Roto Riteup: August 3, 2012

As you are reading this, I am headed down some highway on my way to Cincinnati. Today’s Roto Riteup is brought to you by summer: baseball and good times.

• I don’t know how many times I can talk about Todd Frazier in an article or mention him in the comment section. I am just such a fan boy. So far he’s making my love of him seem justified, as he has three home runs in past seven games. He’s still horrifically under-valued and under owned. He’s owned in a mere 13% of Yahoo! leagues and 10% of ESPN leagues. If he’s still available, please, for my sake: go pick him up.

• Speaking of guys who have three homers in the past seven games, Kendrys Morales seems appropriate to mention. Morales powered his twelfth long ball last night and seems to be finding his power stroke as he finds a little more playing time. He’s appeared in five of the last six Angels games and fellow Morales owners can only hope that he keeps getting regular plate appearances. If he does end up getting more time, then I’d absolutely recommend you to pick him up. He’s owned in just 36% of ESPN leagues and barely 50% of Yahoo! formats.

• If you’d like to stick with first base options and arbitrary end points, Carlos Lee has hit .550 for the past seven days prior to yesterday’s game. He had a pair of hits yesterday too, so that further fuels his recent line. He’s flown under the radar since his initial trade to the Marlins, but he has clearly had recent success in his new found home. You can find him freely available in 45% of Yahoo! leagues but just 20% of ESPN leagues.

• Getting away from the lumbering first basemen types, Josh Rutledge popped another homer last night. That gives him five in just 75 PA’s this year. He’s also chipped in three stolen bases so far too. His ESPN ownership rate has already sky rocketed to 77%, but his Yahoo! rate is a mere 28%. While he’s hitting like this, he needs to be owned everywhere.

For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here are a couple matchups you may be able to exploit.

A Pitcher for Today: Daniel Straily vs TOR
He’ll be making his major league debut here, but if you look at Straily’s numbers, you’ll know that he has nothing left to prove in the minors.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Scott Feldman at KC
As much as I wanted to pick Will Smith for his name alone, I could not. Not even the Fresh Prince could tip the scales here.

A Hitter for Today: Brandon Belt vs COL (Jonathan Sanchez)
Brandon Belt is crushing left-handed pitching this year. Sanchez is a pitcher who is prone to getting crushed. You do the math.