• 50-75% Owned- Player qualifies for 10-team league
• 25-49% Owned- Player qualifies for 12-team league
• Less than 25% Owned- Player qualifies for 14-team league

Again, these percentages are found on Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball.

10-team league hitter to watch

Mark Reynolds, 3B, BAL

Ok first things first with Mark Reynolds. If you are looking for someone to boost your team’s batting average, I would advise you to save some precious time and not read the rest of my Mark Reynolds segment of the Waiver Wire Watch. Now for those of you who are desperately looking for some power numbers for your team, then Mark Reynolds could turn out to be a great fit for you.

Mark Reynolds is what I like to call an “all-or-nothing” player. He swings for the fences every time he steps up to the plate, and he has prodigious power. This approach has major pros and cons to it. The major pros: lots of potential for homers and RBIs. The major cons: lots of strikeouts and a really, really low batting average. However, recently Reynolds’s average is even beginning to climb as he is batting .333 with 3 HR and 6 RBI in his last 18 AB.

Reynolds is a player who was a fantasy monster two years ago when he jacked 44 HR and had 102 RBI along with 24 SB. Thus, he also has some surprising potential to steal bases as well. Last year he continued solid offensive production with 32 HR and 85 RBI. The bad news is that hit for a miserable .198 AVG in the process.

Bottom line with Reynolds, he can and will hit for a lot of power, but a batting average over .220 seems fairly unlikely. If power is what your team needs though, Reynolds is 100% worth the risk.

10-team league pitcher to watch

Johnny Cueto, SP, CIN

Johnny Cueto has always had good stuff and he has also had some decent seasons for the Reds in his young career. However, he has never really been able to consistently put it all together for an entire season yet. It looks like this might be the year for him though.

After missing the first month of the season due to injury, Cueto has been simply dominant in his return from the DL. Six out of the seven starts he has made have been quality starts, and he did not allow an earned run in three of those starts. In the past, Cueto has had some control problems, and often put too many runners on base. From 2008-2010, Cueto had an average WHIP of 1.35 and an average BAA of .261. Through his seven starts this season, his WHIP is at 1.03 and his BAA is at .207. Obviously it seems like Cueto has made some adjustments and allowing far fewer base runners.

There is still a lot of season left for Cueto to prove he can keep this up for an entire season. That being said, there is good reason to believe that he can based on his strong start to the season.

12-team league hitter to watch

Todd Helton, 1B, COL

It looks like it might be time to turn our attention to this year’s Renaissance Man in the MLB…well, sort of. Long gone are the days when Todd Helton was able to hit 40+ HR and have 140+ RBI in a single season. That being said, Helton is putting up some of his better numbers in recent years.

Helton has always had the ability to hit for a high average and get on base, given by his .324 career AVG and .423 OBP. This is year is no different as he has posted an AVG of .319 with an OBP of .394. However, Helton’s power numbers are up from recent years. He already has 9 HR this season, surpassing last year’s total. Also, his SLG is at an extremely impressive .541. To put that in perspective, Helton has not had a SLG over .500 since 2005, when he was in the prime of his career.

He had been slightly derailed by injuries over the course of the past few seasons, but he seems to be healthy this year and his numbers are proof of this. This guy has been an extremely consistent player throughout his career, so there should be good reason to believe he can continue his impressive season.

12-team league pitcher to watch

Derek Holland, SP, TEX

Derek Holland has been inconsistent for the Rangers this season. However, when he has been good, he has been superb. The reason he makes this list is because he has been really good of late.

After firing a shutout against Cleveland on June 4^th, he followed it up with a great effort against the Twins in his last start on June 9^th as he threw 7.1 innings and struck out 10 batters, with his only real mistakes being two pitches in which he allowed homers to Delmon Young and Michael Cuddyer. Overall on the season, he has struck out 70 batters in 81.2 IP, so obviously this kid has good stuff. He has a power arm, and just needs some consistency locating his pitches.

Holland seems to be making progress, as shown in his last couple of starts, so keep an eye on him because the potential here is great.

14-team league hitter to watch

J.J. Hardy, SS, BAL

J.J. Hardy has been on an absolute tear in the month of June with a .462 AVG this month. In his last 23 AB, Hardy has a .391 AVG with 2 HR, 3 RBI, and 6 runs scored. He has also thrived ever since Baltimore manager Buck Showalter decided to bat Hardy in the leadoff spot.

Hardy should be able to give you some solid offensive production from the shortstop position. He has shown in the past that he does have some pop, as from 2007-2008 he hit a combined 50 HR with 154 RBI and 61 doubles. So he definitely has the ability to hit for power, and playing in hitter-friendly Oriole Park has only helped him where Hardy is batting .310 and has hit 5 out of his 6 HR there this season. From a generally light-hitting position, Hardy is a good potential find.

14-team league pitcher to watch

Jason Marquis, WAS, SP

Despite the fact that Jason Marquis was handed brief 5-game suspension on Saturday for throwing at Justin Upton earlier in the week, this obviously does not change his fantasy value at all. For most of his career, Marquis has simply been a reliable, winning pitcher. This year is no different.

Marquis has posted a 7-2 record with a solid ERA of 3.67 in 13 starts for the Nationals this season. He has especially been dominant at home where he is undefeated with a 4-0 record and a sparkling 1.86 ERA. He has been a workhorse throughout his career as well, going 190+ innings 5 times in his career.

Like I said before, he is just a proven winner who almost always finds a way to keep his team in the game. His consistency should make him an appealing option for fantasy teams looking for pitching help.

* All statistics used are as of Monday June 13, 2011

This week there are several interesting pitchers starting twice, as well as a several must starts. While most of the aces will not be pitching twice this week, there are several pitchers who should be a fixture in your fantasy lineup.

Must Starts:

Clay Buchholz, Boston Red Sox

After a slow start, Buchholz is red-hot giving up only two runs over his last 19 innings. Start him even though he has to play against the red hot Indians.

Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies

I should not even have to say anything about Hamels right now. Start him.

Dan Haren, Los Angeles Angels

Haren has been one of the top 5 pitchers in baseball this year keep him in your lineup.

Yovanni Gallardo, Milwaukee Brewers

Gallardo has horrible stats, but his last three starts have been gems. He is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA and is looking like the ace he was supposed to be again. By the way, he’s going up against Nationals and Giants offenses.

Other Must Starts: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers; Jhoulys Chacin, Colorado Rockies; Jeremy Hellickson, Tampa Bay Rays; Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants; Jered Weaver

Take a Chance:

Alexi Ogando, Texas Rangers

Ogando will not put up huge strike out numbers, but he will rack up the wins and post low ERAs, especially this week against the light hitting White Sox and the Royals, who Ogando just beat last Wednesday while allowing just two runs in seven innings. Ogando pitches in Arlington in both games, where in 4 starts he is 3-0 with a 1.48 ERA. If you’re not already on the bandwagon, join quickly.

Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds

Cueto is facing the Phillies and the Braves, two less than stellar offenses. The Phillies have not hit anyone in a few weeks and Cueto will take on the Braves in the caverns of Turner Field. He has been hot since coming off the disabled list, with just a 1.45 ERA in his three starts. No reason not to go with Cueto this week against the weak lineups of the Braves and Phillies.

Spot Start Options

Charlie Morton, Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Atlanta Braves

Morton is 5-1 with a 2.62 ERA and is having one of the most surprising breakout starts to this season. The Pirates pitcher seems to have figured out his problems, especially at home. He has a 1.74 ERA at home in 3 starts and will be facing a Braves offense that has struggled. Give him a shot this week.

Doug Fister, Seattle Mariners

Fister has been a solid pitcher this year, despite his 2-4 record. He is not a strike out pitcher, but he will have solid numbers against the Twins dismal offense, which ranks even behind the Mariners offense this season. Fister will be pitching on the road, in the pitching haven that is Target Field. For the record, Jason Vargas also fits this bill.

Other options: Tom Gorzelanny, Washington Nationals, vs. San Diego; Brandon Morrow, Toronto Blue Jays, vs. Chicago White Sox; Anyone Playing the Mariners or Twins right now…

 

Hope has been gone since mid-April for the Cleveland Indians, and clearly, it’s only getting worse as the Tribe is looking at a 100 loss season if they don’t play decently the rest of the way. This from a team considered by many to be the favorite in the AL Central and by some to be a pennant contender. Thanks, Eric Wedge. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out — in October.

 

The Cincinnati Reds limp into the break after a disastrous 2-5 east coast trip this week, which sent them fading into 5th place at 42-45. Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo need to continue pitching as well as they have recently, while Johnny Cueto needs to forget July for the Reds to compete the rest of the way.  

 

Though the loss of Jay Bruce – and the continued absence of Edinson Volquez — for an indeterminate amount of time with a wrist injury won’t help matters, Cincinnati is still just a few games behind first place St. Louis. So despite needing to leapfrog many clubs, there’s still hope in the Queen City for the first playoff games in Great American Ballpark’s history.

 

* – Indians fans photo credit: Clemson Girl Baseball