AL West Fantasy Baseball News: Robinson Cano is on fire

By foxsports
Published

Make sure to check out our divisional notebooks Monday and Friday to share news and preview the weekend action.

Houston Astros

Carlos Correa is the premier bat at shortstop right now...but is he the best young hitter at the position the game has ever seen? With three home runs early on this season, Correa reached 25 HR for his career in 101 games. He reached the milestone in 33 fewer games than any shortstop in MLB history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He's still just 21 years old.

Lance McCullers is starting his rehab assignment and should be back later this month. If any antsy owner dropped him, go get him while you still can.

Feldman, Fister and Keuchel are the three starting pitchers scheduled for this weekend's slate against Milwaukee. 

Seattle Mariners

Your AL home run leader heading into the weekend? Robinson Cano! He was sort of left for dead in the fantasy community after his 14 HR season in 2014 and his incredibly slow start due to injuries last year, but Cano has been on fire since the 2015 All-Star break, where he hit .331 with 15 HR to end the season. After clubbing four more in three games, it's time to start believing in him again. 

Nelson Cruz alert! He'll get two lefty pitchers (Surkamp and Hill) to start this weekend's series against Oakland. Just as a reminder, Cruz had a 1.108 OPS against southpaws last year. 

Scheduled pitchers this weekend are Walker, Karns and Hernandez for the Mariners against the A's. 

Los Angeles Angels

The Rangers opted to walk Mike Trout to get to Albert Pujols with runners already on board, and old Albert made 'em pay. It was still the right move, but poking the bear can backfire every now and then. 

Speaking of Trout, his 0-for-8 start to the season had some Chicken Little fantasy owners worried. Of course, Trout snapped that streak and got his first hit in the third game of the year for the Angels, making light of the situation by asking for the ball afterward:

Scheduled pitchers are Shoemaker, Richards and Weaver this weekend against the Rangers. 

Texas Rangers

Rougned Odor has been...pretty stinky so far this year. He's just 1-for-14 as the whole Rangers lineup has struggled.

Don't put it all on the bats, though. The Rangers are 1-3 to start the year primarily because of a shaky bullpen, where changes could be on the way soon. Sam Dyson is worth a speculative add in case Shawn Tolleson blows up again (5 ER in 1 IP).

Scheduled pitchers this weekend are Griffin, Hamels and Perez against the Angels. 

Oakland A's

If you're a Stephen Vogt owner, just remember that he's going to sit against southpaws more often than not. Josh Phegley has already received two starts this year because of it. 

Sonny Gray had the most typical Sonny Gray performance in his first start: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 K. He's never going to blow you away with his strikeout numbers, but the guy knows how to limit the damage. 

Scheduled pitchers this weekend are Surkamp, Hill and Bassitt against the Mariners.