As I write this, it is the first day of summer. This means warmer weather is up ahead for us in baseball and that usually means more offense.

We have already seen some hitters we are used to being able to rely on get better as the weather warms up. Take Adam Jones for example. He has hit eight home runs in the month of June already.

Some other hitters have come off the DL or back from being sent to the minors and seemingly figured things out again.

Kolten Wong is one. He crushed minor league ball and got the call back pretty quickly. Now I still like him as a player in dynasty, but for those of you in season long I wouldn’t take the bait. He is going to be in a pretty big timeshare right now in the Cardinals outfield. Unless there is an injury there or in the infield, stay away for now.

Carlos Gomez is another. Now for Gomez if he is still available I’m picking him up.  Since his call back, he has hit .295 with three home runs, eight RBI , eight runs and stolen two bases. The Houston offense has heated up with his return too, so you can hopefully expect good things from him the rest of the way.

However it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows for all sluggers we are used to getting big time production from. Continue on to read about a couple of guys that are sliding down.

Stock Down

Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Miami Marlins

Over the last month of the season he has hit .225 with two home runs, seven RBI and five runs scored. Yeah that doesn’t exactly make me want to rank him in the Top 15 anymore.

I have moved him down until he can prove to be both healthy and consistently productive.

Andrew McCutchen, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

It is weird to say, but Cutch is no longer the best outfielder on his team. Starling Marte passed him in that department already and you could argue that Gregory Polanco has too.

For now I’m going to keep Cutch just ahead of Polanco, but if he can’t improve upon his .243 batting average soon, then he will drop even farther.

Trevor Rosenthal, RP, St. Louis Cardinals

The lone pitcher I am discussing in the stock down section, Rosenthal is in trouble.

He has allowed five total runs in his last five times out (three innings total) raising his season ERA to 4.91.

If he does not get his act straight soon, you can expect Kevin Siegrist or Seung Hwan Oh. My bet would be Oh, but

Stock Up

Whit Merrifield, 2B, Kansas City Royals

Where did this guy come from? I know I had not heard of him before he got the call up and started performing right away.

Do I think he keeps this pace up of hitting .333 the rest of the season? No. But I did not rank him like so. There is some regression likely to come, as his BABIP is sky high at .400 right now. He will still be productive though as long as he can stay atop the Royals lineup, and score plenty of runs.

Jake Lamb, 3B, Arizona Diamondbacks

Jake Lamb has been great this season, although he is doing it without a lot of the fanfare.

His line is pretty incredible though for a guy who went undrafted in most leagues and actually can be picked up still. We’re talking .283 average, 14 home runs, 45 RBI and 34 runs. That is good enough to be ranked as the eigth best third baseman according to the ESPN player rater.

Fernando Rodney, RP, San Diego Padres

I had my doubts coming into the season with Rodney and for good reason. Last season he was down right terrible accumulating a 4.74 ERA and 1.40 WHIP for both the Mariners and Cubs. He also only saved 16 games, while blowing seven.

This season we are getting the Rodney we saw in 2012 when he finished with under a one ERA and WHIP, while saving 48 games for the Rays. In fact you could argue he is having a better season since he has not allowed a run all season.

It took me a while to warm up to the fact that Rodney is indeed good again, but I’m not sleeping on him any longer.

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Joe Bond

Founder at FantasySixPack.net

Not just another "Average Joe" when it comes to Fantasy Sports, Joe is the fantasy brain trust behind the up-and-coming FantasySixPack.net. For years now Joe has been spreading his love and addiction of fantasy sports there and many other sites such as FantasyPros.com and FanDuel.com. You can often find him waiting by his computer for your questions on Twitter too.

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