Saturday, June 09, 2012

N.L. Gearing Up: June 11-17

Rising Up
Chris Young (3% owned last week; 8% this week)
Young came back a little earlier than expected from injury last week. Young's start emphasized the advantages and disadvantages of owning him. Young did very well at the beginning of the game and then faded in the fifth. He only threw 75 pitches, and a low pitch count early on will make wins hard to come by. He's a soft tosser at this point, too, with virtually no margin for error. Young is a low-end N.L.-only flier. I wouldn't trust him in deeper mixed formats.

In the Minors
Thornburg is a small-ish righty (as in big in real life, small compared to other athletes) whose size led some to wonder if he'd survive as a starter. So far so good...and he's mowing them down this year in AA and could buck the odds and see a mid-season promotion. Thornburg isn't a future ace, but more like a potential mid-tier rotation option. I don't think we'll see him until August at the earliest, but keep in mind that with pitching prospects timetables can change rapidly if circumstances on the big club change. Thornburg should be monitored for those in leagues with farm systems.

There are some fantasy owners looking at Davidson and his prodigious minor league power numbers and salivating about a mid-season call-up. But there are a few red flags here. For one, Davidson's strong minor league numbers are fueled by a terrific April. While the power has still been there since May, Davidson's strikeouts have spiked while his batting average has tailed off. The other big problem is the defense. Davidson has 15 errors in 57 games at the hot corner. With Paul Goldschmidt hitting, third base would be Davidson's clearest path to the Majors. I think there might be some who think Davidson could get called up the DH in interleague play. It's certainly not out of the realm of possibility, but I doubt it's going to happen. Davidson looks like a 2013 ETA to me.

No comments: