Fantasy Baseball Mlb Stud Or Shelton

Remember Chris Shelton's nine home runs in the first 13 games for the Detroit Tigers in 2006? Stud or Shelton examines whether currently hot players are displaying a similar mirage or will continue to play at a high level.

In 2009, a Texas rookie pitcher by the name of Derek Holland has a 5.04 ERA and 1.40 WHIP in 91 innings. Sounds like more of the same from the Rangers, right? So why is Holland appearing in Stud or Shelton?

On July 30th, Holland held the Mariners to one run on two hits in 8.2 innings, striking out 10 batters, an impressive feat. That put him on the radar. He then had a forgettable start at Oakland before squaring off against the Angels in Anaheim yesterday. In that one, Holland threw a complete-game shutout, picking up another win while striking out another eight batters.

Can he keep it up, or will he become just another rookie to fall by the wayside?

Remember Chris Shelton's nine home runs in the first 13 games for the Detroit Tigers in 2006? Stud or Shelton examines whether currently hot players are displaying a similar mirage or will continue to play at a high level.

With the Jake Peavy trade and whispers about a possible deal of Adrian Gonzalez at the trade deadline last week, the Padres have been in the headlines quite a bit for a team playing really bad baseball. Of course, they haven't been in said headlines for on-field activity. Thus, you might have missed the power strides being made by two youngsters: Kyle Blanks and Will Venable.

Is it real? You know how we roll ... it's Stud or Shelton time.

At first glance, Chad Gaudin shouldn't be on anyone's fantasy baseball radar. At 4-6 with a 4.97 ERA it wouldn't seem that he could help that many fantasy teams.

You need to look deeper into his recent pitching to realize that Gaudin is a solid NL-only pick up right now.

On Sunday, Gaudin threw eight scoreless innings against the Texas Rangers to earn the win. He also struck out nine and only walked two. The only hit he gave up was in the first inning. He then went on to retire 23 of the next 25 batters. Padres manager Bud Black offered great praise on Gaudin's performance.

"I've seen a lot of games in this park from that dugout," said Padres manager Bud Black, the pitching coach for the Los Angeles Angels seven seasons before that. "That was one of the best-pitched games I've seen."

Remember Chris Shelton's nine home runs in the first 13 games for the Detroit Tigers in 2006? Stud or Shelton examines whether currently hot players are displaying a similar mirage or will continue to play at a high level.

It was straight from a movie script or the backyard of millions of wiffle ballers nationwide. Okay, maybe I'm being a bit melodramatic, but Adam Kennedy's ninth inning home run Sunday off of Texas' Frank Francisco (his first earned run given up all season) was, at the least, memorable.

Adam Kennedy had blasted a home run off of Kevin Millwood in the first inning. His ninth inning tater slammed the door on the surging Rangers and gave Oakland a 5-to-4 win, not to mention was Kennedy's fourth of the season. But, why all the hubbub?

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Remember 'Five Alive,' the juicy blend with five fruits that's fun for all the family? Well, Rick Porcello is a unique blend of rookie flavor who's reeled off five straight victories. You can hardly find that syrupy drink on the shelves anymore, but you can still find Porcello in about 30 percent of Yahoo! leagues. And that's not all there is to like about Porcello. After the jump, it's fun time for all fantasy owners! (sugar rush optional)

Remember Chris Shelton's nine home runs in the first 13 games for the Detroit Tigers in 2006? Stud or Shelton examines whether currently hot players are displaying a similar mirage or will continue to play at a high level.

In taking a glance at the Washington Nationals' record right now -- 11-21 -- and you could easily surmise that every starting pitcher has a losing record. I mean, they are 10 games under .500 and it's only May 15. Glance into their starting pitching stats, however, and you see something really odd. 5-0. Yep, someone is 5-0 -- meaning the team is 6-21 when he doesn't factor in the decision. This man is named Shairon Martis. Who the hell is he, and, more importantly, will this dazzling pitching continue?

Remember Chris Shelton's nine home runs in the first 13 games for the Detroit Tigers in 2006? Stud or Shelton examines whether currently hot players are displaying a similar mirage or will continue to play at a high level.

As promised in today's Roto Rush, we're gonna check out Mr. Alberto Callaspo. After another solid night Tuesday, Callaspo is hitting .379 with 16 runs, 2 home runs and 11 RBI. He also has a league-high 13 doubles and has walked twice as much as he's struck out (10 to 5). So, this is a joke right? He's coming back down to Earth immediately.

Not so fast ...

Remember Chris Shelton's nine home runs in the first 13 games for the Detroit Tigers in 2006? Stud or Shelton examines whether currently hot players are displaying a similar mirage or will continue to play at a high level.

Heading into training camp six to eight weeks ago the Marlins weren't even sure that Emilio Bonifacio would make this Marlins team. We're now almost a week into the season and one south Florida newspaper (tongue in cheek hopefully) is comparing Bonifacio to Babe Ruth. While it's unfair -- no 23-year-old should ever be compared to the Sultan of Swat -- Bonifacio is currently white hot.

The first few days of the season are a great time for fantasy owners. We can enjoy a hot start for our team -- which obviously means a championship is on the way -- or we're stuck scouring the waiver wire for guys who have already shown they are going to be a stud all season long. Then, we remember Chris Shelton. In 2006, Shelton had 9 home runs and 17 RBI with a .471 average through 13 games. Thus, he is our namesake for Stud or Shelton.

Today, we'll check out a bevy of unheralded and/or maligned starting pitchers who have shown their true studly colors in their first start. Or have they? The lightning round of judgment follows the jump (because we heart lightning rounds).

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If you haven't been keeping up with statistics from Spring Training games, Corey Hart would like you to start. Well, at least he'd like you to look at most of them.

Prior to Monday's games, Hart leads all spring hitters with 41 total bases. He's blasted five home runs, seven doubles and is 19-45 for a .422 batting average in 16 games. Add to that his three stolen bases and Hart would seem to be cruising on all cylinders as he gets ready to burn in 2009.

Before we anoint Hart with unprecedented accolades, let's take a look at a few of the problems he faced last year.

Sure, Corey Hart is a 20/20 outfielder, and that's valuable. But Hart hurt his team by not getting on base as much as he should. He finished the season with a very low .300 on-base percentage, mainly due to a high strike out rate of 17.8% and a low walk rate of 4.2%. Hart is a free swinger. He swings at 54.7% of the pitches he sees. Worse than that is that 31.7% of the pitches he swings at are outside of the strike zone.