Roto Riteup: June 1st, 2012

If you’re reading this at work then you only have but a few short hours before being released to the weekend. If you’re reading this in pajamas at noon, then I am jealous of you. Today’s Roto Riteup didn’t have a large quantity of games to pick from, but the quality of the games was high.

• According to the box score, Bud Norris was throwing a beach ball at the Colorado Rockies yesterday. The good news is that Norris had a 10.8 K/9. The bad news is that he only lasted an inning and two thirds. It was his second start in a row where he failed to go five innings, but the prior nine starts were all of average to excellent quality. As it stands right now, Norris currently has the highest strike out and the lowest walk rates of any season in the majors. He currently has a better K/BB, ERA and WHIP than Tim Lincecum and Yovani Gallardo to name a couple. I doubt he’s available in your league, but if for some reason he is, grab him.

• Another player in the Rockies/Astros game that is setting season highs is Carlos Gonzalez. CarGo isn’t a stranger to impressive offensive numbers, but as of right now his OBP is 25 points higher than his best single season and his SLG is 55 points higher than any previous best. His skill set is deep and varied, as his 14 homers are impressive and are his eight steals to zero caught stealing so far. His wOBA in Coors Field this year is an absurd .515 (as of this writing) compared against a very human, albeit very good, road wOBA of .357. If he continues to improve against left-handed pitching then the (already high) ceiling of his talents would be blown off.

• Last night Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit his 10th home run in just 136 plate appearances. For the season Salty is hitting an impressive .281/.316/.594. If you happen to play in an OBP league then he comes a little less valuable, but overall Salty is swinging the bat well. Of catchers with at least 130 PA’s, he has the most homers and ranks in the top 10 of runs, AVG and just outside the top 10 of RBI’s. He usually sits against left-handed pitching, but you can’t expect a catcher to play every day anyways. I can over look his platoon splits. He’s owned in just 47% of Yahoo! and 26% of ESPN formats. Although Salty doesn’t have a Mike Napoli 2011 season in him, he is still a undervalued fantasy team member.

• Dexter Fowler managed to get a hit, draw two walks and steal a base last night. How he is only owned in 55% of Yahoo! leagues and 36% of ESPN leagues I will never know. He’s sitting at .282/.382/.573 for the season. Do some math and meet me back here in a second. Yes. That is correct. Dexter Fowler currently has an ISO of almost .300. That won’t continue for the entire year, but he does have eight home runs on the year already compared to a previous single season high of nine in 2008 – down in Double-A ball. He now has five stolen bases and zero caught stealing too. I don’t really know what else to say to advocate Fowler as worthy of being owned. Look at those numbers!

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: Adam Wainwright at NYM
I love Waino’s curve ball. I could watch a looped video of him throwing that thing for hours at a time.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Daniel Hudson at SD
I think Hudson gets back on track after a long DL stint and pitching in Petco could be the perfect remedy.

A Hitter for Today: Mark Trumbo vs TEX (Colby Lewis)
Trumbo smash. Trumbo smash good.