Roto Roundup: Brandon Belt to Come off Bench, Eric Hosmer Has Big Game

Daily Scoring Drought Scorecard:  15 games

Teams Shutout: 1

Teams w/1 run scored: 2

Teams w/2 runs scored: 5

Teams w/ 3 runs scored: 4

Teams w/ > 3 runs scored: 18

Pirates starter Kevin Correia won his 7th game of the season on Friday and now leads the NL in wins. He shutout the Cubs for 7+ innings on 4 hits, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 3.44 and WHIP to 1.19 and is certainly one of the few Pirates pitchers helping fantasy teams this season.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle has once again moved outfielder Andrew McCutchen to the 3rd spot in the Pirates lineup, and McCutchen responded with a 2-4 effort with an RBI and 2 SBs. McCutchen is hitting .251-.354-.454 with 8 HRs, 25 RBIs and 9 SBs. He is quietly on pace for a 26-83-30 season.

I am starting to think that Bruce Bochy was involved in the home plate colliision on Wednesday night, and not Buster Posey. Bochy announced that prospect Brandon Belt will come off the bench now that he has been called up. He should get a few starts per week spelling Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell, but I think he will be playing more as the season goes on.

Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez was scratched from today's start against the Diamondbacks with discomfort in his elbow. He is scheduled for an MRI today, so we should know more about his injury later today.

Many questioned my ranking of Jhonny Peralta in the pre-season, but I ranked him in the Top 12 Shortstops due to his power and RBIs. Yesterday, Peralta went 2-3 with his 8th HR of the season and 2 RBIs. He is hitting .306-.373-.535 with 8 HRs and 28 RBIs thus far. He is third amongst all shortstops in HRs and RBIs this season  behind Troy Tulowitzki and Asdrubal Cabrera.

Tigers pitching prospect Charlie Furbush was recently called up by the team and has pitched very well in his two appearances since. In his first appearance against the Rays, Furbush gave up just 3 base runners in 3 2/3rd innings while striking out 3, and earning the win. Last night he silenced the hot Red Sox lineup over 5 innings, giving up just 4 base runners and striking out 6. 

Nationals new first baseman, and former outfielder, Mike Morse hit the game winning HR last night off of the Padres solid set up man Mike Adams. He went 2-4 in the game and has now homered in 4 straight games. In his last 5 games, he is 9-21 with 4 HRs and 9 RBIs.

Blue Jays starter Kyle Drabek held the White Sox to 2 runs in 6 2/3rd innings on Friday night, giving up just 3 hits, but walking 5 and striking out 4. For the season, he is 3-3 with a 4.16 ERA and 1.61 WHIP. He has given up 59 hits in 62+ innings, but has a terrible 42-42 K/BB rate.

Mets infielder Justin Turner is someone you should look at if you need infield help as he has hit since David Wright was placed on the DL. He went 4-5 last night and is 14-40 with 9 RBIs in his last 10 games. For the season, he is hitting .329-.376-.468 with a HR and 18 RBIs.

When does the bidding war for Met shortstop Jose Reyes start? Reyes went 2-5 with 3 runs on Friday night, and is hitting .321-.371-.463 with one HR, 16 RBIs and 17 SBs. He also has an excellent 19-18 K/BB  rate and would look good leading off for the Reds or Giants., as both teams need shortstops. 

Rays starter David Price shutout the Indians for 7 innings last night and struck out 12 in the process. He gave up just 6 base runners to earn his 6th win of the season. He lowered his ERA to 3.54 and his WHIP to 1.06, and now owns a 68-13 K/BB rate in 76+ innings.

Diamondbacks first baseman Juan Miranda went 2-5 with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs last night and is now starting everyday now that Russell Branyan was released last week. In his last 10 games, he is 11-28 with 3 HRs and 9 RBIs. For the season, he is hitting .270-.387-.539 with 5 HRs and 14 RBIs in 89 at bats. He is rosterable in deeper mixed leagues.

Giants rookie shortstop Brandon Crawford, who was just called up to the team yesterday, hit a grand slam home run off of Brewers starter Shaun Marcum last night. He went 1-3 with the HR and 4 RBIs. Crawford was hitting .322-.412-.593 with 3 HRs and 15 RBIs in 59 at bats in High A this year. He hit just .241-.337-.375 at AA Richmond last year, so it is interesting that he started the year at High A San Jose, but was called up this year.

Cardinals outfielder Colby Rasmus went 4-5 with 2 runs, 3 RBIs and a SB last night in Colorado and is hitting .287-.387-.448 with 3 HRs, 19 RBIs and 4 SBs. I expected more power from him this season, but the solid BA and OBP are a good start. One game last week, Rasmus walked 5 times, and has increased his walk rate and reduced his K rate this year, so the power will come.

Royals top prospect Eric Hosmer went 4-7 with a HR, 2 runs and 4 RBIs and was Fake Teams Fantasy Player of the Day.