Roto Roundup: Jesus Montero, David Wright, David Price and Others

There were only 11 MLB games yesterday, so let's take a look at who performed well yesterday.

Mariners catcher Jesus Montero has struggled in his first full season in the big leagues, but might be starting a hot streak here in the second half. Montero went 3-4 with a HR, double and 4 RBI yesterday, and has now hit in 5 straight games, with multiple hits in 4 straight. Over the last 5 games, he is 11-21 with 3 doubles, a HR, 5 runs and 8 RBI. For the season, he is now hitting .262-.300-.403 with 9 HRs, 15 doubles, 29 runs and 36 RBI. For those of you who own him in keeper leagues, the Mariners are talking about bringing in their fences next season, so his power numbers should increase next season.

Mariners ace Felix Hernandez appears to be back to being the ace that fantasy owners drafted after some early season struggles, He limited the Royals to one run on 8 hits, a walk and 3 strikeouts in 8 innings to win his 8th game of the season yesterday. He is now 8-5 with a 2.82 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and a 143-36 strikeout to walk ratio in 140.2 innings thus far. He has given up 1 run or less in 6 of his last 7 starts, after going through a stretch where he gave up 4 or more runs in 5 of 6 starts in mid-May to early June.

Rays starter David Price might be the favorite to win the American League Cy Young award right now. He shutout the Indians on 2 hits, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts to win his 13th game of the season yesterday. He is 13-4 with a 2.64 ERA, 3.30 FIP, 3.28 xFIP, 1.17 WHIP and a 120-43 strikeout to walk ratio in his 126 innings of work. Price has given up 2 runs or less in 14 of his 19 starts this season and has dramatically increased his ground ball rate from 44% to 53% this season.

More Roto Roundup after the jump:

Mets third baseman David Wright picked a good year to have one of his best years of his career. He is one year away from free agency, or, actually just over a year away from free agency, and if the Mets are serious about locking him up long term, they could take care if that this offseason. Wright went 2-5 with 2 HRs, 5 RBI and is now hitting .353-.443-.586 with 14 HRs, 61 runs, 65 RBI and 9 stolen bases in 16 attempts. He has cut down his strikeout rate and increased his walk rate slightly, but has benefitted from an extremely high BABIP of .390, so the BA should come down a bit as the dog days of summer approach.

Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz has certainly turned his season around as he turned in another quality start last night. He held the White Sox to one run in 8 innings, giving up 6 hits, a walk and striking out 6. He did not factor in the decision, and is now 8-3 with a 5.19 ERA, 1.43 WHIP and a 72-36 strikeout to walk ratio in 100.2 innings pitched. He has given up 3 runs or less in 7 of his last 10 starts, lowering his ERA from 8.31 to 5.19 with a 52-17 strikeout to walk ratio in those 10 starts, covering 68 innings of work.

For those of you who own Ryan Dempster, he may not make his start on Friday night, as the Cubs made a few moves yesterday indicating that Dempster has made his last start in a Cubs uniform and will be traded, most likely to the Dodgers or possibly the Braves. The Cubs scratched Casey Coleman from his start in AAA, and made a trade for a minor league starter as well. Frankly, I think the Dodgers need hitters and not starting pitchers, but I assume that will happen in due time.

Padres starter Edinson Volquez was one of my sleeper picks before the season started since he was moving away from Great American Ball Park and into Petco Park. Volquez has pitched very well this season, and last night he pitched a complete game one hitter vs the Astros. He walked 3 and struck out 5 to win his 6th game of the season. Volquez is 6-7 with a 3.34 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. He still needs to work on limiting the free pass, as he has issued 70 in 121.1 innings this season. He has given up 2 runs or less in 7 of his last 10 starts.