Last season, Anthony Rizzo, then in the Padres organization, absolutely bombarded Pacific Coast League pitching to the tune of .331/.404/.632 with 26 long balls in 413 plate appearances. However, once he reached the big leagues, the mammoth production halted. In 153 plate appearances for the Friars, Rizzo hit .141/.281/.242 with only one home run and a 30-percent strikeout rate. That poor debut may have caused some to wonder whether his Triple-A numbers were merely a product of playing home games in the homer friendly environment of Tuscon Arizona. So much for that theory. All Rizzo has done this season is continue to rake Triple-A pitching as a member of the Iowa Cubs. His .342/.405/.696 line is massive enough, but then tack on 23 home runs in only 284 plate appearances and you've got one of the most impressive lines you’ll ever see from a 22-year-old in Triple-A.

As the Orange County Register pointed out last night, Mike Trout did not play in a game yesterday, but has taken over the league lead in batting average as Paul Konerko dropped a point behind him. Anytime a player is leading in one of the big traditional three categories (average, home runs, or RBI) it cries out to voters that they deserve some recognition. Today, the votes are being changed to account for OBP, OPS, and even WAR but those numbers usually sit right in line with where a player is in the traditional categories. Here are Trout's numbers among AL rookies:

Trevor Bauer pitched only 2.2 innings today. There was nothing physically wrong with him. He had 5 strikeouts and gave up 2 hits. Given that he met with the Diamondbacks front office earlier in the week to discuss how he would speak to the media and that Joe Saunders has been placed on the DL, it was pretty obvious that the Diamondbacks were set to call up their best prospect. 

Bauer is 11-1 this year with a 2.23 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 42.2 between AA and AAA this season. Even though he has less than 120 innings thrown in the minors between this year and last, many believe he has nothing left to prove in the minor leagues. He should be added in all mixed leagues by the time he takes the mound on Thursday against the Braves.  no comments

According to Red Sox beat writer Nick Cafardo, the White Sox and Indians are the most likely destinations for Kevin Youkilis while the Dodgers and Pirates, and what sounds like one other team. Here are the situations that would be best for Youk's fantasy value:

The title essentially speaks for itself.  The Royals bullpen features many very good pitchers, one of which is Kelvin Herrera.  Dave Cameron highlighted a recent performance from the Royals bullpen over at FanGraphs, a game in which Herrera faced four batters and struck out all four.  Cameron also took to Twitter that day stating that Herrera may be the most underrated reliever in baseball.  He may be right, as Herrera has been outstanding this season. no comments

Tim Lincecum is 2-8. He has not won since April 28. His team has lost 9 straight games he has started. He has an ERA over 6.00. He has a career worse 4.8 walks per 9 innings. His average fastball velocity is lower than ever. 

Tim Lincecum is also 28. He has won two Cy Young Awards. He is striking out more than a batter per inning this season. He and the team claim that he is healthy. 

Although pitchers are a lot harder to predict when it comes to reading if they can bounce back, I never doubt a struggling veteran that still should be in or around the prime of their careers and has been consistent for a stretch of multiple seasons. It is the theory that every Adam Dunn owner has relied on this season. That every Dan Haren and Ian Kinsler owner relied on last season. Or Carl Crawford owners the season before that. 

Can you get burnt? Sure, Crawford owners this season might have. Ubaldo Jimenez owners have as well. In both of those instances there was an obvious reason to look for the player to just fall off the table. Crawford was hurt coming into the season and is still hurt. Jimenez's fastball, which was his greatest weapon, stopped being fast. In the case of Lincecum, I don't know if there is a clear reason for his lack of success. The fast ball velocity is about 1.5 MPH lower on average than it typically is, but according to Fangraphs pitch values, Lincecum has actually had a better fast ball this season than he did last year. 

Going by the numbers, Lincecum has been severely unlucky. His FIP and xFIP are both under 4.00, but Dave Cameron suggests that calling it bad luck is dismissing the fact that he is not locating pitches. In that article, Cameron describes a juicey 1-2 pitch that Lincecum made to Jesus Montero. To me, if Lincecum is not struggling with walks this season, he throws him something way off the plate and gets Montero to chase. Lincecum is struggling with walks and everything else on the mound, thus the numbers he has accumulated this season. Lincecum also is having difficulty pitching out of the stretch. His batting average against is almost 50 points worse with runners on base than it is with the bases empty. That could be mechanical, but it also could be mental. That whole "here we go again" mentality when someone gets on against him. More than anything, Lincecum needs one good start to build on. His greatest problem right now is himself. 

Today he takes on the Athletics who are 24th in the Majors in runs scored and have the 4th worst on base percentage in the game. Lincecum has already struggled against the A's this season, but at some point if we believe that he isn't hurt, he is going to pitch like Tim Lincecum.

Wade Miley was not a name focused on this preseason, but the Diamondbacks fifth starter has pitched his way onto the roster of many a fantasy team. While many believed it would be hot prospect Trevor Bauer putting up awesome numbers at the back end of Arizona’s rotation, Miley has given the D-Backs a reason to let Bauer continue to develop at Triple-A.

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Jacob Turner is one of the few starting pitchers that was sitting around in the minors that might deserve immediate consideration in mixed leagues. Along with Danny Hultzen and Trevor Bauer, Turner has the stuff that can help teams right now rather than somewhere down the road. Turner features a fastball, breaking ball, and a change up which are all solid pitches for him. The fastball usually sits at around 92 MPH and the change up typially comes in about 6 MPH slower than the fastball. 

If you look at the numbers that he's put together in the minors, players like Bauer and Hultzen would appear to be much better options if all three pitchers were coming up today. I would probably take Bauer and Hultzen over Turner, but the fact is that those guys aren't coming up today. Turner had a slow start this year because he battled shoulder tendenitis right from spring training. That partially explains the 27 strikeouts to 18 walks he had in 42 innings. If you aren't desperate for pitching, then Turner probably isn't your guy anyway, but I am picking him up for his reputation in one league because of where I am in the standings in wins and strikeouts.