Stock Rising

Cole Hamels SP, TEX

Hamels missed nearly two months of the season due to an oblique strain but since struggling in his first start off the disabled list he has been nearly unhittable.  In the month of July Hamels is 2-0 with three quality starts.  Over that stretch he has an ERA of 0.82 while notching 17 strikeouts over 22 innings.  Fantasy owners who spent a draft pick between rounds 7-9 on Hamels are finally getting the returns they have hoped for.

Tommy Pham OF, STL

Pham is owned in just 44-percent of leagues but his numbers currently have him ranked among the top 20 outfielders in most league formats.  Over the last 15 days Pham is hitting .436 with nine runs, two home runs, 11 RBI and three stolen bases.  On the season Pham is hitting .311 with 45 runs, 12 home runs, 38 RBI and 12 stolen bases.

Sonny Gray SP, OAK

Gray is a hot name as the trade deadline approaches and it is more probable than not that he finds himself traded from the A’s this season.  After an extremely disappointing 2016 season Gray has rebounded to go 5-4 with a 3.72 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP this season.  Over Gray’s last four starts he has been much improved however, allowing just four earned runs over 27 innings while striking out 21.

Stock Falling

Carlos Correa SS, HOU

Correa was an absolute fantasy stud during the first half of the season, hitting .325 with 62 runs, 20 home runs and 65 RBI.  Unfortunately he has just suffered a major injury with news breaking that he has torn a ligament in his thumb that will cost him the next 6-to-8 weeks.  This injury will cause him to miss pretty much the entire second half of most fantasy seasons with his return coming right around the start of fantasy playoffs should he miss the full eight weeks.  Marwin Gonzalez will move into the starting shortstop spot with Correa on the shelf.

Jason Vargas SP,  KC

I am going to lead off this list with Jason Vargas for as long as I can because the law of averages are FINALLY starting to even out.  After having his peripheral numbers suggest a decline was coming Vargas has now allowed 12 earned runs over his last 7.2 innings.  He has allowed 15 hits and five home runs allowed during this stretch.  Owners of Vargas MUST move on from him now before there is just no trade value left in his name.

Mitch Moreland 1B, BOS

Overall Mitch Moreland has turned in a solid first half of the year as he is hitting .251 with 42 runs, 12 home runs and 42 RBI.  Unfortunately Moreland has struggled of late, hitting just .162 with three runs, zero home runs and one RBI over his last 15 days.  The batting average will never be the calling card for Moreland but the Red Sox and fantasy owners need to hope that his home run swing will come back around soon.

Elvis Andrus SS, TEX

The Rangers shortstop entered the All-Star break as the No.1 fantasy shortstop in most league formats after hitting .300 with 52 runs, 11 home runs, 50 RBI and 20 stolen bases.  Unfortunately since the All-Star break Andrus is just 2-for-17 with two runs, zero home runs, zero RBI and zero stolen bases.  Taking the entire month of July into account and you see that Andrus is hitting just .214 with seven runs, one home run, three RBI and zero stolen bases.  Andrus is still going to finish this season with a career year but I am skeptical about his ability to repeat his first half success.

Buying

Kyle Seager 3B, SEA

There is no real way to sugar coat the struggles Seager endured during the first half of the season as he hit just .248 with 34 runs, 10 home runs, 47 RBI and an OPS of just .724.  This first half comes after Seager put together a career year in 2016 which saw him hit .278 with 89 runs, 30 home runs, 99 RBI and an OPS of .858.  Seager had an average ADP of 44.6 in standard leagues which makes his ranking as the 18th best third basemen in standard formats a tough pill to swallow.  Fortunately for fantasy owners Seager has shown some life in the week following the All-Star break as he is 7-for-18 (.389) with four runs, three home runs and four RBI.  The home runs should be coming for Seager in the second half as he owned just a 7.8-percent HR/FB ratio over the first half of the year.  Seager’s career HR/FB rate sits around 13-percent.  As that number corrects itself I expect the rest of Seager’s counting stats to improve as well.  His strong start post All-Star break likely has his cost a little higher than it was a week ago but he is still somebody I would look to target before he really gets going.

Selling

Kyle Schwarber OF, CHC

I was skeptical of Schwarber heading into the season and avoided him in all leagues as I saw his average ADP sit around 75 despite the fact that we really only saw a half of regular season baseball and some playoff games coming from him.  Things did not go well for those who drafted Schwarber as he struggled mightily, and struckout plenty which lead to a demotion to the minor leagues.  A few week stint in the minors where Schwarber hit .343 with nine runs, four home runs and nine RBI over 11 games earned him a call-up back to the major league roster and the fanfare for Schwarber once again resumed.  Since being recalled Schwarber is still hitting just .231 but he has also hit two home runs and his ownership levels continue to rise as owners are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.  If Schwarber is on your roster I implore you to trade him for whatever value you can get for him.  If he is a free agent and you have the room to stash him I would do that too and hope he goes yard a few more times so you can dish him off to some poor sap in your league.