Week 14 of the Major League Baseball season is always a fun week. The main reason is the big announcement of who made the All Star game. There is a lot of drama that comes with the All Star voting due to the players who got snubbed and the players who undeservedly will get to start the big game. Not stating names or anything, Bryce Harper over Andrew McCutchen.... Anyways this is the three players who were the biggest surprises of the week.
Eric Hosmer, First Basemen, Kansas City Royals
The slugging first basemen for the Royals has had a very up and down season. He has went into deep slumps but this week has been hot. His numbers for the week showed why his power is so important to this Kansas City club. In six games he hit three home runs and drove in six RBIs, giving him one RBI a game for the week. A lot of power guys don’t have the average but Hosmer even had that this week as his batting average checked in at .320. The walks weren’t crazy good but the one walk and only one strikeout with a .300 average is pretty darn impressive. Before this week Hosmer was only owned in 90 percent of leagues but has bumped up to the 100 percentile and for good reason.
Raul Ibanez, Left Fielder, Seattle Mariners
We all have heard the bashing on Ibanez. He is too old and cannot perform at the Major League level anymore. He apparently did not get the memo and has been having a great season for the Mariners. The weekly numbers for Ibanez also showed he isn’t slowing down during the dog days of summer. His three home runs and .364 batting average put him in the surprise list of players for the week. He walked twice as well to give him an OBP of .417. To go with his three home runs was five RBIs and Ibanez stock is rising in fantasy terms. He is owned in about 95 percent of leagues and that number was a lot lower a week ago. With the great week that he had it is hard to envision him not being in the 100 percentile by the time Monday comes around.
Juan Uribe, Third Basemen, Los Angeles Dodgers
Easily the biggest surprise of the week goes to the hot hitting Uribe. Not only have the Dodgers been playing well but Uribe has been crushing the ball. He hit two home runs this week and drove in a ridiculous 11 guys over only a four game span. His big game was on Friday night against the division rival Giants. In five at-bats he recorded three hits, one of which was a home run. To go with the three hits and the homer was a career high SEVEN RBIs! He also scored two runs of his own. Those numbers from Friday night are all you need from a guy for the entire week. Uribe is owned in nearly zero percent of leagues but I could envision that number going up to at least 25 percent by Monday morning. Also, he is batting .275 on the season with five home runs and 27 RBIs.