Week three of the young baseball season saw us rooting for some old familiar names and researching some new ones. In the batters box, no one is surprised that Albert Pujols had the week he had (4 HR, 8 RBI, .360 BA) or that Joey Votto continued his dominance for the Reds (.429, 3HR, 7RBI), but some new faces began to draw our attention in week three starting with a young catcher in Cincinnati named Devin Mesoraco. The 25 year old backstop batted .500 last week while knocking in eight. His numbers for the year, an impressive .483 average with 10 RBI and he should be available in more than half of all fantasy leagues. Not to be outdone in week three is the right fielder for the Minnesota Twins, the right handed swinging Chris Colabello. Colabello is second in all of baseball with 19 RBI in April and is batting a rotund .359. His .406 OBP is also attractive to fantasy owners and Colabello is still available in many leagues.
From the rubber, King Felix continues his reign this April with 39 K and a 1.91 ERA while Adam Wainwright has made right with 32 K and a 1.80 ERA in 30 innings of work. No one, however, has been as dominating over the last two weeks as Ervin Santana of the Atlanta Braves. The newest addition to the Braves starting lineup, having been just snatched out of the disappointed grasp of the Blue Jays on March 12th, has been nothing short of… Braves like. Over his last three starts, Santana has pitched 21 innings and surrendered a mere 2 runs. He has only given 14 hits while striking out 24 . Equally impressive and reminiscent of his younger days, was Toronto starter Mark Buehrle. Over his last three starts, the 35 year old left hander has given up a total of 2 earned runs and struck out 8 over 19 innings. He will carry over a league leading 0.64 ERA into his next start against the Orioles, who he beat on April 13th.
In the bullpen, the biggest change in week three was that of Kyle Farnsworth becoming the new closer of the New York Mets. Jose Valverde is out after posting a 5.40 ERA and giving up 4 home runs in his last 3 appearances as New York desperately tries to fill the void left by the loss of Bobby Parnell for the season. One of the biggest surprises of April continues to be LaTroy Hawkins for Colorado. He has converted his last five save attempts and has not allowed a run in his last six appearances. He is still a viable option in many fantasy leagues especially for anyone looking for saves. Also, keep your eye on Shawn Kelley in the Bronx. He has proven to be a more than an adequate replacement for Mariano Rivera and so far in April has recorded four saves while only surrendering two runs in nine appearances.
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