Ian Stewart Loves Todd Helton's Back

Although Todd Helton has a reputation for keeping rookies out, it appears one rookie, Ian Stewart, is besting Helton at his own game. Because Helton has been out with a back injury, Ian Stewart has a place in the Rockies infield at third base, with Garrett Atkins covering Helton's usual position at first. Helton's injury appeared minor at first, but latest reports say Helton may not be able to play again this season. That is excellent news if you are Ian stewart or anyone who owns Stewart in a fantasy league as his playing time will not be question for the immediate future.

For the first half of the season, Ian Stewart bounced back and forth between the majors and minors. He would always mash Triple-A pitching and struggle against major league pitching. Everyone was disappointed in Ian Stewart's major league performance and even though he was (and still is) only 23, expectations were high for this 2003 top-10 selection. After the All-Star break and after Helton's injury on July 3rd, the Rockies decided to give IStew another shot. Man did he turn heads. Here's a breakdown of Stewart's season so far, pre and post All-Star Break.

	AB	HR	RBI	BB	AVG	OBP	SLG	ISO
Pre All-Star	55	3	5	3	.218	.283	.473	.255
Post All-Star	54	1	15	10	.370	.485	.537	.167

In almost the same amount of at bats, Stewart has been far-more productive in the second-half. As a fantasy bonus, he is eligible at both 2nd and 3rd base and he leads both of those positions in production over the last 30 days.

I included his Isolated Power (ISO) in the chart to show that even though his Slugging Percentage is higher Post All-Star break, he is not getting more extra-base hits by any means. The higher Slugging is the result of more singles and when those singles are stripped away, (essentially what ISO is) his actual power numbers show. Stewart did hit for a lot of power in the minors this year, .327 ISO, but at 23 his power does not seem to have translated into the majors yet. Over the next few years, I expect it to develop.

For now, Stewart appears to have figured out major league hitting. Even though his .467 BABIP jumps out at you, so does his 28 LD% . Perhaps a small regression is on the way, but Ian Stewart has the playing time, the skills, and Coors field as his home ball park going for him. If you have the roster spot to platoon him with another infielder, take note that he's hitting a whopping .529 against lefties and .250 against righties.

Continuing with my on-going saga about the Gio Gonzalez saga, Gio may get called up for tomorrow's start because Meyer, who was scheduled to make the start, had to throw 4 innings out of the bullpen last night. It is between Lenny DiNardo and Gio Gonzalez, I think you know who I am pulling for.