Rounding the Bases: Reynolds, Profar, Santana and More Turning it Up for the Home Stretch

Posted by Howard Bender on 09/03/2012 | 3 Comments

Tags: fantasy baseball, Jurickson Profar, Mark Reynolds, Carlos Santana, Edwin Encarnacion, Ben Francisco, Matt Joyce, Chris Parmelee, Stephen Strasburg, Pablo Sandoval, James McDonald

So roto leagues are coming down to the wire and head to head leagues are smack dab in the middle of their playoffs.  This is it.  September is here and that marathon you started back in April has come down to a final sprint here in the last month of what has been a grueling, yet hard-fought, season.  Some leagues still allow waiver pick-ups, so you want to make sure that you’re staying on top of the latest news and September call-ups while others just require daily/weekly maintenance on your roster.  Hopefully you’ve got the depth to deal with any late-season injuries.  If you’re reading this and have the time left to make adjustments, perhaps there are a few notes you’ll find relevant and even a little helpful…

Let’s start with the Orioles here and their amazing run towards the playoffs this year.  They’ve had some amazing contributors all year, from Adam Jones, to Wei-Yin Chen to recent call-up Manny Machado.  But what they’ve also gotten more recently is a surging Mark Reynolds who went 5-for-11 (.455) with four home runs and seven RBI during this three-game series against the Yankees.  If he can continue this surge, he’ll be a huge boost for your power late in the year.  Check him out if your current corner infielder is disappointing you.

Welcome to the big leagues, Jurickson Profar!  That’s right, the Rangers brought up their uber-prospect once rosters expanded on Saturday and while he’s not expected to be a regular in the lineup, he got the start on Sunday when Ian Kinsler sat with a bad back.  And what did he do, like any good prospect should do…?  That’s right – a home run in his first at-bat.  Keeper league owners should already have him rostered up, but in re-draft leagues, unless an injury sidelines Kinsler or Elvis Andrus, Profar can be left alone.

Cleveland’s Carlos Santana proving his second half worth again this year -- .221-5-30 in the first half; .287-9-31 since the All Star break.

Not that there’s a need to push you towards starting Edwin Encarnacion, but how crazy is 37 home runs and 95 RBI for him right now?  If this is what a healthy E5 can do, I’m impressed.

As a Matt Joyce owner who was super-psyched to get him back into the lineup, I’m more than just a bit nervous that Ben Francisco is going to start poaching at-bats.

While I understand the long-term ramifications, as a fantasy owner, I’m a little bummed that Stephen Strasburg has one more start coming to him before he gets shut down for the year.  I can’t imagine how Nationals fans are feeling heading into the playoffs without him.

So Chris Parmelee hits a home run on Sunday.  If this kid can hit as well in September as he did in the minors over the last few months, he could definitely be worth a look, especially if the Twins decide to play him regularly.

Has there been a more depressing second half pitcher than James McDonald?  After another nightmare that saw him give up seven runs in just 2.2 innings, he now has a 7.14 ERA over 10 starts since the All Star break.  Throughout the first half, his ERA sat at a very comfortable 2.37 mark.

It’s been all sorts of downhill for Pablo Sandoval in the second half.  Not only is his average down to a .283 mark from being consistently over .300 most of the way, but he hasn’t hit a home run since July 8^th.  Brutal.  Just brutal.

Need home runs?  How about grabbing some Oakland A’s?  As a team, they’ve got 13 home runs over their last four games.  Seth Smith and Josh Reddick, in particular, have been relatively hot at the plate.

And finally…Mike Trout went 0-for-4 on Sunday?  Now I finally understand what that Gotye guy has been singing about all this time.

Catch up more during the week!!

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Howard Bender has been covering fantasy sports for over ten years on a variety of web sites including his own, The Fantasy Baseball Buzz.  You can follow him on Twitter at @rotobuzzguy or email him at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com.