Roto Rush: Is David Ortiz Ready to Explode Onto the Scene?

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

There are soooo many things to argue about in the world of fantasy baseball these days. It felt like we waited forever to get our hands on Matt Wieters. Now we have to ask did we get ahold of him too soon? If Robinson Cano is going to hit .300 in the first half, what can we expect from his normally mega-productive second half? But, the argument that I want to touch on today, and I won't be able to hit all of the points in this short space, is about Big Papi. Do you buy low on David Ortiz right now or can you actually sell him high at this point?

The struggles of David Ortiz this season have been well documented. It wasn't until May 20th that he hit his first home run and except for his first two games of the season where he went 1-for-3, Ortiz has never seen his batting average spike above .237. It currently sits at .198.

There are, however, signs of life coming from Ortiz at the plate. He blasted his third home run of the season last night and has six hits over his last 19 at-bats, including a seven game hitting streak. For those of you looking to sell high on the slugger, you should start with those figures. You should also mention that his 25.7% hit rate is well below his career mark of 30.7% and when that normalizes, his batting average is sure to rise.

If you plan to take the flip side of this proverbial coin and attempt to buy low on Ortiz, here's a few things you need to know.

Ortiz is striking out at an amazing rate. His 27.2% strikeout rate is the highest it's been since he joined the Red Sox in 2003. He's also walking at an alarmingly reduced rate. His walk rate of 10.6% is also the lowest it's been since he joined the Red Sox. Anytime a hitter increases his strikeout rate and reduces his walk rate over an extended period of time, nastiness ensues.

With inter-league play getting ready to kick back up again, the Red Sox are struggling with what to do with Ortiz. His .198 batting average isn't begging management to sit Youkilis or Lowell in favor of Ortiz at first base. With all of those inter-league games coming, if Ortiz is relegated to spot starting and pinch hitting he's not going to be a lot of use to fantasy GM's. And that limited playing time might also keep him from really breaking out of the slump he's currently in.

Whatever you think might be the best course of action for your fantasy plans for David Ortiz, you may want to consider putting the plan into effect soon. Inter-league plays starts again this weekend.

Bits From the Box Scores
- Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-4 last night in the Mariners loss and has hit safely in 30 of his last 31 games dating back to May 6th. Over the last month his .402/.437/.554 slash stats are impressive, to say the least.

- Has anyone else noticed that the Orioles have occasionally been slipping Adam Jones into the number three slot in the lineup and moving Nick Markakis to the two hole? O's manager Dave Trembley says it's just to break up the left-handed bats in the lineup, but if you'll look at the stats for the three studs at the front of the Orioles lineup, Jones is the only one still hitting above .300. I don't need to tell you of the negative repercussions moving to the number two slot permanently will have on Markakis or the benefits to Adam Jones' stats of hitting in the three hole, do I?

- Brad Bergesen threw eight innings of shutout baseball last night to earn his third victory of the season. He also struck out six while walking none. Even more impressive are his numbers over his last three starts. In 23 innings of work he's 2-0 with a 1.56 ERA and 0.87 WHIP. He's not a massive source of strikeouts, but won't that sub-two ERA fit in nicely with your fantasy staff? Bergesen is only owned in 1% of Yahoo! leagues.

- Willie Bloomquist swiped three bases last night and now has 11 steals on the season. For the season he's batting .292, but only .214 over the last month.

- Ben Zobrist hit his 12th ding-dong of the season last night, which is more than sluggers Carlos Lee, Hanley Ramirez and Miguel Cabrera have hit in 2009.

- If Josh Beckett were Dikembe Mutombo he would have been wagging his finger at the Yankees last night saying "no runs, no wins for you guys". Beckett allowed the Bronx Bombers only one hit last night as he threw six scoreless innings and sent eight batters home via the "K" train. Oh, and he may have figured out just how to pitch to Mark Teixeira. You walk him!

- After last night, Andrew McCutchen now has hit safely in five of the six major league games he's playing in during his short career. Talk about hitting the ground running...

- Brandon Morrow threw 2.1 innings last night in relief, but those may be his last relief innings of the season. He's headed to Triple-A Tacoma to be converted back into a starting pitcher.

- Aaron Hill hit his 14th home run of the year last night. Do you remember when he was a slap-hitting middle infielder? Neither do I. Maybe 2008 was the anomaly and not 2007.

- Is Miguel Tejada really hitting .357 this season. He went 2-for-4 last night. And, the answer is "Yes, he is!".

- Welcome to 2009 Mike Fontenot. I drafted you as a late round, middle infield power producer and you've been a disappointment thus far. Maybe your home run last night and your .364 batting average over the last week are your way of saying sorry and you'll do better for me moving forward.

- Rockies pitcher Jason Hammel struck out five in his six innings of work last night to earn the victory. If you take out the shelling the Padres (yes, I said Padres) laid on him on May 30th, he'd be 3-0 with a 2.36 ERA over his last three starts. Include the Padres game and Hammel has a 3.97 ERA over his last four starts.

- Troy Tulowitzki is showing signs of life. Over the last week he's batting .357 with a 1.043 OPS. He's available in 27% of Yahoo! leagues and could be a nice sleeper pick up for those of you high risk / high reward gambling types.

The Afflicted: Remember to go grab Ryan Madson in your fantasy league to fill in for Brad Lidge while he's on the disabled list. Lidge will be out until the end of June, at least. The Rays could sure use the help of Jason Bartlett. He hopes to be back within a week to lend a hand. White Sox prospect Aaron Poreda was promoted to take the place of Bartolo Colon, who's headed to the disabled list with knee issues. Jesse Litsch could be out for the next 18 months as he's about to undergo Tommy John surgery.

Lineup Lock Time: You've got until 7:05 PM ET before ballpark lights brighten the sky all over the eastern seaboard.

Major League Baseball Draft News: We finally know who the number one pick in the First Year Player's Draft is. Yesterday, the Nationals ended months of anticipation by selecting Stephen Strasburg. No, he's not fantasy relevant. But, wait until we argue about that in the off-season moving forward towards the 2010 season.

Thursday's Ace in the Hole: I honestly never expected to name Jamie Moyer as my Ace in the Hole for this section. The guy's like 137 years old and his record leaves a lot to be desired at 4-5 with a 6.27 ERA. But, and you knew there was a but, he and the Phillies hitters are facing Tim Redding tomorrow and that always leads to home run fireworks and home plate celebrations. Moyer, rightfully so, is only owned in 9% of Yahoo! leagues but has a great chance of victory on Thursday.