Second half fantasy baseball help from Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Guardians

Amed Rosario, Cleveland Guardians

Well, I couldn’t make this a total “Red Sox pitcher love fest” so let’s step off the mound, leave Kenmore Square and head west to the place Liz Lemon (30 Rock) almost moved to … Cleveland!

It’s a long season and you’re going to need a lot of depth down the stretch on your fantasy roster. Players on teams gearing up for a postseason appearance are going to need nights off and you’ll need every point you can get to make the playoffs in your fantasy baseball league, so keeping a guy or two on the bench to fill in here and there could be the difference in whether you make or miss the fantasy playoffs. There’s a guy on the Guardians who fits that bill perfectly.

After a slow start to the season, Cleveland shortstop Amed Rosario is primed to have a hot start to the second half of the season. Throughout his career June, July and August have been his best months of the season at the plate. August has been his power month posting a .288 average, 18 home runs and 78 RBI, the most by far of any month. Rosario is hitting .314 in July so far with 12 RBI, seven runs and a .821 OPS. That’s a far cry from where his seventh season started in April and May where he struggled batting just .218 and .238, respectively. This month, leading into the break, Rosario has raised his season average from .257 to .268, hitting safely in nine of 10 games.

Much like Paxton and Bello, June was a huge comeback month for Rosario as he hit .309 for a Cleveland team that is in a battle for AL Central supremacy with the Minnesota Twins. Sitting at .500 on the season and a half-game up on the Twins, the Guardians have kept pace with their thriving shortstop. In the 10 games prior to the All-Star break, Cleveland averaged 6.5 runs per game, numbers that play into some key Rosario splits. Rosario is hitting .282 with runners on base, .354 with runners in scoring position and is coming through in the clutch as he’s hitting .500 with two outs and runners in scoring position (13-for-26 with 14 RBI).

Cleveland starts the second half of the season in Texas versus the Rangers then head out to Pittsburgh before returning home to face the Phillies and Royals. On the season, Rosario is a .310 hitter at Progressive Field with a .823 OPS. Outside of the state of Ohio, the shortstop is only batting .223, a nugget to keep an eye on.

Good luck out there and here’s to a great second half of the season!