Batter’s Box: Sister Christian

Why the Boston Red Sox insist on starting Sandy Leon instead of Chrisitan Vazquez is beyond me at this point. Over the past month, Vazquez has been slashing .415/.466/.642 and continued that Monday night going 4-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. To compare, Leon’s slash line over the past month has been .206/.326/.294. If Vazquez played consistently, I’d advocate picking him up in deep leagues because he’s a skilled player. He’s not a big power hitter, but he can hit for a decent average with a little bit of pop, and in a position as desolate as catcher, you could do a lot worse. Vazquez is on a pretty great streak, whenever he’s playing he seems to produce decently, but he splits time with Leon which limits his value. That being said, if you’re in a deeper league where you can afford to mix and match two catchers on your roster, Vazquez isn’t a bad idea while he’s hot, and he’s available in around 97% of ESPN leagues.

Let’s take a look at some of the other performances from Monday:

Jose Ramirez (3B/2B/OF, CLE) – 2-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB. Ramirez has been awesome this year and had a fantastic game on Monday. He’s had a difficult month, slashing just .230/.287/.390, but to be honest, that had to happen for his awesome first-half numbers to come back to earth. He’s still awesome and he’ll be fine.

Carlos Santana (1B, CLE) – 1-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI. It’s been so nice to have the old Carlos Santana back. Over the past month, he’s got a .390 OBP and a .563 slugging. It was a tough first half, but it seems like the Carlos Santana we all drafted is back and hopefully here to stay.

Manny Machado (SS/3B, BAL) – 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. I hope you all didn’t sell low on Manny after his BABIP-fueled bad first half, because he’s slashing .358/.362/.699 over the past month. If you did SHAME ON YOU.

Logan Morrison (1B, TB) – 2-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI. Morrison may only be hitting .222 over the past two weeks, but he’s still slugging .556. Morrison is a good home run hitter, that’s where he makes his money, and if you need power and he’s available (and somehow he’s available in around 44% of ESPN leagues), you should go grab him.