Thumbs Down! Jason Heyward to the DL: Filling The Void On Your Fantasy Team

Alan Harrison · June 29, 2010

Delmon Young

As we get one All-Star back from thumb injury another falls. Jason Heyward, the rookie phenom, who has taken Hotlanta by storm, landed on the DL today with an left thumb injury. The good news was the MRI showed no structural damage so two weeks of resting the thumb should do the trick and he will hopefully be back by the All-Star break. Playing through the pain certainly didn't work and since the initial injury 39 games ago, Heyward has seen his average drop from .299 to .251. He's also only amassed 3 HR & 17 RBIs in the injured span while in the previous 31 games prior he was a man possessed hitting 8 HR & 28 RBIs.

Clearly a little rest is needed for the big boy, but the real question is – who do you pick up off the wire in the meanwhile? Here is a list of players who are probably out there to help fill the void for the next two weeks

Carlos Quentin (OF-CWS)Big Q is finally showing some of that swing from 2008. The average is still way low (.229) but at least he's raised it 22 points in the last month. In the last ten games he has hit .394, 4 homers, and 13 RBI's while posting a .487 OBP, and a .879 slugging giving him a 1.366 OPS!

Jose Guillen (OF-KC) After a crazy strong start, Guillen came falling back to earth. In the past month though he’s started to heat right back up batting .320 with 14 RBIs. Since Guillen has always been a streaky player, I’d say we are in line for another run of homers. Guillen is very capable to hit 20-25 homers and 100 RBIs by years end.

Aubrey Huff (1B/OF-SF) There haven’t been many players hotter than Huff in the past month (.309 / 7 HR / 19 runs / 19 RBIs) and he shows no sign of slowing down. Huff is a great pickup regardless of how long Heyward is out. Keep your fingers crossed for 2008 numbers!

Brennan Boesch (OF-DET) Another rookie who has taken the league by storm. Not a lot of talk about Brennan but his numbers are top notch thus far. You can’t ask for a better average (.338) and he already has 12 Homers! Making a very good case for AL ROY.

Delmon Young (OF-MIN) Young is finally living up to his expectations in 2010. Assuming he gets around 575 ABs, he’s on pace for 80 runs and 120 RBIs. The past week has been a little slow, but it will pick right back up. Gotta love the improvement here!

Chris Coghlan (OF-FLA) The 2009 ROY has really heated up the past month, hitting a nasty .364 not to mention the 26 runs. It was a slow start but apparently Coghlan doesn’t much care for sophomore slumps.

Article by Evan Marx exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com. Evan enjoys robust red wines, is a scorpio and doesn't get along with Mets fans.
Check back for more every day or simply follow us on Twitter.