bases-loaded double in the 7th to help the Northsiders to a 4-1 win. The news that Ian Stewart is likely done for the year gives Valbuena even a bit more value now, as he is going to have the starting spot as long as he continues to hit. The 26 year old merits a pickup in NL-only leagues and deeper mixed leagues already, and if there's been a bit of age 25-26 power growth he may begin to deserve some attention in standard formats as well.
James McDonald - I'll preface this by saying that I've been a McDonald fan for quite a while, but I'm starting to wonder whether it makes sense to sell high on the emerging righty. He's shown some signs of deterioration in his control the past handful of starts, and he's been extremely fortunate both in terms of BABIP and HR/FB all season long. His velocity is down, and the K rate has dropped a bit the past month or so despite the schedule getting a bit easier. He did toss a career high in IP by 24 innings last year, and he's on pace to best that in 2012 by another 30 innings or so, so fatigue could be a factor here....I'm just a bit concerned. If you can get front-end value for him, I'd certainly be willing to cut bait here, but as a starter in the NL Central he is still likely to provide mid-rotation value even with a bit of backsliding.
Ben Sheets - Ben Sheets is on the comeback trail with the Braves after almost two years on the shelf, and he wasn't really all that healthy with the A's either, so you have to go back almost four years to see what a healthy Sheets looks like. He's still just 33 years old, and I'm very interested to see what he has left in the tank. He's slated for at least two minor league starts, the first of which will be tomorrow in AA. If he's even close to where he was four years ago he needs to be picked up, and those of you in deeper leagues might be well served to preemptively grab him if you have a roster spot available.
