Carlos Rondon provided solid strikeout numbers, but his other ratios weren’t favorable

Here’s this week’s category analysis, providing you with potential players to add to boost your fantasy baseball team in a range of H2H categories. All hitters must have at least 20 plate appearances and all pitchers must have at least two games started unless they are a closer. Stock percentage increase and decrease are over the previous week for that particular player.

Hitters

Runs

Tyler Saladino (CWS – 3B,SS)
Owned in 8.5% of ESPN leagues

Saladino was active in getting on base and getting home safely. In 30 at-bats, he had eight hits and three walks. In those 11 times he reached at least first base he scored eight times. He is making a good impression with the White Sox considering he has only 56 at-bats on the season. He is batting .286 with two home runs and six RBI. He also raised his stock 7.3 percent, so he is a hot commodity. A bonus is his dual position eligibility.

Home Runs

Nick Castellanos (DET – 3B)
Owned in 20.2% of ESPN leagues

Castellanos has been driving the ball deep over the last week. He has four home runs in six games played and nine RBI. He also has six home runs and 17 RBI over his last 17 games. He batted .296 over the week but is still at a low .242 on the season. Castellanos also has 10 home runs and 47 RBI in 339 at-bats this year. His stock has risen 6.5 percent on the week.

RBI

Chase Headley (NYY – 1B,3B)
Owned in 16.8% of ESPN leagues

In just 11 hits this week Headley has driven in eight RBI. In the process, he also has one home run, seven runs, and a .423 batting average. He has hit .344 in July but needs to work on his season batting average of .268 and nine home runs to go along with his 39 RBI. He has seen his stock jump 2.9 percent over the course of the week. Also, the bonus to his dual-position eligibility.

Stolen Bases

Michael Taylor (WSH – LF,CF)
Owned in 7.1% of ESPN leagues

Taylor was aggressive last week when it comes to stolen bases as he swiped three of them. He had 28 at-bats and got on base eight times. He also hit two home runs and had eight hits for a .286 average on the week. Thus far, he has a low .240 batting average with eight home runs and 39 RBI and 11 stolen bases in 81 games. He seems as though he could be a five-category hitter, especially if he can lower his strikeout rate. He has 94 strikeouts in 275 at-bats to only 17 walks. His stock rose 0.4 percent.

Batting Average

Carlos Sanchez (CWS – 2B)
Owned in 1.6% of ESPN leagues

Sanchez went on a hot streak this week. In 27 at-bats, he had 12 hits and one walk for a .444 batting average. He also scored six times and had two RBI to go along with his two home runs. This splurge of hitting comes quite as a surprise since he is hitting just .225 on the season with two home runs and 13 RBI. He is definitely getting accustomed to everything as he has only 204 plate appearances this season, so perhaps last week means a start of improved numbers.

Pitchers

Strikeouts

Carlos Rodon (CWS – SP,RP)
Owned in 25.9% of ESPN leagues

In just 10.2 innings last week, Rodon struck out 15 hitters and only walked three. His seven earned runs, however, was not what the team needed to see. He also gave up 12 hits in the process. The seven earned and three walks were all surrendered to the Cardinals. The following game against the Indians he struck out nine and allowed just five hits and walked none in 6.2 innings and came away with the victory. On the season, he has a 4.09 ERA with a 4-3 record and 83 strikeouts to go along with 78 hits and 44 walks in 77 innings. His stock dropped 2.4 percent.

ERA

Nathan Karns (TB – SP)
Owned in 26.8% of ESPN leagues

Both the Tigers and Phillies got nothing on Karns. He pitched 11 innings and allowed just one earned run on six hits and walked two. He also struck out seven, picking up a win in both games. He continues to lower his ERA and now has a 3.37 mark on the season. His record now stands at 6-5 and he has 106 strikeouts in 115 innings. His stock rose 3.4 percent.

Wins

Ivan Nova (NYY – SP)
Owned in 20.5% of ESPN leagues

Nova has just come off Tommy John surgery and has been a steady fixture for the Yankees. He has won his last two starts and his record now stands at 3-3 on the season. He pitched 11 innings last week and allowed four runs on eight hits and walked five, but had six strikeouts. His ERA for the week came out to be 3.27 with a WHIP of 1.18. He was pulled from his last start because of arm fatigue, so if you are looking to grab him be cautious. His stock rose 1.9 percent.

WHIP

Jeremy Hellickson (ARI – SP)
Owned in 10.4% of ESPN leagues

Hellickson went 13 innings last week and allowed just two earned runs on nine hits and three walks. He also had 12 strikeouts. He finished with a 1.38 ERA and 0.92 WHIP on the week. He struck out six against the Brewers on and didn’t allow a run for the victory. He allowed just four hits and three walks to go along with his six strikeouts. Against the Marlins he pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits and did not allow a walk while striking out six but picked up the loss. On the season, Hellickson has a 4.60 ERA with 92 strikeouts and a 1.32 WHIP in 107.2 innings. His record stands at seven wins and six losses. His stock rose 4.9 percent.

Saves

Carson Smith (SEA – RP)
Owned in 38.8% of ESPN leagues

Prior to picking up two losses in his last two games pitched, Smith picked up four saves in four chances. He did get two saves last week to go with those two losses which killed his ERA on the week. He allowed three earned runs in 3.2 innings giving up two hits and walking six while striking out four. His WHIP took a beating as well as it resulted in a 2.18 average. Smith gave up two runs to the Blue Jays without recording an out and one run to the Diamondbacks in getting just one out. These things happen to pitchers, but it’s the bounce back that counts. On the season, he has a 2.41 ERA with a 0.90 WHIP to go along with nine saves and 53 strikeouts in 41 innings pitched. His stock rose 4.9 percent.

Mike Valverde is a correspondent for FantasyPros. To read more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @RFLRedZone.