For fantasy baseball owners that have been holding onto minor league players on their reserve in order to get a mid-season boost to their teams, their patience is about to pay off. This week marked the debut of Stephen Strasburg and Mike Stanton on Tuesday with Brad Lincoln and Jose Tabata getting called up today by Pittsburgh and pitcher Jake Arrieta expected to arrive tomorrow to start against the New York Yankees.
Lincoln was 6-2 with a 3.16 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP in 68 1/3 innings with 55 strikeouts. It has been a long journey to the major leagues for Lincoln who was the fourth overall pick in the 2006 draft and then missed the entire 2007 season following Tommy John surgery in April of that year. Lincoln got the start against Cincinnati on Wednesday night and allowed five runs on six innings with three strikeouts.
Jose Tabata was also promoted today and started in left field and hit lead off for Pittsburgh, going 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Tabata was hitting .308 in 224 at bats with three home runs, 19 RBI and 25 stolen bases. He has already stolen more bases so far this year than in any other season in the minor leagues with a high of 22 occurring back in 2005. He show far has not shown the ability to hit for power, but if your team is in need of stolen bases, he could be a good addition to your fantasy baseball team.
The one name missing from the list of Pittsburgh promotions was third basemen Pedro Alvarez. Alvarez started off slow in April and has been working to improve his plate discipline and performance against left-handed pitching. He was much better in May with a .294 batting average and six home runs and 30 RBI in 102 at bats. He is hitting .417 over his last 10 games and I would expect to see him promoted by the end of the month.
It looks like the Minnesota Twins might have a Denard Span clone in Double-A in the form of Ben Revere. Revere is hitting .303 with one home run, 16 RBI and 20 stolen bases in 208 at bats. A first round pick in 2007, Revere has hit over .300 at four different levels while stealing over 40 bases in both 2008 and 2009.
Outfielder Ryan Kalish was promoted to Triple-A by the Boston Red Sox after hitting .293 with eight home runs, 29 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 150 at bats. Even more impressive was his plate discipline with 28 walks against only 21 strikeouts at the age of 22.
Pitcher Michael Pineda of the Seattle Mariners is off to a great start in Double-A with a 2.10 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP in 64 1/3 innings with 70 strikeouts. He still has some work to do against left-handed hitters who are hitting .286 against him compared to right-handed batters hitting only .161 before he moves up to the next level.
Second basemen Reese Havens has New York Met fans dreaming about about an infield of David Wright, Jose Reyes, Havens and Ike Davis around the diamond in 2011. Havens, a first-round pick in the 2008 draft is hitting .344 since being promoted to Double-A with six home runs and 12 RBI in 61 at bats.
