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Jeff Clement, yesterday, homered in his final two at-bats for the Seattle Mariners and is starting to show why he should be behind the plate full-time, instead of Kenji Johjima.

Johjima is having a rough go at it this season batting .223 with only three home runs in 224 at-bats. He should have already been dropped in most mixed leagues, and remains only a reserve AL-only catcher, at best.

Clement hasn’t started off great either since his call-up, but is now starting to heat up. And if you compare the two catchers over the last week, you see that Clement is beginning to take over the role of starter.

• Clement is 6 for 22 this past week with 3 runs, 3 home runs, 4 RBI and slash stats of .273/.360/.682.
• Johjima is 0 for 9 with zeros everywhere else.

You can see that Clement is getting a lot more at-bats than Johjima. For your fantasy catcher needs, forget completely about Johjima, and begin to keep your eye on Clement in mixed fantasy baseball leagues. He should already be owned in shallow AL-only leagues and probably be signed right now in deep AL-only leagues. Also remember that Clement was hitting .337 with 14 home runs at Triple-A Tacoma before being called up. He’s only 25, he’s got the good stuff, and the Mariners are about ready to let him show it off.

For the most part, our pre-season middle infield studs have performed similarly to how we expected them to perform. Hanley Ramirez is on fire over the last month with 11 home runs (20 total), Jose Reyes leads all MLB middle infielders with 28 stolen bases, and Chase Utley leads all of MLB with 23 home runs. These were all solid 1st round fantasy baseball pickups.

However, it’s not just the household names that have shined at the MI position, especially over the past month. There are some veteran players and some newcomers who are causing fantasy GM’s to take note.

Orlando Cabrera | Chicago White Sox - Cabrera, over the last month, is batting .336 with 17 runs scored, 3 home runs, 18 RBI, and 3 stolen bases. He’s doubled his home run total for the season in June alone, and his 18 RBI in June are twice what he posted in May and 54% of his season total. Ride Cabrera while he’s hot, but be wary of his batting average spike as it might be aided by a 35% hit rate in the month if June. If his hit rate comes down, expect his batting average to as well. But, if his new power sticks around, Cabrera could still be valuable.

Alexi Casilla | Minnesota Twins - Casilla made it to the big leagues on his speed. He’s averaged 33.6 stolen bases over the last 5 seasons (MLB & MiLB combined) and had 49 in 2005 and 50 in 2006. However, in his 2007 stint for the Twins, his .222 batting average over 189 at-bats left a sour taste in the mouths of the Twins front office. 2008 has turned out differently. In 156 at-bats this season, Casilla is batting .327 with 25 runs scored, 4 home runs, 31 RBI, and 4 stolen bases. He is even 5th on the Twins in RBI, even though he’s only played in half of his teams’ games. If Casilla can keep the average up, and the RBI’s flowing, he’ll remain valuable to fantasy owners. If he starts getting the green light more on the base paths and his stolen base totals increase like we’ve seen in his minor league career, he pushes his way towards the upper tier of middle infielders.

Mike Aviles | Kansas City Royals - Aviles, a 7th round pick in the 2003 draft, is making the most of his call-up and rookie season for the Royals. He’s batting .303/.333/.505 with 17 runs scored, 3 home runs, 15 RBI and 2 stolen bases in 99 at-bats. Aviles was called up in May after hitting .336 with 10 home runs in 51 games at AAA Omaha. He also hit 17 home runs last season at Omaha in 133 games while hitting .296. His 33% hit rate so far in Kansas City is right in line with MiLB numbers, but there isn’t enough data to determine whether or not his hit rate will effect his batting average. Even though we might not have enough data yet, Aviles has entrenched himself as the Royals leadoff hitter, and should easily have a spot in AL-only and most mixed leagues, as well.

Heading into the 2007 fantasy baseball season, three catchers, Victor Martinez, Brian McCann and Joe Mauer, sat atop the positional draft lists on just about everyone’s draft board.

Before this season the argument over who should be the top catcher drafted was fought between McCann and Russell Martin.

As it stands right now, almost half-way through the season, and with apologies to Martinez, Mauer, Martin, youngster Geovany Soto, and upstart Ryan Doumit, Brian McCann is, without a doubt, the best fantasy catcher in baseball.

McCann leads all catchers in home runs. He’s second in runs batted in and slugging percentage. He’s ranked third in runs scored and is one of only three catchers with 200 at-bats or more to be hitting over .300.

It’s not just McCann’s 72-game stat line of .306/.379/.562 with 35 runs, 14 home runs, 44 RBI, and a stolen base that causes me to make this claim of McCann’s superiority. McCann is also striking out less, (12.8% in ‘08 versus 14.7% in ‘07) walking more, (9.8% in ‘08 versus 6.5% in ‘07) and doing it all with a relatively normal hit rate of 30.8%.

McCann’s numbers seem real, and they’re here to stay. And so is his dominance over the fantasy catcher category for years to come. Did I mention that McCann is only 23-years-old.

After last nights game, the Detroit Tigers sent matt Joyce down to Triple-A Toledo and recalled outfielder Clete Thomas. This means two things for the Tigers outfield immediately.

1. Curtis Granderson will play against left-handers.
2. Marcus Thames will become a full time player.

Granderson is already owned in just about every fantasy baseball league imaginable, but this news may be a double edged sword for Granderson owners. Sure, he’s going to get more at-bats, but these extra chances will be against left handed pitchers who Granderson has floundered  against  hitting only  .222/.222/.222 in nine at-bats.  If Granderson doesn’t learn to hit lefties, this move could drag his average down and hurt the fantasy GM just as much as his extra at-bats potential helps.

Thames is in the same lefty/right split boat as Granderson, just on the other side of the boat. Thames hits lefties really well going .308/.379/.923 against southpaws and only .233/.283/.256 against right handed pitchers. Thames did react well, last night, to the news of his promotion. He belted two home runs and batted third in the lineup. The home runs were off of a left handed pitcher, so only time will tell if extra at-bats will help Thames’ fantasy value or not. But, he’s most likely unowned in most mixed leagues, so keep an eye on him.

In ten starts this season, Astros pitcher Chris Sampson is 3-3 with a 6.04 ERA and a 2.08 strikeout to walk ratio (25:12). Those numbers don’t exactly make Sampson rosterable in many fantasy baseball formats, and they won’t keep him in the rotation either.

As Wandy Rodriguez comes off the DL today, the Astros plan to move Sampson to the bullpen to make room. Brian Moehler will be the 5th starter.

The top prospect in all of baseball is finally getting the call, and this won’t be a short cup of coffee for Jay Bruce. Tuesday evening will mark day one of Bruce’s tenure in the Reds outfield, as they face off against The Pittsburgh Pirates.

Bruce was hitting .364/.393/.630 with nine doubles, five triples, ten home runs and eight stolen bases in 184 at-bats at Triple-A Louisville. He’s got nothing else to prove in the minor leagues, and should be owned from day one in all fantasy baseball formats.

No word as to who is being removed from the  roster to make space for Bruce. Most people think it will be  Corey Patterson, but we won’t know for sure until the press conference at 4:00 PM today.

There is a lot of talk around Dodgerdom about what will happen to Blake DeWitt when Nomar and/or Andy LaRoche are ready to join the big club. DeWitt has surprised just about everyone with his .320/.397/.495 with 19 runs scored, 3 home runs and 19 runs batted in, and isn’t going to be supplanted easily. That’s why Nomar been practicing at the shortstop position.

Rafael Furcal is making progress in physical therapy to ease the pain in his lower back. But with the possibility that Nomar Garciaparra could return from the disabled list before Furcal, Torre said he might use Garciaparra at shortstop to keep Blake DeWitt in the lineup at third.

“He was taking groundballs there” Tuesday, Torre said of Garciaparra, a five-time American League All-Star at shortstop who moved to the corner infield spots four years ago. “He volunteered that he could do this. And I certainly would be open to it.”