Sleeper Watch

Remember Russell Branyan? Not so very long ago, Branyan was among the American League’s elite power hitting prospects, and both fantasy owners and Indians fans couldn’t wait for him to be called up… Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as planned: Branyan’s all-or-nothing approach at the plate far too often resulted in strikeouts (1 per 2.7 plate appearances), leaving him with an average well below .240 and drawing the wrath of Cleveland’s fans. Eventually, the Indians gave up on him, assuming he would never make the neccessary adjustments at the plate, and shipped him to Cincinnati for minor leaguer Ben Broussard (who is worthy of sleeper consideration himself). Most fantasy owners had lost patience with Branyan long before the Cleveland brass, and a move to the NL and the prospect of platooning or even serving as a pinch hitter left him as a fantasy non-entity. At least that’s what everyone expected.

Russ Branyan, however, seized the opportunity of playing in a new environment. After 40 games with the Reds, he’s hitting a very decent .281 with nine home runs, including a three-homer game against the Padres. Even better, he’s playing nearly every day, and will qualify at 3b in some leagues. Branyan’s strikeouts are down, his walks are up, and his confidence is higher than it’s been in years. He’ll still go down swinging often (steer clear in leagues that penalize k’s), but he may turn out to be a solid big leaguer after all. Keep your eye on his progress; in deep leagues, he could wind up being a very nice bargain.