Darrell Rasner, New York Yankees. The Yanks went into the season ready to transition to a rotation of young arms Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. Well, Hughes got hurt and Kennedy fell on his face, and the Yankees brought up Rasner to stop the bleeding. Three wins and a two and a half ERA have kept the Yankees around the .500 mark.

Justin Masterson, Boston Red Sox. Injuries to Curt Schilling, Clay Buchholz, and Daisuke Matsusaka left the Red Sox looking for starting pitching. Masterson has not only not lost a decision yet, but he is giving the Sox valuable innings when he goes out there as he has gone at least six innings in every start.

Jesse Litsch, Toronto Blue Jays. After finishing with a sub-.500 record in 2007, not a ton was expected of Litsch. Well, Litsch is now 7.2 with an ERA just over 3.50, and has turned into a reliable part of the Blue Jays stellar rotation.

Eric Hinske, Tampa Bay Rays. Once one of the better hitting prospect for the Blue Jays, Hinske bounced around the majors after never able to repeat his great rookie season. After being relegated to a bench player the past couple of seasons, Hinske is enjoying a renaissance in Tampa, and making the most of his opportunity.

George Sherrill, Baltimore Orioles. When Sherrill was traded to the Orioles as part of the Erik Bedard trade, Manager Dave Tremblay immediately said he wanted Sherrill to take control of the closer’s job. He could have never dreamed that by the beginning of June Sherrill would be second in the majors in saves, and looking like the most valuable part of that deal

Carlos Quentin, Chicago White Sox. Once a hot hitting prospect for the D-Backs, Quentin was shipped out of town after failing to live up to his hype and falling injured for a season and a half. Now fully healthy and on the South Side of Chicago, Quentin is second in the AL in homers and is looking like he is going to fulfill the immense potential he always had.

Carlos Gomez, Minnesota Twins. The main piece of the Johan Santana trade, we knew Gomez could run. However, Gomez is proving valuable with the bat as well. He is hitting .279 with five home runs to go with his 17 SBs. His career best in the minors was eight home runs, so he might not continue with the little bit of power he is showing.

Zach Greinke, Kansas City Royals. Long considered the best pitching prospect in the organization, Greinke battled inconsistency, injury, and depression. The first two months of the season have been kind to Greinke and he still fits this list even though he has lost his last three decisions. I have been urging people to sell high before this mirage comes to a close.

Armando Galarraga, Detroit Tigers. With the implosion of Dontrelle Willis, Galarraga has brought some stability to the Tigers starting staff. He is now 5-2 with a sub-4.00 ERA and is keeping the Tigers from falling into oblivion in the standings.

Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians. When Lee was sent to AAA last season, it was amazing how a guy who had won 14+ games for the past three seasons had fallen so far. After just winning out the 5^th starter position in Spring training, Lee has been pitching like an ace all season long. On Monday he was the first AL pitcher to 10 wins, but I see a big correction in stats in the second half.

Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners. Ok, so this is a stretch, but it is Ichiro for two reasons. One, no one has been surprisingly good for Seattle. Two, Ichiro is almost 35 years old and you figure his production, especially steals would suffer. But to the contrary, Ichiro already has 26 steals.

Ervin Santana, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Santana was another pitcher who had previous major league success and then was sent to AAA in 2007. Like Cliff Lee, Santana has rebounded in a big way this season and he is 8-2 with a 3.00 ERA. A nice addition to a staff that lost Kelvim Escobar before the season started.

Dana Eveland, Oakland Athetics. After trading Danny Haren, the A’s were left looking for starting ptichign. Although he has not been pitching as well of late, Eveland has kept the A’s in a lot of games this season and gave them a lot of quality innings on the mound.

Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers. After returning to the majors in 2007, Hamilton showed flashes of brilliance that his swing promised five years ago. Now in 2008, Hamilton is taking aim at the Triple Crown as he leads the AL in HRs and RBI. We expected a good season, but this is ridiculous.

Ryan Church, New York Mets. When Mets’ GM Omar Minaya traded prospect Lastings Milledge for Church and Brian Schneider he was crucified in New York. Two months into the season Minaya looks like a genious. Church is dealing with some concussion symptoms at the moment, but he was having a career year before his injury.

Jayson Werth, Philadelphia Phillies. Werth has had a very unspectacular career to this point, but he is thriving in 2008. He already has more homers than he did all of last season. He just returned from injury so activate Werth again.

Jair Jurrjens, Atlanta Braves. Jurrjens was the main piece of the trade that sent Edgar Renteria to Detroit and he has been worth that and more to the Braves. With injuries to Mike Hampton, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine, Jurrjens has stabilized the Braves staff with six wins and kept them in a tight division race.

Jorge Cantu, Florida Marlins. Cantu is regaining the stroke that made him a fantasy darling at 2B in 2005. Cantu is on pace for near 30 homers and although he now plays 3B he is worth adding in most formats.

Jason Bergmann, Washington Nationals. The Nats have been a franchise starving from pitching from the inception of this team. I don’t see Bergmann continuing his current production (he went three starts without allowing a run), but he is worth keeping your eye on for his strikeout potential.

Ryan Ludwick, St. Louis Cardinals. Ludwick is having an incredible year, batting over .300 with 14 jacks and 46 ribbies. Ludwick is just one of the reasons for the Cardinals surprise season, but he is one of the bigger ones.

Geovany Soto, Chicago Cubs. Soto had incredible offensive numbers at AAA last season, but you always wonder if that will translate to the majors. Well, Soto has quickly become one of the top 3 offensive catchers in the majors as he is hitting .278 with 10 homers and 37 RBI. He has the talent to keep these stats going, so don’t expect a huge slump anytime this season.

Wandy Rodriguez, Houston Astros. Wandy has had a few nice stretches in his past major league career, but I believe this one will be sustained throughout most of the season. Not only does Rodriguez win games, but he also gets a good number of strikeouts to go with it.

Nate McLouth, Pittsburgh Pirates. This guy was the talk of the majors in April and hasn’t stopped hitting since. McLouth is still hitting over .300, with 14 bombs and 45 ribeyes. Nothing in his past major league or minor league statistics suggest he will keep this up, so get the most you can for him in a trade before the inevitable slump starts.

Manny Parra, Milwaukee Brewers. Parra was all the buzz during the Spring and then fizzled out big time once the games counted. But after struggling for six weeks, Parra seems to have found his stroke that he enjoyed in Grapefruit League play. Watch for a great June and July for Parra and see if his arm holds up all season long.

Edinson Volquez, Cincinnati Reds. After struggling mightily in his past chances in the majors, the Reds were hoping a change of scenery was what Volquez needed. That may be the understatement of all time. Volquez went from failing prospect to dominating starter. Really, who has been better than him, besides perhaps Webb?

Bengie Molina, San Francisco Giants. Can Molina reach 100 RBI? He is certainly on pace considering he drove in his 41^st run of the year on Monday. Those of you who drafted Molina in the last round or one of the last rounds are being greatly rewarded, I’m sure you knew he was going to do this, right?

Randy Wolf, San Diego Padres. Wolf was a good pitcher for the Phillies, but was injured so much it didn’t look like he would fulfill his potential. He bounced to the Dodgers and now to the Padres and has been pitching very well of late. Expect him to triple his current four wins, and if the Pads are getting back in this race Wolf is going to have to be consistent.

Blake DeWitt, Los Angeles Dodgers. When 2008 started, Blake DeWitt had no dreams of being in Los Angeles. But within a week or so, the injury bug bit Nomar Garciaparra and Andy LaRoche and DeWitt was forced into service. He responded better than anyone could have dreamed. In just 56 games, DeWitt has five homers and 29 RBI to got with a .290 average. Not sure if he will hold the job all season long however.

Colorado Rockies, Aaron Cook. Cook has been a journeyman starter throughout his career, but the first two months of ’08 have been great for him. Cook is just one win away from his career high of nine, and his ERA is the lowest of his career. All of this adds up to a guy that I would be killing to sell high on.

Mark Reynolds, Arizona Diamondbacks. We knew the kid had some power, but he is bombing balls out of the yard by the boatload. He will never win a batting title, but if he could ever sharpen his batting eye, Reynolds has the potential to be a 35+ homer guy, plus he is just 24 years old.

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