Jason Kipnis, Michael Taylor, Tom Milone: Mining the Minors
At approximately 4:45 p.m. Thursday, the Twitter handle @TheJK_Kid tweeted the following: “ITS TIME!” This was relevant because that account belongs to Indians prospect Jason Kipnis.
Archive for Sleepers
Jose Altuve, Jake McGee, Tyler Flowers: Mining the Minors
This may be the only time in history that the 6’2″, 235-pound Brandon Allen shares a space with mighty mite Jose Altuve — all 5’7″, 170 of him.
Kyle Blanks, Trayvon Robinson, Brad Brach: Mining the Minors
This week, we’ll cover two Padres and a Dodger. In other words, those of you in NL West-only leagues are in luck.
Deep League Waiver Wire Draft
By now you’ve read about our RotoGraphs deep-league Pick Six-like draft. For a refresher, here’s Mr. Bender’s rundown of the process and his draft strategy, as well as the method to the madness behind Mr. Sarris’ selections, and if you’re looking for the full draft recap, check Mr. Zimmerman’s post. Now allow me to explain my choices, starting with No. 2 overall.
Deep Waiver Wire Draft Results and My Picks
The other day 4 of us writers did a draft of players owned in less than 10% of all ESPN leagues. We drafted a C, CI, MI, OF, SP and RP and here were the results:
| Draft Position | Name | Owner |
| 1 | Cody Ross | Bender |
| 2 | Danny Valencia | Catania |
| 3 | Chris Heisey | Sarris |
| 4 | John Buck | Zimmerman |
| 5 | Jonny Gomes | Zimmerman |
| 6 | Jarrod Saltalamacchia | Sarris |
| 7 | Wilson Ramos | Catania |
| 8 | Chris Johnson | Bender |
| 9 | Chris Getz | Bender |
| 10 | Will Venable | Catania |
| 11 | Jason Bartlett | Sarris |
| 12 | Aaron Crow | Zimmerman |
| 13 | Scott Sizemore | Zimmerman |
| 14 | Javy Guerra | Sarris |
| 15 | Doug Fister | Catania |
| 16 | Nick Hundley | Bender |
| 17 | Koji Uehara | Bender |
| 18 | Jason Kipnis | Catania |
| 19 | Rubby De La Rosa | Sarris |
| 20 | Brandon McCarthy | Zimmerman |
| 21 | Casey Blake | Zimmerman |
| 22 | Matt LaPorta | Sarris |
| 23 | Cory Luebke | Catania |
| 24 | Barry Zito | Bender |
Besides the entire draft results, here is a quick explanation of my 6 picks
John Buck (C)– The choice of Buck was pretty easy. He is a catcher with home run ability. This season so far he has hit 8 HRs in 291 PA with the Marlins and looks to still get plenty more PA. These numbers are just a bit below his career average where he has averaged 1 home run for every 30 PA. His average and SB are non-existent, but what is to be expected from a catcher owned in less than 10% of all leagues. I will gladdly take the home runs, especially from a catcher.
Jonny Gomes (OF) – I figured that I may attempt at locking up home runs with Gomes to go along with Buck. He looks to be on pace for 20 home runs and maybe even get 10 SB. His average is a drag, but he generally gets consistent playing time so he will have chances to accumulate Runs and RBIs to go along with the HRs.
Aaron Crow (RP)– I took the Royals All-Star selection in the hope that Soria will become either injured or traded. Crow then looks to be in line to move into the closer role where he will begin picking up saves. There are other relievers with better rate stats, but I am taking a chance on saves with this pick.
Scott Sizemore (MI)– This is probably the safest move I took. Usually, I would aim for a player that excels at one area, but with Scott he is just an all around below average player. He will get at bats and not destroy or will any category. Boring.
Casey Blake (CI) – I need a CI and the pickings were slim. I am pretty much hoping that he can get back to hitting some home runs. Also, he could put up some OK counting stats (Runs and RBIs).
Brandon McCarthy (SP) – I waited on SP which seemed like the deepest category. I about went with Danny Duffy, but decided against double homer-ism after drafting Crow and instead went with McCarthy. I will take the 3.5 K/BB and hope the A’s offense can show up once or twice during the rest of the season.
Kyle Seager: Mining the Minors
Late Wednesday night, the Mariners called up Kyle Seager. In a related story, this edition of Mining the Minors got much more interesting just before midnight.
Lonnie Chisenhall: Mining the Minors
Another top-notch prospect made his long-awaited debut this week. No point in keeping you from getting better acquainted.
Three American League Outfielders You Should Add
This stretch of the season is often the toughest for owners. Most of the big breakouts have already happened (hello, Michael Pineda, Alex Avila and Matt Joyce), plenty of the bounceback candidates have proved they can still play (right, Lance Berkman, David Ortiz and Josh Beckett?) and many of the elite prospects have been called up (thanks, Eric Hosmer, Jordan Lyles and Dustin Ackley). That leaves owners who missed out on those players to seek help either via trade or by identifying — and adding — players who have underperformed so far. This late in the game, it’s a trickier decision-making process because all the options come with some ugly pock marks (hence, the underperforming and all), but there are always a few possibilities for second-half surges. Like these three American League outfielders.
Paul Goldschmidt and Collin Cowgill: Mining the Minors
One name that has come up often this year in the fanciful world of Prospectville is the Diamondbacks’ Paul Goldschmidt. He leads the minors with 22 home runs, in case you didn’t know. That sort of thing tends to get fantasy owners’ attention. As does Kevin Towers, the team’s GM, recently hinting that the D-backs may consider promoting a few of their minor leaguers in the weeks surrounding the All-Star Game. Seems like a good time to take a look at Goldschmidt and a few others in the system.
Jesus Guzman and Andrew Miller: Mining the Minors
Alas, for the first time in almost two months, there are no really big names to cover this week. (Thanks for the break, front office folks.) As such, nobody below is likely to make an impact in mixed leagues. But there are still two new names — and a pair of old friends — worth looking at in single-league play.