Fantasy Baseball Weekend Pickups- Sleeper Central – July 20

Last night was a light night around the Big Leagues, but there was plenty of afternoon baseball and some dramatic games to keep fantasy baseball players riveted throughout the day yesterday. In case you missed any of the action, here’s today’s sleeper central to catch you up on some unowned players making some noise for their fantasy owners and the Big League team. For more pickup ideas, check our archive or our weekly top ten waiver wire claims.

Sleeper Awakening

Jesus Montero – C/DH – Sea: Montero is only owned in 46% percent of leagues but don’t expect that to last long. Get him now if he’s out there in your leagues. Throughout the year he’s been stuck in a time-share and then had to deal with a concussion. He’s rounding into form now and heating up like the Mariners were counting on when they acquired him from the Yankees. Montero went 3-4 last night to close out a four-game set with the Royals in which he went 10-17 with three doubles, five runs scored, a home run, and eight RBI. He may be finding his groove against Major League pitching and has found a home in the cleanup spot in the Seattle lineup. Unless you have a top-tier catcher, Montero represents a possible upgrade. His legs should be fresh since he hasn’t caught every day. I think he’ll be a top 8 catcher for the rest of the season.

Sleeper Starting Lineup

C– Jesus Montero – Sea: (46.2% owned in ESPN leagues) 3-4, R, 4 RBI, 2B, HR. See above and don’t miss Montero.

1B– Ike Davis – NYM: (41.6%) 2-4, R, 2 RBI, HR. Davis has three home runs in his last eight games and 14 on the year. His average is still a crushing .206, but he provides RBI and home runs if you can compensate for his average.

2B– Jemile Weeks – Oak: (29.1%) 2-4, 2 R, SB. Weeks has 13 steals on the year which is good for 10th in the AL. He has four multi-hit games in his last seven but is still hitting just .224. on the year. He’s scored 39 runs and hit two home runs while driving in 13.

3B– Jeff Keppinger – TB: (0.8%) 2-3, RBI, 2B, 3B, BB. Keppinger is comfortably over .300 at .316 with 11 extra-base hits in 152 at-bats. The Rays lineup struggles to produce runs, but Keppinger is a solid batting average and OBP contributor.

SS– Ruben Tejada – NYM: (24.2%) 2-5, 2 R, RBI. Tejada is what he is. He won’t give you power or stolen bases but he hits for average (.319) and scores runs from the top fo the Mets lineup.

OF– Cody Ross – Bos: (46.6%) 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR. Why Cody Ross is on waiver wires in over half of leagues is a mystery to me. He missed time due to injury earlier this season and has only played 63 games. In those games, he has 16 home runs and 50 RBI while hitting .274. He’s hit three home runs and driven in nine in the last two games.

OF– Andres Torres – NYM: (0.8%) 2-4, 3 R, BB. Torres is at least temporarily recovered from his bad back and has hit in six games in a row. He hasn’t started to steal bases much, but is contributing hits and runs much like his teammate above.

OF– Coco Crisp – Oak: (31.9%) 3-4, R. Crisp raised his average to .242 and is hitting atop the Oakland lineup stealing bases and scoring runs.

AL Starting Pitcher– Jose Quintana – ChW: (34.0%) 8 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 2 K. Quintana’s ERA is 2.30 and his WHIP is 1.02. It’s amazing that as a youngster he can maintain those numbers striking out so few batters.

NL Starting Pitcher– Edinson Volquez – SD: (39.0%) 9 IP 0 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 5K, W. Volquez has allowed one or zero in four of his last five starts. He dominated the Astros for his first career shutout last night.

Relief Pitcher– Alfredo Simon – Cin: (0.1%) 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, W. Simon has allowed an earned run in just one of his last 12 appearances and has won two of his last three games.