Roto Roundup: Chris Archer, Ben Paulsen, Mike Montgomery and others

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Ben Paulsen: Rockies first baseman

When Rockies first baseman Justin Morneau was placed on the disabled list with concussion symptoms, the Rockies called up Ben Paulsen, and he has floursihed sinced his call up. Here is Nick Groke from the Denver Post on Paulsen:

The Rockies have been forced to get creative too, finding somebody to play first base in the absence of Justin Morneau, who continues to be sidelined because of concussionlike symptoms.

Ben Paulsen aced his test Friday night against Milwaukee when he fielded an Arenado sidearm skipper with the sun in his eyes to end an inning. The Rockies are gradually settling on Paulsen as their new first baseman. Over 21 games in June, Paulsen has played in 20 and started 13 as he's begun to supplant Wilin Rosario, a former catcher, as the team's most regular option at first base.

"Benny provides us some very solid defense," Weiss said. "So he's been getting the lion share of the work over there. But there are still opportunities over there for Bull (Rosario) too."

Paulsen is in a platoon with Wilin Rosario, playing against right-handed pitching, with Rosario starting vs lefties. With Carlos Gonzalez nursing an injury once again, Paulsen played left field last night, with Rosario manning first base against Diamondbacks starter Chase Anderson.

Since his call up, the 27 year old Paulsen is hitting .309-.363-.585 with 5 home runs, 7 doubles, 2 triples, 15 runs scored and 14 RBI in 102 plate appearances in 34 games played and his 34.8% hard hit% is well above league average.

There is no telling how long Morneau will be out of action with the concussion-like symptoms, as this isn't the first time he has dealt with this, so Paulsen should see the bulk of playing time vs right handed pitchers who he has been crushing thus far. He is owned in just 5% of leagues right now, so if you are in a deeper mixed or NL only league, go out and grab him and start him vs righties and when he is at home.

For more on Paulsen and the Rockies, make sure you check out Purple Row, SB Nation's Rockies fan site.

Roto Roundup

The American League Cy Young award race is going to be real interesting this season, as there are several pitchers that are in the conversation at this point, including Rays ace Chris Archer. Last night, he limited the best lineup in baseball to just 2 runs, one earned, on just 3 hits, a walk and 7 strikeouts in 8 innings in the Rays 4-3 win over the Blue Jays. He is now 9-4 with a 2.16 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and a 123-24 strikeout to walk rate in 102.2 innings. His peripheral stats are up across the board this season:

K/9: 10.75 vs 8.00

BB/9: 2.18 vs 3.33

GB%: 51.5% vs 46.5%

SwStr%: 13.0% vs 9.3%

O-Swing%: 34.8% vs 29.4%

Strikeout rate and ground ball rates are up, walks are down, and he's getting more swing and miss inside and outside the zone this season. Exactly what you want to see in a breakout season. Archer is now in the ace conversation, and he is anchoring the first place Rays starting rotation.

Zack Greinke is having one of his best seasons since his Cy Young award season in Kansas City back in 2009, but has just five wins to show for it after 15 starts, including last night, where he shhut out the Cubs on 3 hits, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in 6 innings. He left with no decision, as the Dodgers once again did not score any runs for him. He is now 5-2 with a 1.70 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and a 88-19 strikeout to walk rate in 100.2 innings pitched. He is winless in his last nine starts, where he has given up two runs or less in eight of those nine starts.

Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon is leading in the All Star voting at second base for the National League presently, and it is well deserved. Last night he went 1-5 in the Marlins 4-3 loss to the Cardinals. On the season, Gordon is hitting .356-.376-.424 with 38 runs scored, 17 RBI an 24 stolen bases in just over 300 plate appearances. He started the season on fire, hitting .409 in April, but has slowed down since, which was expected. That said, he has hit over .300 in every month this season, and after stealing 8 bases in 14 attempts in April, he has improved his stolen base success rate over the last two months, stealing 16 bases while getting caught just three times. He has stolen just 4 bases in June, but is still on pace for 54 steals this season.

Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis is having one heck of a bounce back season after his subpar 2014 season. Last night, he went 4-5 with an RBI in the Indians 7-3 loss to the Tigers. The four hits raised his slash line to .354-.428-.523 with 5 home runs, 47 runs scored, 31 RBI, 10 stolen bases and an excellent 41-33 strikeout to walk rate in 322 plate appearances. He extended his hitting streak to 18 games. This season, he is hitting for more power and has improved his plate discipline, increasing his walk rate and reducing the number of times he walks back to the dugout without making contact. He won't hit .350 all season, but he is on pace to score over 100 runs and steal 20+ bases with double digit home runs this season. Yep, a nice bounce back season.

Astros rookie shortstop Carlos Correa is making their decision to call him up look good, but some may question whether he should have been called up sooner after the way he has performed since his call up. Last night, Correa had another big night at the plate, going 3-6 with a home run, 3 runs scored and 4 RBI in the Astros 13-3 win over the Angels. Correa has settled in as the Astros #2 hitter, and is now hitting .308-.338-.569 with 4 home runs, 10 runs scored, 11 RBI and 4 stolen bases in just 15 games and 65 at bats. Project that out for a season and yowza!!!

Mariners starter Mike Montgomery was once a former top pitching prospect with the Royals, but subpar performance led to his release and he is now with his third team since being drafted back in 2008. Last night, he pitched the best game of his career, shutting out his former team, the Royals, on 4 hits, no walks and 10 strikeouts in the Mariners 7-0 win. The win moved his record to 2-2 with a 2.04 ERA, 2.99 FIP, a 0.96 WHIP and a 22-8 strikeout to walk rate in 35..1 innings. He has given up two runs or less in four of his five starts and is owned in just under 10% of leagues right now, so if you want to ride a hot pitcher, go grab him.

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