Fantasy Baseball Heroes, Sleepers, and Zeros-June 1
The Detroit Tigers were able to avoid a four-game sweep last night as they beat Josh Beckett and the Red Sox at Fenway 7-3. The Dodgers, on the other hand, couldn’t avoid that fate against the Brewers who went into Chavez Ravine and took all four from the Dodgers. The series lasted longer than Matt Kemp’s brief return to the lineup and ended last night with Zach Greinke and the Brewers winning 6-2. The only other game on the slate was in Denver, where the Rockies beat the Astros 11-5.
With just three games on the schedule yesterday in the Major Leagues, there isn’t an entire lineup of sleepers like you can usually find in our daily Sleeper Central. Instead, let’s go game-by-game and identify a hero, sleeper, and zero from each of the three games. If this format is more to your liking than our usual, let me know in the comments section and we can change things up a bit.
Here’s the fantasy rundown from last night:
Detroit Tigers 7, Boston Red Sox 3
Fantasy Hero: Delmon Young hit a solo home run in the eighth inning as part of his 3-5 night with a run and two RBI. He’s hit well behind Prince Fielder since returning from his time missed with personal issues.
Fantasy Sleeper: Quintin Berry continued his hot start while filling in for Austin Jackson. He went 3-5 yesterday with a pair of stolen bases and runs scored as well as an RBI. He’s 13-39 in his first nine games this season while scoring nine runs and stealing five bases. He’s available in over 96% of ESPN leagues, but his long-term value may be limited by Austin Jackson’s return. As long as he bats atop this order though, he has fantasy value.
Fantasy Zero: Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz went a combined 0-7 in the heart of the Boston lineup. Both of them have been hitting well and will look to finish the week strong as the Sox head to Toronto for a weekend series in the hitter-friendly Rogers Centre.
Colorado Rockies 11, Houston Astros 5
Fantasy Hero: Carlos Gonzalez continued to be on fire as he smacked his 14th home run in the first inning against the Astros after hitting three on Wednesday. He added a double, three runs scored and three RBI. As if he needed to contribute more, he also stole his eighth base of the season.
Fantasy Sleeper: Jordan Pacheco continues to hit well enough to secure the 3B position in Colorado. He went 3-5 with a double and two RBI raising his average to .304. He stole his second base of the year and now haw 12 RBI and 11 runs scored in his first 27 games played. He’s owned in 3.4% of leagues and at a thin 3B position has value if you need average/RBI/runs help.
Fantasy Zero: Bud Norris lasted just 1.2 innings and gave up nine earned runs on seven hits and three walks. Norris’s start serves as a reminder that it’s always dangerous to start in Coors Field.
Milwaukee Brewers 6, LA Dodgers 2
Fantasy Hero: Aramis Ramirez provided the offense for the Brewers with a 2-3 game with a pair of runs driven in and scored. He has five home runs and 30 RBI now to go with his .246 batting average.
Fantasy Sleeper: Elian Herrera started in place of the again-injured Matt Kemp. He led off and was on base four of five times to the plate going 2-3 with two walks. He stole his first base of the year as well and is batting .314 in his first 15 games since being recalled from Triple-A. He’s virtually unowned but should see time in the outfield and at 2B with all the injuries in the LA lineup.
Fantasy Zero: Corey Hart took the collar going 0-4 and striking out three times. He did make a nice diving catch and is hitting .254 with ten home runs and 23 RBI as the Brewers head home to face the Pirates this weekend.