Every Monday throughout the MLB season, Sportsnet will feature three players whose fantasy stock is on the rise along with three players trending in the wrong direction.
This week, there were plenty of candidates. Adrian Gonzalez mashed five home runs in six games, Billy Hamilton stole bases at a ridiculous clip, while New York Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia landed on the disabled list before he was hit by an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.
Here are this week’s picks in the debut of Three Up, Three Down:
THREE UP
Adam Lind, Milwaukee Brewers Milwaukee only won one of its first six games, but Lind’s production was a silver lining. With Lind, durability will always be a concern, but there are plenty of reasons to take his hot start seriously. This is a legitimate hitter in a quality environment — the Brewers routinely hit him out of the No. 3 or No. 4 spot of the batting order. Lind recorded three multi-hit games and he tied a Brewers record (held by Paul Molitor and Dave Parker) for the most hits through five games of the season. If he can stay healthy, Lind could easily exceed 20 home runs this season.
Miguel Castro, Toronto Blue Jays Despite going undrafted in most leagues, the hard-throwing right-hander emerged in fantasy circles this week after replacing Brett Cecil as Toronto’s closer and recording two saves in his first two opportunities. Castro was the most added relief pitcher and is now owned in almost 50 percent of Yahoo! fantasy leagues. Despite some control concerns, Castro will get regular save opportunities for the foreseeable future. He has filthy stuff.
Travis Snider, Baltimore Orioles Snider was on our list of breakout candidates this past spring because he plays in a ballpark that is very friendly to left-handed power hitters and has a clear path to playing time after playing in a platoon role in Pittsburgh. Even better: the former Blue Jays prospect is already batting in the top five of Baltimore’s lineup, and the results have been encouraging. Snider went 7 for 18 with one home run, six RBI, and a 1.133 OPS in the first week of the year. Small sample size for sure, but he’s someone to take seriously this year.
THREE DOWN
Evan Gattis, Houston Astros Power is scarce at the catcher position, so many drafted Gattis with the hope that he could produce in the middle of an up-and-coming Houston lineup. Well, his first week of the season was brutal. He didn’t record a hit and struck out an absurd 12 times in 21 plate appearances with multiple four-strikeout games. Gattis has exceeded the 20 home run mark in each of the past two seasons, so the pop is still there, but the career .246 batting average remains a reason for caution.
Masahiro Tanaka, New York Yankees Yes, Tanaka recorded a win Sunday against Boston, but his stat lines have not been pretty in either of his first two starts (seven earned runs in 9.0 innings). Tanaka hasn’t been comfortable going to his fastball and his velocity is way down from last season. He remains huge health concern and the threat of Tommy John surgery looms large.
LaTroy Hawkins, Colorado Rockies Closers are among the most volatile players in fantasy baseball, so it can’t be much of a surprise that one already finds himself on the hot seat. That title goes to LaTroy Hawkins, who blew two saves in his first three appearances of the season. Hawkins is sporting a rough 16.88 ERA through three appearances. Considering his age (42) and declining strikeout rates, Hawkins could soon be replaced by Adam Ottavino in the closer’s role.