Marcus Stroman -- The time may be nearly here for Toronto's top prospect, Marcus Stroman, whose schedule has been adjusted to match that of Dustin McGowan. Blue Jays assistant general manager Tony LaCava also noted recently that Stroman's "time is coming soon," so it seems likely that he'll take McGowan's spot in the rotation next Sunday in Pittsburgh (a great first matchup) unless McGowan can impress in what may be his final start on Tuesday at Kansas City. Stroman is small in stature, leading some to question his durability, but he has everything you look for in a major league starter besides: mid-90s velocity, a true plus-plus slider, a terrific cutter, and a promising change-up. Oh, and he's got pretty good command of his repertoire as well. He's worth stashing in medium-depth mixed leagues to see how he handles big league competition.
Jose Abreu -- Abreu became the first MLB player to reach 10 home runs this year--quite an achievement for a rookie, albeit a 26-year-old one from Cuba. Abreu's raw power has been all that it was hyped to be, with multiple balls approaching 450 feet to dead center providing the evidence. More importantly, though, the potential holes in his swing we heard about haven't been a problem; Abreu holds a slightly-worse-than-average 22 percent strikeout rate and 7 percent walk rate. His BABIP is just .242, but that will rise, and with the kind of power he possesses, he won't need to hit much over .260 to have serious value in all formats.
Omar Infante -- Infante went 2-for-3 with a home run and six RBIs yesterday against the Orioles. Yes, that's a home run and SIX runs batted in. That's hardly Infante's MO, but perhaps it will catch the attention of fantasy players who have overlooked his (usually) quietly effective style of production. Infante was one of the biggest bargains on draft day this year, and he's a guy well worth trading for, if at all possible. He'll hit .290, do something close to 10/10, and score a boatload of runs batting second for the Royals this year.
Hisashi Iwakuma -- Iwakuma threw 76 pitches in his final rehab start yesterday, striking out two while walking none and allowing three runs. While not a great fantasy line, Iwakuma showed enough to prove that he's healthy, and he'll return to the Seattle rotation next weekend against the Houston Astros. His pitch count may be limited in his first start or two back, but with such a tasty matchup on the docket, it'll be hard not to active him right away in non-shallow fantasy leagues.
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