This article is part of our Line 'Em Up series.
A heat wave is sweeping the nation, but nothing is hotter than Desmond Jennings' since his promotion to the majors. We'll discuss the Rays' long-awaited call up, along with some young players going in the opposite direction in this week's Line 'Em Up.
The Tampa Bay Rays finally promoted speedy outfield prospect Desmond Jennings, who has been playing like he has been shot out of a cannon. The Rays immediately slotted him in the leadoff spot and he has smacked three extra base hits and swiped two bags in his first two games. Obviously this is an extremely small sample size, but considering his talent-level and extensive minor league seasoning he may not stay on waiver wires in any format for long.
The top of the San Diego Padres lineup has been in flux lately. Will Venable was benched over the weekend with sore hamstrings and the team has gone with a platoon of Cameron Maybin starting against right-handers and Chris Denorfia getting the nod against lefties. Of course, Maybin was pulled on Sunday with a sore left hip flexor so Venable may regain his full-time spot soon, but with all three players batting well this is a situation worth monitoring to see how it shapes up.
David Wright is back and batting fourth for his New York Mets. With a homerun in his third game back Sunday he appears fully healthy and ready once again to contribute to your fantasy team. We aren't used to him batting
A heat wave is sweeping the nation, but nothing is hotter than Desmond Jennings' since his promotion to the majors. We'll discuss the Rays' long-awaited call up, along with some young players going in the opposite direction in this week's Line 'Em Up.
The Tampa Bay Rays finally promoted speedy outfield prospect Desmond Jennings, who has been playing like he has been shot out of a cannon. The Rays immediately slotted him in the leadoff spot and he has smacked three extra base hits and swiped two bags in his first two games. Obviously this is an extremely small sample size, but considering his talent-level and extensive minor league seasoning he may not stay on waiver wires in any format for long.
The top of the San Diego Padres lineup has been in flux lately. Will Venable was benched over the weekend with sore hamstrings and the team has gone with a platoon of Cameron Maybin starting against right-handers and Chris Denorfia getting the nod against lefties. Of course, Maybin was pulled on Sunday with a sore left hip flexor so Venable may regain his full-time spot soon, but with all three players batting well this is a situation worth monitoring to see how it shapes up.
David Wright is back and batting fourth for his New York Mets. With a homerun in his third game back Sunday he appears fully healthy and ready once again to contribute to your fantasy team. We aren't used to him batting fourth but with Carlos Beltran trade rumors swirling he is all but guaranteed to regain his regular third spot sooner rather than later.
Michael Martinez has been performing well while playing second base and batting second for the Philadelphia Phillies. He has hit .294 and hit two home runs in his last seven games entering Monday night, giving him some interest in NL-only leagues. It's a bit too late to be running to your waiver wires now though, as regular second-base starter Placido Polanco is aiming to return from the DL next week, sapping much of his value. If you've been lucky enough to ride the lightning, it's time to start surveying the waiver wire for someone to replace him so you don't miss a beat.
Ben Revere is about to lose what little value he had with Jason Kubel and Denard Span due to be back soon. He was a nice AL-only pickup for a while when his batting average peaked at .302 back on June 8th and he was batting first for the Minnesota Twins. Now, with his batting average plummeting to .228 since that high, he didn't start Monday and will soon be sent back to a bench role. Drop him for a desired waiver prospect now.
