Billy Burns - Burns had two singles, a homer, and a steal in the 7-2 victory over the A's on Sunday, and he's now hitting 309/356/395 through his first 81 ABs of the year. Burns has the LD rate to justify at least a reasonable AVG...the hard contact numbers (only 12.7%) make me a bit skeptical that the .300 level can be maintained, however. The speed is certainly for real though, and that alone should justify a pickup in almost all formats. Judging from how the playing time has been apportioned this month, Burns has moved a bit ahead of Sam Fuld in the pecking order in the Oakland OF, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him hold onto the majority of his playing time even when Coco Crisp returns. At under 5% ownership in ESPN leagues, Burns is being widely overlooked right now. At just $2700 on FanDuel for Monday's matchup against Shane Greene, he qualifies as a solid buy there as well.
Kyle Gibson - Don't look now, but Gibson hasn't allowed more than 3 ER in his last 8 starts, 6 of which have qualified as QS. Granted, he was facing the surprisingly hapless White Sox Sunday, but he's also shut down the Royals, Tigers, and A's during this stretch. His season-long state still look very suspect, but during his last five starts he has put up the following: 34 IP, 25 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, and 21 K to go along with an improved GB rate. He's no ace, but he can be trusted much more than you might expect at first glance, which is just as well since his upcoming schedule is relatively difficult (TOR, @BOS, KC, @STL). I am currently valuing him as a #5 SP in standard-sized formats, and I think there's a bit of upside from there.
Logan Forsythe - Forsythe had a pair of singles, RBIs, and steals on Sunday in the 7-2 loss to Oakland, giving him a string of 14 straight games in which he's reached base. He's hitting 298/371/470 on the year, and you always have to wonder when career "AAAA" guys finally get a shot at consistent playing time without getting yanked in and out of the lineup (and the majors). Forsythe has excellent control of the strike zone, chasing at less than a 20% rate, lending some credence to the AVG that's higher than he's previously offered at this level. This sort of power (.177 ISO) isn't likely to stay, but he could prove to be a 10-12 HR, 5-8 SB player with a decent batting average, which is certainly a useful guy in the MIF in many formats.
Manny Machado - Machado has hit in 7 straight after a double and a walk on Sunday, and he's now batting 286/347/474 on the year. Still just 22 for another 6 weeks, Machado has nonetheless made gigantic strides in chase rate and contact rate, all while continuing to improve his power numbers. I still believe that he's on a path to become a superstar, and since I expect his value to continue to increase, I wouldn't mind looking to deal for him in dynasty leagues even with his solid start this year.
Hector Santiago - That's four straight QS for Santiago after a 6 2/3 IP, 3 ER stint in Boston Sunday during which he walked 1 and fanned 6. Santiago has shown a consistent trend of outperforming his FIP ERA in every season of his career, and he is posting a career best in swinging strike% here in 2015, but the good news ends there. His control is perpetually an issue, his GB rate is very poor, and his BABIP is somewhere around 100 points south of where you'd expect it to be. It would be foolish to suddenly expect Santiago to post an ERA around 4.00 like his peripherals suggest he should, but a crazy-high strand rate and an even more favorable BABIP than normal should be expected to worsen as time goes by, bringing Santiago back into the mid-3.00's once again.
