Michael Saunders OF (TOR) - Saunders wasn't even in the starting lineup, but he still managed to single and homer in 4 trips to the plate Wednesday, extending his hitting streak to 5 games. He's hitting 315/388/556 for the season and batting leadoff much of the time for a very potent offensive squad, yet he's still unowned in the vast majority of leagues. When healthy, Saunders certainly can hit....this performance is buoyed by a BABIP well over .400, but with a 27% LD rate it isn't that far out of whack. The speed is mostly gone, so his value ceiling in roto formats is much lower than it used to be, but I still believe him to be a viable starter in just about all formats right now. Those in points-based leagues have little excuse for not rostering him.
Jordan Zimmermann SP (DET) - Zimmermann managed another quality start Wednesday despite getting only 5 swinging strikes on 106 pitches, continuing a year-long trend. His control is still excellent, but he isn't missing bats, his velocity is off, and there have been surprisingly few homers among his 40% FB rate. Somewhere between his FIP ERA of 3.09 and his SIERA of 4.45 is where I expect him to finish the year (and that's if he remains healthy, as the sizable velocity drop and over 30% slider usage have me a bit concerned on that front as well)....he screams "sell high" to me.
Steve Pearce 1B/OF/2B? (TB) - Pearce, along with Brandon Guyer, is forcing his way into the Rays lineup more and more lately. Two more hits on Wednesday have pushed his line up to 308/392/569 on the year, and he's played a game at 2B and a game at 3B to boot. Pearce had an oddly unlucky BABIP last season, causing an AVG of just .218, but he's more likely than not to post an AVG that won't hurt you in general. Setting aside the obviously strong performance in the surface stats, he's also posting the best contact rate of his career (50 AB min.), and the 2nd best chase rate. With the Rays searching for offense wherever they can find it, I'd expect him to continue to earn playing time as long as he's hitting respectably, and the positional flexibility could prove to be a bonus. He's still more of a deep-league play than anything just yet, but if he picks up one more game per week he'll probably be playing enough for standard-sized leagues to take notice as well.
Mike Napoli 1B (CLE) - Napoli homered again in the 16-inning extravaganza in Houston Wednesday, giving him multi-hit games (along with 3 homers) in 4 of his last 7 while pushing his slash line up to 248/309/504 for the year. Amazingly enough, despite being the 9th-ranked 1B to this point, Napoli is owned in a mere 10% of ESPN leagues. Sure, he's 34, he's not going to help in AVG, and he'd probably need a horse to steal a base, but above-average production (well above-average in HR, likely) in 3 categories deserves to be owned in most formats. His avg HR distance is still borderline-elite at 408.5 feet, and the hard contact% of 41 backs that data up. He's an excellent inexpensive source of power.
Brandon Guyer OF (TB) - As Guyer has continued to hit, he's starting to pick up some playing time against RHP as well. Guyer started against Taijuan Walker Wednesday and went 3-5 with a double, giving him a 345/472/517 line over 58 ABs. Small sample size of course, but Guyer has shown 10/10 potential before with a solid batting average, and his minor league numbers are mostly excellent. Unfortunately, he's 30, so the speed is already starting to diminish a bit, but he's certainly playable across the board against LHP. I think he's a fine deep-league add right now, since he's hitting leadoff when he plays and he's gaining playing time, while standard-sized leagues can probably wait and see for another week or two. If he continues to play 5 or 6 days out of 7, he's probably worth an add there as well.
