The Scoop

By Dalton Del Don

Neftali Feliz is sure to undergo some growing pains at some point, but the rookie has been about as impressive at it gets so far. Working as a reliever, Feliz has recorded a ridiculous 13:0 K:BB ratio over 6.2 innings. He’s allowed one whole baserunner during that time. It’s obviously been a tiny sample size, but his average fastball velocity has been an unheard of 98.8 mph, and his curveball might be an even better offering. Pitching in Texas is going to be tough, but I can’t wait to see what Feliz can do in the starting rotation in the future.

With news of further shoulder surgery for Erik Bedard, it means he’ll be unable to throw a single pitch in September for the third straight season. Even with diminished velocity, Bedard remained an elite pitcher when on the mound this year, but he’s clearly got something wrong with his arm, and a much more serious procedure could be in store. Bedard lost himself a lot of money with yet another season ending on the disabled list.

With a modest seven-game hitting streak, including three multi-hit efforts over the past five contests, Milton Bradley is starting to heat up at the plate. He’ll always be an injury risk and has been a pretty big bust in 2009, but don’t forget he finished with OPSs of .999 and 1.004 over the past two seasons. He’s always been a better hitter against southpaws throughout his career, but never have the splits been so pronounced as this year (.349/.402/.470 versus LH, .233/.397/.371 versus RH). Still, he has enough upside to be a difference maker from here on out.

With another homer and four more RBI on Thursday, Joe Mauer’s monstrous season continues. He leads all of baseball with a .370 batting average and is first in the American League in both OBP (.437) and slugging (.619). Considering he’s done this while playing catcher, it would take a pretty big catastrophe for Mauer not to take home the AL MVP hardware.

Jorge De La Rosa is hardly the safest pitcher to roster, as the volatile hurler has allowed seven runs in a start four times already this season. However, there’s still quite a bit to like, despite the underwhelming season numbers (4.78 ERA, 1.38 WHIP). De La Rosa’s control remains a problem (3.74 BB/9), but he’s shown marked improvement over his past five starts (2.16 BB/9). He has a 3.51 ERA and 1.17 WHIP since the All-Star break, and his 9.07 K/9 mark ranks ninth best in major league baseball. Calling Coors Field home is hardly ideal, but since De La Rosa also sports a very good 1.40 G/F ratio, he has the skills to succeed in any venue. He’s picked up a half mph on both his fastball and slider this year, and at age 28, his best seasons have yet to come. Pitching in the NL West is helpful, and his 3.78 xFIP is the 17th best mark in the game, ahead of pitchers like Wandy Rodriguez, Chad Billinsgley, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee, Johan Santana and CC Sabathia. In fact, there are only three other pitchers with a bigger discrepancy between ERA and xFIP than De La Rosa. Once his strand rate (.675) normalizes, the ERA will follow. De La Rosa should be owned in nearly all formats right now and has the upside of a top-25 fantasy starter next season.

Jeremy Affeldt isn’t some big fantasy difference maker and is unowned in almost all mixed leagues, but his season deserves some attention nevertheless. His 1.66 ERA and 1.22 WHIP are nice, but it seems like a fluke when you look at his flat-out bad 35:24 K:BB ratio. And the left-hander has actually been far more effective against righties (0.96 WHIP) than lefties (1.62 WHIP). But what’s really intriguing is his groundball rate, as he’s posted a staggering 4.59 G/F ratio. To put that in perspective, Joel Pineiro leads all starters in that category with a 2.41 G/F mark. Affeldt has really changed his game this season, and the results have been highly effective.

Andrew McCutchen has posted a .905 OPS since the All-Star break with a 17:16 K:BB ratio (he had a 29:10 K:BB ratio before the break). He’s also been successful on 12 of his 13 stolen base attempts and was recently given the green light to run even more. Still just 22 years old, McCutchen has also recorded a 3.4 UZR/150 while playing center field, so he looks like an extremely valuable asset moving forward. If he decides to steal bases like he truly is capable of, there’s some serious fantasy upside to come.