The second month of the baseball season is upon us and hopefully all of you are having a successful season up to this point. Hopefully we at eDraft have helped bring success to your teams so far as we look to continue this trend and provide you with the knowledge need for a championship.  If you have questions about players you may want to start you have come to the right place as I am here to help answer those questions, and provide you with players I think will have quality games this coming week.  

Pitcher

Mike Leake, Reds: Mike Leake and the Reds have a favorable schedule coming up this week with starts against the Padres and the Phillies.  Neither offense presents a particularly challenging offense, especially the Padres who have by far the weakest offense in baseball and just recently eclipsed the 100 runs scored mark with 102.  Despite putting together a strong season with a 3.40 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP, Leake is only owned in 12 percent of ESPN leagues making him likely readily available in your league for a solid two start week.

Catcher

Derek Norris, Athletics: with the way Norris has been playing this year he is starting to see a lot more playing time for the A’s.  With series against the White Sox and the Indians Norris is set up to continue his hot streak at the plate.  The White Sox have one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball having given up 187 runs already, which trail only the Diamondbacks who have given up 210 runs.  Expect the A’s offense to keep rolling with Norris being a key cog in the lineup.

First Base

C.J. Cron, Angels: Cron has been a sparkplug for the Angels since getting called up.  In his limited time in the majors Cron is batting .417 with two runs scored a mammoth homerun that traveled 468 feet and five RBI.  Cron has a schedule coming up where he will see a lot of mediocre pitching from the Phillies, Blue Jays and Rays.  Cron appears to have solidified a starting spot as he’s started in six of seven games since getting called up and at a 2.3 own percentage there is a good chance you can pick him up and start him if you are weak at first base.

Second Base

Omar Infante, Royals: By time the start of the new fantasy week starts up against Infante should be healthy and playing again for the Royals.  There was a possibility of a start on Saturday but as that didn’t happen he should be starting on Sunday or Monday at the latest.  Prior to the injury Infante had been very productive for the Royals and gets to come back to a favorable schedule.  Infante will get to see the Rockies twice followed by a series against the Orioles.  

Third Base

Yangervis Solarte, Yankees: Solarte has been one of the biggest surprises in baseball in 2014 not just for the Yankees.  Solarte has a five game hitting streak and has hit safely in eight of the last nine games.  The Yankees see the Mets and the Pirates in the upcoming week which presents two favorable matchups for Solarte who leads the Yankees in RBI with 18 of them and is second in batting average with a .304 average.  The solid production should continue for Solarte who may have staying power in the majors after all.

Shortstop

Mike Aviles, Indians: Aviles has been one of the hotest players in baseball over the last week and a half.  He has five multi hit games in his last nine games played to raise his season average to .329.  Aviles has also driven in four of his nine RBI in his last four games played.  If you are in dire need of a third baseman Aviles is almost assuredly available in your league and is primed to provide good value for your team this week.

Outfield

Brett Gardner, Yankees: Gardner has been floating around between the bottom of the order and the top of the order the last week due to the slumping Derek Jeter.  With his speed he is an excellent source of runs and steals.  He is tied for first in runs for the Yankees and is second on the team in steals.  The average has finally staying at a valuable spot this year at .283 and seeing as he has gone ten days without a steal they are sure to come soon.  Speed can only slump for so long and with Gardner getting a hit in five of his last six games played the runs are going to start racking up along with the steals.

Teams (batters) with good matchup: Reds, Rangers, Yankees, Angels

Teams (pitchers) with good matchups: Rockies, Cardinals, Reds, Yankees