Roto Riteup: June 24, 2012

Today’s Roto Riteup is like a box of chocolates; it’s pretty sweet.

• Even though it has only been 72 plate appearances, Andrelton Simmons has shown a ton of life in his bat. His BABIP is somewhat elevated, but he is approaching the threshold of when his contact rate can be accurately judged. His 93.0% Z-Contact% is well above the 87.3% average, and his 86.4% overall contact rate looks favorable when compared to the average 79.9%. Last year was Simmons’ big breakout year offensively, and even though he skipped Triple-A, it looks like Simmons is here to stay. If you need a boost to your middle infield, Simmons could be it. He is available in 95% of Yahoo! leagues and 93% of ESPN formats.

• Brandon Belt is finally receiving regular playing time! Belt is currently on a tear over the past two weeks (he even has an 11 game hit streak going), hitting a scorching hot .417 with four home runs. He’s even stolen two bases during that time too. The bad news is that he has been relegated to hitting sixth or seventh over that span. At this point, no one is really sure what he has to do to get moved up the lineup, but just having him start every game is a huge step in the right direction. A lot of people were scared off of Belt due to him being sent down etc, but now is the time to grab him. His Yahoo! ownership is 27% and his ESPN rate isn’t much better, at 38%. I’d act now before someone else does.

• Yesterday marked the first official rehab assignment for Carl Crawford. If the Red Sox use the full 20 rehab days, that would put Crawford in line to start in Tampa on July 13th. He is currently owned in just 66% of Yahoo! leagues and 58% of ESPN leagues. If you’re looking for a shot in the outfield arm, Crawford could be your man. His preseason ZiPS had him down for a .282 average and 32 steals. Obviously he won’t reach that steals number, but the average is attainable; and he may tack on 15 steals. He’s worth picking up if his owners dropped him out of frustration.

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: Aaron Harang at LAA
Harang’s walks worry me a bit, but his strikeout numbers are solid and he shouldn’t get hurt too bad by his flyball tendencies in Anaheim. He has a 21% Yahoo! and 15% ESPN ownership rates. Looks like a good stream candidate to me.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Tommy Milone at SEA
A fly ball pitcher in Safeco? Yep. I’ll be purchasing Milone in FG: The Game tomorrow for sure.
A Hitter for Today: Allen Craig at KC (Jonathan Sanchez)
My man-crush on Craig is getting pretty intense. Also, Sanchez just isn’t that good of a pitcher. Craig sounds like a good buy today.