Moving on up, Jemile Weeks

I'll admit I didn't have a lofty opinion on Jemile Weeks(notes) when the Athletics recalled him earlier in June. He showed speed in the minors but little pop, and the A's buried him in the batting order. And doesn't everyone in the Weeks family break down about 15 minutes after you drive off the lot? I essentially tossed the rookie into the "prove it to me" file.

Two weeks into the run, it's time to reevaluate. Baby Weeks can play.

Weeks is off to a tidy .362/.400/.574 start with the big club, and he's batted leadoff in his last three games. He handles the bat well (just five strikeouts, 92.9 percent contact rate) and he's eager to make things happen on the bases (four steals in six attempts, including three swipes over the last two days). Weeks didn't show ideal patience in his early at-bats, but he drew a couple of walks in Tuesday's win over the Mets and he had a healthy 13.4 percent walk rate in Triple-A. Getting on base shouldn't be a problem here.

The diminutive second sacker still isn't a power threat, but he's producing runs (10 scored, six driven in). To this point in his pro career, he's been a four-category contributor.

Weeks is currently available in 90 percent of Yahoo! leagues, a crazy-low number. I'd rather have him than Chone Figgins(notes) (39 percent, good grief), Omar Infante(notes) (33 percent), Jamey Carroll(notes) (30 percent), Jed Lowrie(notes) (29 percent, broken), and Ryan Raburn(notes) (22 percent), among others. Everyone needs a little banana yellow in their life.


(yahoosports.com)