Asdrubal Cabrera has already been surprising owners by posting a .323 batting average with 36 runs scored and 27 RBIs.
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) -
In Part II of our six-part series, we look at second half hitting stars from the American League Central Division. The information is valuable to fantasy owners because it will tell us when to trade away a player (sell high) and when to trade for a player (buy low).
We will again look at a player's career OPS as our guide and first half/second half as the All-Star break. Obviously, the more years a player has played the more reliable the information. Mark Teixeira's OPS increase in the second half (+.078) is more reliable than Luke Scott's increase (+.129) because Teixeira has six full major league seasons of results versus Scott's two seasons of 400+ at-bats.
Editor's note - It doesn't hurt the article that Scott blasted two home runs last night.
There are four players with significant first half to second half OPS increases of over 100 points. But Mike Aviles is struggling to keep his batting average even close to the "Mendoza" line and Carlos Quentin is on the DL.
That leaves two Cleveland Indian players as most likely to help our fantasy roster - Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo. Cabrera has already been surprising owners by posting a .323 batting average with 36 runs scored and 27 RBIs. If the trend continues and he elevates his game in the second half then he would certainly be a player to target. Cabrera might even still be available on the waiver wire - he's only owner in about 80% of all leagues.
In a preseason piece I wrote that Choo would be a solid fourth outfielder and he has fulfilled those predictions. He's batting .293 with 28 runs scored, six HR and 29 RBI. If he increases his production as he did in 2008, he'll break into many owners starting lineups.
