Garrett Richards - Richards has been pretty impressive since returning to the Angel rotation, tossing 3 quality starts in 4 (he'd likely have 4 but he wasn't stretched out enough to go more than 5 in his first outing) after a complete-game loss to the Yankees Monday night. He doesn't strike out as many batters as you'd expect given both his stuff and his swinging strike%, but the substantial control and GB rate improvements have allowed him to be very successful despite the larger number of balls in play. With the Astros and Mariners coming up next on the docket for Richards, he definitely should be considered in many, if not most formats for the next few weeks. He may very well be one adjustment away from being a solid mid-rotation starter (converting those swinging strikes into K's), and he already had a FIP ERA of just 3.41 going into last night's start.
Todd Redmond - Redmond is moving into the Blue Jay rotation tomorrow, replacing Esmil Rogers against the Red Sox. Redmond doesn't get a lot of press but has some sneaky-good peripherals, with a steadily increasing K rate over the past handful of years to go along with solid control. His stuff is fairly pedestrian, but he has a bit more deception in his motion than the norm, enabling him to pick up more K's than you'd expect. The downside of Redmond is that he pitches up in the zone quite a bit, and with average stuff he has a tendency to get hit hard when he can't generate the swings-and-misses. If Toronto had any favorable matchups at all coming up I'd be tempted to spot start him this month, but I can't really see any start I'd feel comfortable using him for with that propensity to allow flyballs. There is a bit of upside here, but I'm too concerned with the potential downside to think about dealing with it at present. He merits watching in deeper formats on the off chance that he shows enough to take advantage of a few slightly better matchups in September.
Jurickson Profar - Profar has been playing quite a bit more in August, starting every game but one this month and moving around the diamond to pick up eligibility (or close to it, depending on your rules) at 2B, SS, 3B, and OF. He hasn't hit particularly well, with only a .243 AVG and 2 XBH for the month, but with a 22.1% LD rate and a swinging strike% under 6, I'd be confident that better results are on the way for the 20 year old. I'd be hesitant to pick him up in most leagues with Lance Berkman likely coming back later this week, but Profar's upside is considerable and his positional flexibility is very helpful. I definitely think his ownership percentage should be higher than 16, where it currently sits with ESPN, and obviously all dynasty leagues should have him rostered.
Andrew Albers - It's hard to have a better first two starts of your MLB career than those of Andrew Albers, who is at 17 1/3 scoreless innings after a 2 hour and 21 minute shutout of the Indians Monday. Albers has allowed six singles and a walk through two starts with four strikeouts. Albers is a 27 year old "crafty lefty" with minimal stuff but excellent control, fitting the profile of a back-end starter (for a MLB team) fairly well. MLB 5th starters generally aren't sought after for fantasy purposes, and there just isn't a lot of upside here. He should keep a fairly reasonable WHIP, but he isn't likely to help anywhere else to any large extent.....first two starts notwithstanding.
Brian Dozier - Dozier hit in his 7th straight Monday night, leading off the game with a homer to give him 12 on the season to go along with 9 steals. He's hitting 333/400/688 so far in August, and the combination of a solid contact rate and an excellent LD rate (that is clearly not illustrated by a BABIP about 70 points beneath expectations) have me thinking that there may even be a bit more upside here from a player that is unowned in two-thirds of ESPN leagues. Dozier is getting close to becoming a top-10 option at 2B, and should be owned in most formats at present.
