Carlos Santana and Wilin Rosario are good buy low candidates

Over the next week, we will be going over the buy low and sell high options for each position. We will follow the positions the way that the powers that be in baseball decided, meaning pitchers were number one.  Now we move on to number 2 on your scoresheet, the catchers.

The starting pitchers are here.  The relief pitchers are here.

As with each baseball season, there are plenty of players that are well over or well under their career averages. Finding the players that will either shed their horrid slumps, or cool off after hot starts can be the difference between winning and losing your league.

How does one go about finding the overachievers and underachievers? Season numbers vs. careeer numbers are a good place to start. But everyone has to have a breakout season sometime. What if a players is in the midst of one of those? Sometimes you just have to go with your gut…….and hope you are reading the right column!

Colorado Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario (20) is congratulated for his home run in the seventh inning. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Buy low options:

Carlos Santana, Indians: Santana is showing signs of life lately after a miserable first two months of the season.  He has two homers in his last five games, and is 4-8 since coming off of the DL on Friday.  His season average still sits at a dismal .174, so see if you can grab him at a bargain.  You won’t be able to for much longer.  For those of you in really shallow leagues, he has been dropped in ten percent of ESPN leagues due to his rough start.  It is time to pick him back up!

Wilson Ramos, Nationals: Ramos landed on the DL after the Nats’ first game, and was out until May 7th.  He finally seems to be knocking some of the rust off.   He has a hit in nine of his last eleven games.  He has only hit one home run on the year, but he has 36 career home runs in 922 at-bats.  That’s a pretty good ratio for the catcher position.  Ramos his a career high 16 homers last year in only 78 games.  I expect the power to show back up at some point, making him a nice buy low candidate.

Wilin Rosario, Rockies:  Rosario had a rough May.  The half that he didn’t spend on the DL saw his average below the Mendoza line at .191.  He already has five hits in June after only nine in May.  He does have back to back 20 homer seasons coming into this year, so once he gets back into a groove, he will likely start piling on the numbers in this already potent lineup.

Boston Red Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski (40) during batting practice. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Sell high options:

A.J. Pierzynski, Red Sox: Pierzynski has always hit for a good average, so his .273 mark on the season will likely stay in that area.  What I am concerned about is the power.  A.J. hit 44 home runs over the last two years.   He had 43 in the previous four years before that (2008-2011) combined.  I just don’t see his home run total getting near 20 again.  His is 37, and I expect him to get more days off down the stretch, especially if the Red Sox are in contention.  So I’m not telling you to sell because he is struggling, I am telling to you sell because Boston won’t take any risks with him, and he just is not the 20 home run threat that you drafted him to be.  His numbers are good enough across the board that you should still be able to get a good return though.

Kurt Suzuki, Twins: Suzuki has had a fantastic season so far with Minnesota.  He is hitting .307 with a pair of homers, 29 RBI, and 18 runs scored.  Suzuki’s previous high in batting average was .279 in his sophomore season of 2008.  He has only hit above .242 once since his all-star season of 2009.  It is a nice turnaround story, but I just don’t see him keeping it up.  Coupled with the fact that the Twins see Josmil Pinto as the catcher of the future,  you see that Suzuki could lose more at-bats down the stretch than most starting catchers.

Devin Mesoraco, Reds: Matt Shetler touched on this last week, and I think I agree with him.  I still expect this to be a breakout season for Mesoraco, and I likely would not trade him in any keeper or dynasty leagues.  But in redraft leagues, he is simply too hot to keep it up.  In fact, he has already started to slow down a bit.  He has just one hit in his last 18 at-bats.  He already has as many home runs as he did all of last year, and his RBI total is already close to what he put up last year.  It is pretty much a sure thing that he will match his previous career total of 16 homers in 538 at-bats.  He will probably come close to 20 bombs this year.  Just don’t expect him to do it with a .300 average.

Come back tomorrow for number 3 on your scorecards, the first basemen!