Enrique Hernandez - Hernandez is a pretty interesting case, as he kind of slipped off the radar for a few years after being drafted in the 6th round (with a $150K bonus) of the 2009 draft out of the American Military Academy in Puerto Rico. He performed fairly well in Rookie ball and Short Season ball at ages 17 and 18 before being promoted to low-A in 2011 at age 19. He continued to show glimpses of some ability, especially in terms of making contact, as the Astros promoted him a level a year rather consistently. He was cruising along at roughly a 260/300/400 pace at each level of the minors, showing only flashes of any ability that would ever get him to the majors, when he opened up 2014 hitting 325/372/475 in his first 10 games of a repeat at AA. He followed that up with an even better line of 337/382/508 through most of a half-season at AAA before getting the call to Houston two weeks ago. He's shown more power and even better contact ability thus far in 2014 (even during the first 12 games of a 289/372/474 performance with HOU), and he's mixed in a little speed as well. Not only that, but he's played every position but C this year in AAA, so if he hangs around in Houston, positional eligibility will definitely be a strength. I'm intrigued by him a bit, because there's a neat combination of a relatively small amount of data available about him combined with the look of a completely different player here in 2014. He definitely merits a speculative look in deeper leagues if you have a roster spot available.
Clay Buchholz - Buchholz tossed a 3-hit shutout with 0 walks and 12 K's against the Astros on Sunday. Of greater interest to me is the last three innings of his start earlier in the week, during which he supposedly adjusted the grip on his changeup mid-game, following which he tossed three shutout innings with 0 walks and 5 K's. One of the things that jumps out about Buchholz this year is a sizably diminished gap (nearly 3 mph) between his changeup and fastball velocity, something that was believed to contribute greatly to his decline in swinging strike%. Granted, these were the Astros and White Sox that were involved, so the K numbers were likely to be better, but 17 K's in 12 innings with no walks is impressive, even were it in A-ball. Buchholz is suddenly back on my radar in all formats, and I'll be anxiously awaiting his first start out of the break (scheduled for normal rest on Friday).
J.D. Martinez - Martinez had back-to-back three-hit games over the weekend, and he's now hit in 11 of 12 to push his line even further into the stratosphere (346/380/654). Scouting-wise, Martinez appears to have a much flatter swing this year, and it's resulting in more LDs and FBs and fewer grounders, a mix that we all aspire to. Stat-wise, Martinez has been significantly more aggressive this year (3rd highest swing% in MLB behind Gomez and Sandoval), and it's clearly helping him to this point. Obviously he isn't likely to continue to his for an ISO of over .300, but I think it's clear that much of this isn't a fluke.
Christian Vazquez - It looks like Vazquez and David Ross will be splitting time behind the dish for the Sox, and although Vazquez has gotten off to a very hot start by going 5-11 with 3 doubles in his first three games, I don't think either are going to prove worthy of a roster spot in most formats. Vazquez is a defense-first catcher that has hit for an ISO of roughly .100 in 662 ABs above the A-ball level. He did have 36 2Bs and 8 HRs in 163 games at AA and AAA between 2013-14, with an AVG of .286. So, a catcher with an average hit tool that might pop a couple of homers and a decent number of doubles is about what to expect, except he's only playing half of the time. Maybe in deep AL-only leagues he's worth a look, but likely nowhere else for the time being.
John Jaso - Jaso extended his hitting streak to 6 with a 1-3 performance against the M's Sunday. I just don't understand why a guy like Jaso doesn't get more love, as his floor is pretty high....he tends to hit .265-.280, hitting line drives at nearly a 25% clip most years. He doesn't have a ton of power, but he appears to me more of a 10-15 guy than the 5-10 guy that he's valued as. Plus, the A's offense has gotten steadily better over the past few seasons. For leagues that require two catchers, there's no reason that he shouldn't be starting, and he's a borderline starter in leagues of standard size as well.
