Minor League Player Updates - Fantasy Baseball 2011

With more and more emphasis on picking up the right player at the right time in your fantasy baseball leagues waiver wire, here is my list of minor league player updates to keep you in the loop with players who could make an impact on your fantasy baseball team in the very near future.

I will continue to update this list each week throughout the season, so feel free to follow along. Here are my top minor league players to keep tabs on in your league right now. The number after each players name is their % owned in 12 team mixed yahoo leagues.

Jerry Sands - OF - Los Angeles Dodgers - (NA) - (4/18/11)
After hitting 35 homeruns in the minors last season, the 23 year old Sands is off to a terrific start at Triple A this season as he has already tallied 5 homeruns and 17 rbi while racking up a .400 batting average over his first 40 at bats through 10 games. With the LF spot a revolving door in the Dodgers lineup, and James Loney struggling at the plate to begin the season, Sands is an OF/1B combo player who could easily be in store for a late May early June callup. With plenty of power to spare, Sands could actually become a 15 plus homerun player for the Dodgers this season if he can grab around 300 at bats.

Brett Jackson - OF - Chicago Cubs - (0%) - (4/18/11)
The Cubs 1st round pick in the 2009 draft, Jackson has opened the 2011 season as Double A doing exactly what many expected of him. After tallying 30 stolen bases, 12 homeruns, 103 runs scored and a batting average at .297 last season in the minors, Jackson has already kicked off the 2011 season with 5 stolen bases, 13 runs scored, 1 homerun, 7 rbi and a .441 batting average over his first 34 at bats through 10 games. If Carlos Pena continuing to hit around the .200 level, Tyler Colvin could see more playing time at 1B and Jackson could eventually split time in RF with Kosuke Fukudome. Other better yet, if the Cubs fall out of contention by midsummer, they may trade Marlon Byrd and open up the everyday starting CF spot for Jackson. If Jackson continues to develop power to go along with his speed as a leadoff hitter, an Andrew McCutchen comparison is not that far off for Brett Jackson at this point.

Grant Green - SS - Oakland Athletics - (0%) - (4/18/11)
The Athletics shortstop of the future could be in line for a big league promotion by midsummer if he starts to get in a groove at the plate in the minors. Green is currently playing at Double A, but he has tallied just 8 hits over his first 41 at bats. Yet even at that, Green has already notched 1 homerun and 1 triple over that span, to go along with a decent ratio of 4 walks to 7 strikeouts. With the current Athletics shortstop mixture of Cliff Pennington and even Andy LaRoche getting playing time, it would not take much for Green to make his major league debut by June.