With the All-Star break upon us, we finally don’t have to worry about our fantasy teams for a few days. It’s always nice to have that little break, especially when you run multiple teams. Rather than the usual daily waiver wire shtick, let’s take a look at four players who have gone from undrafted and afterthoughts to key contributors in all formats.

Carlos Ruiz | C | Phillies | Preseason ADP: 290 | Owned: 89% Yahoo! and 100% ESPN

Chooch has been, my far, the best hitting catcher in baseball this season. He came into the year with a .265/.357/.393 career batting line which is solid but not exactly worth a fantasy roster spot. The 33-year-old Ruiz carries a .350/.412/.584 (!) line into the break this summer, having already hit a career-best 13 homers with 21 doubles that are just eight shy of his career-high. He’s moved into a more premium lineup spot — fourth or fifth depending on whether or not Ryan Howard plays — and the result has been 46 RBI that are the second most among qualified catchers and eight short of his career-high. His 523 ottoneu points lead all catchers by a significant margin.

Ruiz’s production will likely step back for a number of reasons in the second half, mostly because catchers tend to wear down in August in September. A .362 BABIP and 18.3% HR/FB don’t exactly scream sustainable either. That said, Chooch’s first half production is already in the bank and anyone who grabbed him off waivers in April is surely thrilled.

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Paul Goldschmidt is finally living up to expectations. But it didn’t look that way in April. The 24-year-old first baseman hit just .193/.288/.281 through the first month of the season. As a result, many owners probably dropped him looking for better options. That would have been a huge mistake. Since then, Goldschmidt has been on a tear. He’s managed to raise his slash line to .302/.368/.552. In order to start producing like a stud first baseman, Goldshmidt had to make a few adjustments after his first month.

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Michael Fiers is the fire that the Brewers rotation needed when Shaun Marcum went down. What remains to be seen is if he’s the slow-burning campfire that will keep giving all year or the short-lived snap crackle pop of your average Independence Day firecracker in San Diego.

He wasn’t supposed to be this good. He didn’t even crack Baseball America’s top ten going into the season — his only appearances on the page were a mention for Best Control in the system and a thought by Tom Haudricourt that he might help the team, in some capacity, because he’d proven himself at Triple-A. Our own Marc Hulet put Fiers 15th on the Brewers list, mentioned he was 26 and didn’t have much of a ceiling, and then gave him the “likely swing-man” mark of doom.

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• Just as Heath Bell looked like he was climbing back into fantasy owners’ good graces, he crumbled faster than the Mrs. Fields cookie I’m gnawing on while sitting on the floor writing this at BWI (surprisingly busy for a Sunday night). While he’s been frustrating for fantasy owners this year, his recent uptick in velocity hasn’t reversed over the past week and his June peripherals (6.0 K/BB, 2.54 xFIP) still were the best of his 2012 season (and it wasn’t even really close). As has been said in numerous Bullpen Reports, he will have a long leash at the back end of the Miami bullpen thanks to his contract, so expect to see him still patrolling the ninth if the immediate aftermath of the all-star break. An interesting wild card that might stir up some trouble for Bell if he continues to regress back to early season form — Juan Oviedo (formerly Leo Nunez) is eligible to return from his suspension on July 23rd and manager Ozzie Guillen did not rule out the former closer (career 2.6 K/BB, 4.25 xFIP) seeing a few save chances once he returns. I wouldn’t rush to grab Oviedo in shallow leagues given his history of mediocrity outside of 2010, but Bell owners in deeper or NL-only ones might think about handcuffing him during the fantasy lull over the next few days just to cover all their bases (something the Cardinals did against Bell today — hey-o!).

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Today’s Roto Riteup is like a nice cup of yogurt (not that disgusting Greek yogurt. Gross). It’s good in the morning, good in the afternoon and good for you.

• In sharp contrast to Masterson’s blowup two days ago, Ubaldo Jimenez pitched excellent last night. Ubaldo lasted six innings and struck out eight, matching a season high. Perhaps even more importantly, he gave up only a single walk. Over the past month, Ubaldo has a 3.24 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. That’s well worth owning in my book. My faith in him still isn’t as high as it was preseason, but he deserves to be owned in more than 66% of Yahoo! and 58% of ESPN leagues. He is better than most stream candidates, but is still a spot starter in my opinion. If he’s available then go ahead and pick him up, just watch his match-ups carefully.

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What could be a better way of starting off All-Star Weekend than with yours truly and the Roto Riteup? I guess bacon would make it better. I don’t know if that is really fair to say though, as bacon makes any and everything better. One of my good friends, we’ll call him Pablo, has a different theory. He insists that nacho cheese makes everything better (excluding dessert and sweets). I am inclined to agree. We’ve tested this several times and it has always proven to be true. Don’t take our word for it; go and try it for yourselves. And yet I digress.
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• Drew Storen looked great in his first rehab outing today needing just eight pitches to complete his perfect inning. Tyler Clippard is still expected to hold onto the ninth inning duties for the Nationals, but Storen is on track to return to the Nationals after the break and is worth keeping an eye on if Clippard were to struggle.

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C.J. Wilson was paid $77.5M this off season to come in and be a front line starter for the Angels. With Jered Weaver and Dan Haren already on the team, he wasn’t going to be the only ace of the staff, but he has pitched like one. It is now time to sell high on Wilson’s great 1st half of the season. He has 9 Wins, a 2.33 ERA (6th among qualified starters) and a 1.17 WHIP. These stats put him within the top 20 SP in production for the 2012 season (16th SP with ESPN’s Player Rater). His stats don’t match his perifial numbers so he has a good chance of regressing quite a bit in the second half of the season.

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Charlie Furbush’s transition to reliever has certainly worked out well. After starting 12 games last season and throwing 59.1 innings, Furbush had a 6.83 ERA and a 2.67 K/BB ratio — with 12 home runs allowed. In a relief role, Furbush has a 2.19 ERA in 61.2 innings, a 3.10 K/BB ratio, and only seven home runs allowed.

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If starting Billy Hamilton guaranteed your team would win steals, where would you draft him? It would be arguable Hamilton is the best fantasy baseball prospect in the minor leagues, if that were the case. As everyone knows, the Cincinnati Reds shortstop has already surpassed the 100 steal mark, and season isn’t yet half way over. But – come on, you knew this was coming – there are still a few questions surrounding Hamilton. Read the rest of this entry »