Less than a month ago, here's what I wrote about Barry Zito: "If he can maintain his lower home run rate while reducing his WHIP through fewer walks and line drives, then we might have a rosterable pitcher on our hands."

Fast forwarding to Week 6, the Giants' southpaw is the National League's second Most Added player on CBSSports.com. Has he met the tall order of simultaneously reducing home runs, walks and line drives? To paraphrase Meat Loaf, apparently two of three is good enough. Zito still sports the same 21 percent line drive rate that he had last season, but he has made dramatic improvements in his home run and walk rates. The result is a 1-3, 3.89 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 29 K stat line that owners just can't get enough of.

The question is whether or not these improvements will stick. From all indications, it looks like they will. Zito's strikeout rate is right in line with his rates from the last three seasons, while his new-and-improved 3.2 BB/9 makes last year's 5.1 rate look like an outlier rather than the beginning of a downward spiral. (If you're scoring at home, here's the five-year trend since '05: 3.5, 4.0, 3.8, 5.1, 3.2.)

The reduction in his home run rate has been supported by an eight percentage point decrease in his flyball rate. This year's Zito has actually shown a skill set that is much more similar to what he demonstrated in his Cy Young year than what he showed last year. The biggest difference between the 2009 model Zito and Cy Zito is that he hasn't had as much luck with balls in play turning into outs. That's not to say that he's a Cy Young-quality pitcher again (and he wasn't really one in the first place), but for the first time in years, he is someone you can trust on a mixed league roster.

More guys in demand

Shairon Martis, SP, Washington
Week 6 Ownership: 15 percent
Week 7 Ownership: 36 percent
Rank in NL Most Added: 1st
The Skinny: It doesn't take an advance degree in math to figure out that Martis' 5-0 record for the Nats is a matter of luck. Without nearly 10 runs of support per nine innings, he would be just another pitcher with a league-average ERA and WHIP. Since we all know that wins aren't going to come as easily for Martis over the next 20 weeks, there had better be something else in it for Fantasy owners to take a chance on the rookie righty. The hallmarks of Martis' career have been low home run rates and decent control. That's not a bad combination, but there are plenty of major league starters who fit that profile.

Whether Martis separates himself from the pack depends on whether he can replicate the 9.4 K/9 rate he compiled in Triple-A and the majors last year. Prior to '08, he was not much of a strikeout pitcher, and he's been fanning just one batter every other inning this year. Martis is only 22, so he has plenty of time for him to rediscover his strikeout mojo, but for now, he's an average pitcher at best.

Year Team BB/9 K/9 HR/9 BABIP ERC
2008 Harrisburg (Double-A) 3.4 6.9 0.6 N/A N/A
2008 Columbus (Triple-A) 3.7 9.1 0.4 N/A N/A
2009 Washington 3.7 4.5 0.7 0.282 3.77

Eric Stults, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers
Week 6 Ownership: 14 percent
Week 7 Ownership: 28 percent
Rank in NL Most Added: 4th
The Skinny: Unlike Martis, Stults has shown the ability to strike out batters at every level, but it's the long ball that gets him into trouble. In nine professional seasons prior to this year, Stults has managed a HR/9 rate below 1.0 just twice when he has pitched at least 40 innings in a season. In '09, he has yielded just one homer in 32 2/3 innings, and he has already escaped visits to Coors and Chase Fields without getting jacked. A couple of dinger-free games in the Mountain West doesn't prove that Stults is cured of gopheritis, but it shows how effective Stults can be if he keeps the ball in play. His 42 percent flyball rate is equal to last year's, however, so don't be surprised if Stults' pitches start to fly out of the park more frequently. He will still be a good source of strikeouts, but without long-term improvement in his home run rate, Stults' ERA and WHIP are not the stuff of mixed league play.

Year Team BB/9 K/9 HR/9 BABIP ERC
2007 L.A. Dodgers 4.0 7.0 1.2 0.363 6.25
2008 L.A. Dodgers 3.0 7.0 1.4 0.278 4.07
2009 L.A. Dodgers 3.9 5.5 0.3 0.298 3.78

Other guys drawing interest

Rank Player Week 6 Ownership Week 7 Ownership Percentage change
2. Barry Zito, SP, San Francisco 36% 55% 19%
3. Juan Pierre, OF, L.A. Dodgers 33% 51% 18%
5. Todd Helton, 1B, Colorado 71% 83% 12%

Guys Dropping Like Flies

Adam LaRoche, 1B, Pittsburgh
Week 6 Ownership: 65 percent
Week 7 Ownership: 58 percent
Rank in NL Most Dropped: 7th (tied)
The Skinny: This just hasn't been LaRoche's season. If watching his average drop from .300 to .233 in less than three weeks wasn't frustrating enough, he then became the first player in major league history to have a home run taken away by a review of instant replay. As badly as his season has gone, instant replay may be the only way to slow down LaRoche's power. His 16 extra base hits and .233 Isolated Power have him on pace to have a better year than he did last year. LaRoche's whiff rate is about the same as it was in '08, so what's up with the low batting average? About one-fourth of his line drives have turned into flyballs, and that's a recipe for some serious batting average shrinkage. It would be easy enough to ignore 120 at-bats worth of flyball-happiness, but LaRoche's flyball rate has been on the rise since his Atlanta days. His average should rebound somewhat, but it's time to consider that LaRoche's days as a .270 hitter may be behind him.

Year Team Walk Rate Whiff Rate Iso Power BABIP RC/27 SB
2007 Pittsburgh 10% 23% 0.187 0.321 5.3 1
2008 Pittsburgh 10% 25% 0.230 0.313 6.0 1
2009 Pittsburgh 10% 25% 0.233 0.262 5.0 0

Guys wearing roster repellant

Rank Player Week 6 Ownership Week 7 Ownership Percentage change
1. Jonathan O. Sanchez, SP, San Francisco 61% 49% -12%
2. Joe Beimel, RP, Washington 26% 15% -11%
3. Dexter Fowler, OF, Colorado 54% 44% -10%
4. Kyle Lohse, SP, St. Louis 89% 80% -9%
5. Doug Davis, SP, Arizona 51% 43% -8%
Glossary
Runs Created per 27 Outs (RC/27) -- An estimate of how many runs a lineup would produce per 27 outs if a particular player occupied each spot in the order; ex. the RC/27 for Miguel Cabrera would predict the productivity of a lineup where Cabrera (or his statistical equal) batted in all nine spots; created by Bill James
Component ERA (ERC) -- An estimate of a what a pitcher's ERA would be if it were based solely on actual pitching performance; created by Bill James
GO/AO -- Ground out-fly out ratio
GB/FB -- Ground ball-fly ball ratio
Base Hits per Balls in Play (BABIP) -- The percentage of balls in play (at bats minus strikeouts and home runs) that are base hits; research by Voros McCracken and others has established that this rate is largely random and has a norm of approximately 30%
Isolated Power -- The difference between slugging percentage and batting average; created by Branch Rickey and Allan Roth
Walk Rate -- Walks / (at bats + walks)
Whiff Rate -- Strikeouts / at bats

Al Melchior was recently a Fantasy columnist and data analyst for Baseball HQ and will be providing advice columns for CBSSports.com. Click here to send him a question. Please put "Melchior" in the subject field.