ESPN Insider Carjack: Karablog’s Top 10 Hitters to Watch in the Second Half

filed under Fantasy : Baseball

We have to give ESPN Insider’s Eric Karabell a lot of credit. It’s amazing to us that one person can devote so much time to baseball, baseball, baseball, and still have enough time to construct model airplanes and attend every Star Trek convention on the east coast. But, luckily for us, Karabell has yet to micro-manage his life and still puts up thousands of words daily about fantasy baseball strategy that(most of the time) proves useful. Today it’s his top ten bats to watch in the second half of the season. So, once again, we’ve cut and pasted the full members only ESPN column and offered it up for you Oddjack readers for free. After the big ol’ jump, natch.

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Ten Bats to Watch
You’ve got a few more nights to watch whatever you like, be it tonight’s All-Star Game or lots of Law & Order reruns, but on Thursday at 2:05 p.m. ET, Doug Davis will throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the second half of the MLB season to Brad Wilkerson, and it will be time to get started all over again.
Here are, in no particular order, 10 top-of-the-order hitters I am watching in the second half. Not necessarily the top bats, or even good ones, but interesting names.

• Mark Teixeira, Rangers: Really, we can play with the numbers to make them say whatever we want. You see people discuss hot players, but are they 5-for-10, hitting .400 for the last month, or just Derrek Lee? You never know. We do know that Teixeira has had a nice season, has 45 home runs since last year’s break, and is just a few long balls off the current ML lead. It’s not a stretch to say he’s good. I think Teixeira hits the most homers in the game from here on out and threatens to whack 50 overall.

• Chris Shelton, Tigers: I know we keep talking about him, but we have to. The guy can rake. Over the last month he’s got nearly an RBI per game and a .345 average and is ranked higher on the Player Rater than Teixeira, David Ortiz and all but 11 hitters in baseball. In the beginning when you saw him on free agency, you thought he was worth a look as a catcher. He’s worth a look at any spot, even first base. Nice job out of Detroit batting him third in the order ahead of bigger-name guys. I’m still waiting for the Mets to stop hitting David Wright seventh, behind Marlon Anderson.

• Kelly Johnson, Braves: Told you they’re not all big names. Give the Braves a lot of credit here. They stuck with a guy who had one hit in his first 30 at-bats. They kept hitting him second or third in the order. Johnson has nice plate discipline and gets on base. In the last week of games he scored six runs and raised his average 20 points. The best part: Due to an error beyond our control, Johnson, who originally came up as a shortstop, is eligible at that weak position in ESPN leagues — and he’s also SS eligible on a lot of other sites. Play him there and get a future .300 hitter.

• Jorge Cantu, Devil Rays: This guy is not only up for the long haul, but he’s the starting third baseman and No. 3 hitter (sometimes No. 4). Cantu has seven home runs in only 67 at-bats batting third. Adrian Beltre has eight homers in 288 at-bats there, Sean Casey three in 313 at-bats! OK, need a better perspective: The only players with a higher batting average than Cantu’s .343 as a No. 3 hitter are Derrek Lee, Vladimir Guerrero and Travis Hafner. You know Cantu’s good, but few second base eligibles have this much power.

• Lyle Overbay, Brewers: Now here’s another No. 3 hitter, but he’s really not a worthy one. Fantasy owners who banked on Overbay’s first half of 2004 being the real thing were wrong, as this guy is on pace for pedestrian first base stats of 20 homers, 75 RBI and 66 runs. Yuck. We could have waited 10 rounds later for Kevin Millar. Thing is, the Brewers keep hitting him there. With Prince Fielder seemingly ready (like the Phillies’ Ryan Howard) for everyday duty and first base being the only position he could possibly play, you’d think Overbay could be traded. If not, be careful that Fielder doesn’t play much of September, making Overbay a bench player.

• Howard, Phillies: I was at a Phils game over the weekend and Howard hit a ball over the center field fence in the eighth to tie the game. A few others times that weekend he went warning track. Like Fielder, Howard can hit for power. They’ll both strike out, of course, but power on the free agent wire is a beautiful thing. Will Howard even be on the Phillies in three weeks? Will he be in the minors, or on the Mariners, Devil Rays or some other squad planning for next season?

• Bobby Crosby, A’s: Simply put, is he this good? Heading into the season, I wondered how long it would take for him to stop whiffing pitches at a 150-K rate. Apparently, it didn’t take long. In 36 games he has 21 RBI, 29 runs and a pretty decent walk-strikeout rate. The only SS with more RBI in July is Khalil Greene. Clearly Crosby is seeing good pitches in the three spot in the lineup, and taking advantage. If he’s due for a Mike Cameron-like slump (Cammy hit .372 in May, .205 in the six weeks since) then Oakland will bat him seventh again, reducing his fantasy value. Watch this situation.

• Craig Biggio, Astros: Houston’s second baseman has settled in nicely as the No. 2 hitter — he should not have been hitting third — with a .321 average, eight homers and seven steals in that spot in the order. With Willy Taveras showing no signs of failure, and Lance Berkman and Morgan Ensberg slugging well, Biggio has played his best ball batting second. He is 39, but on pace for his best numbers since 2001. He shouldn’t be ignored, especially if this team stays in a pennant race.

• Matt Lawton, Pirates: This guy is actually having a nice season, on pace for 19 homers, 74 RBI and 19 stolen bases. He’s still available in about 5 percent of ESPN leagues, though, and he only got that percentage with being a popular addition over the last few weeks. The Pirates are likely to trade him — or at least discuss it — and on a contender Lawton would continue to hit, and score more runs. If he stays in Pittsburgh, as a 90-loss season approaches, it could hurt Lawton’s second-half stats. And sticking with the Bucs, don’t forget that Craig Wilson has 30-homer power, and just came off the DL. He has to play, so that might affect Daryle Ward, Rob Mackowiak and other Pirates, and could help force a Lawton trade.

• Bernie Williams/Jason Giambi, Yankees: Giambi’s turnaround has been written about on these and other ESPN pages recently, so I won’t dwell on it. But if his five home runs in the last week — half his season total — are a harbinger of good things, then he would have a significant fantasy impact. Williams, meanwhile, is also on pace for the worst numbers of his career, but with him at-bats are hardly guaranteed. We should point out that Williams hit 11 homers and knocked in 40 runs after the break last season, and it is possible the Yankees won’t trade for another center fielder. Just throwing it out there.