2014 Fantasy Baseball: 5 Shrewd Plays For June 21

It's been a bit of an underwhelming season for Andrus, but boy has he turned on the jets of late. He's batting an outstanding .412 over his last eight games, plus has chipped in four steals and six runs scored. He'll square off against Jered Weaver tonight, and that's more good news for Andrus. Not only does Weaver sport a 5.57 ERA over his last five games, but Andrus is hitting .354 against him in 65 career at bats.

With six multi-hit performances in his last 11 games, this fellow is looking more and more like a top fantasy 2B these days. He'll look to keep the fire burning when the Reds take on J.A. Happ and the Toronto Blue Jays this afternoon. To go along with a very high 1.56 WHIP, right-handed bats are hitting 62 points higher against Happ than lefties on the season.

After passing all of his concussion tests, Brantley should be back in the starting lineup today. That should be great news for the Indians, and could be good for you too. The star outfielder is hitting a sensational .552 over his last nine games, plus faces the immensely struggling Justin Verlander this evening. Verlander's ERA is an incredible 7.92 over his last seven games, plus Brantley is a .378 career hitter against him in 45 at bats.

Hamels has been as dominant as any pitcher in baseball the past few weeks. He sports a magnificent 1.57 ERA over his last eight starts, and has struck out an incredible 62 batters in his last 57.2 innings pitched. He faces the St. Louis Cardinals today, and on top of being the 4th lowest scoring team in baseball at 3.68 runs per game, they are hitting a meager .232 versus left-handed pitching this year.

There is absolutely no slowing down this rookie sensation. He's batting .308 over his past 10 games, plus has already launched six HRs in the month of June. The Sox play on the road against Kevin Correia and the Minnesota Twins today, and I smell more success for Abreu. Correia sports a stinky 7.34 ERA at home this season, plus right-handers are batting a rosy .319 against him.