Howard Chen AKA Mr. Fantasy's Blog

PICK UP JAY BRUCE.

NOW.

Yes.  He's the real deal.

I usually don't jump on the rookie bandwagon immediately, because for every Ryan Braun, there's several more like Evan Longoria.  Actually, outside of Braun, it's hard to think of another player who made such an immediate fantasy impact in the bigs.

Until Jay Bruce.

Everybody hyped up Alex Gordon last year, and then it was Longoria this season.  Gordon's rounding into form in his second season, but still isn't a must-have just yet in his career.  Longoria is borderline, showing some flashes, but still is inconsistent, and that shows in his average.

Longoria didn't quite dominate minor league pitching when he started the year at Triple A.  Bruce, on the other hand, has dominated the minors, batting over .360 with 10 homers with almost the same amount of stolen bases.  In other words, he hits for average, power, has speed... he's amazing.  I've personally only witnessed one other hitter in all the minor leagues who has dominated minor league pitching with more efficiency, and that was Marcus Thames when he was a Mud Hen.  Let's just say, I'm a firm believer that Thames definitely deserves to be in the big leagues.

Anyway, back to Bruce, Cincinnati's gonna give him every chance to play.  He started off the best way possible, by going 3-3 with a double, stolen base, an RBI, and a run scored in his very first game.  I'd start off by picking him up and starting him against righthanders, seeing that Bruce is left-handed, and the adjustment to big-league pitching would be easier against righties.  If he's destroying lefties as well, he's obviously a must-start every day.

I'm kind of curious what the Reds will do with Corey Patterson and Ryan Freel.  That's a combined $6.5 million in salary that is now relegated to part-time status.

Part-time status in reality, means no time worth mentioning in the fantasy world.  See ya Patterson and Freel, hellooooooo Jay Bruce.