The injury bug has spread throughout major league infields like a bad cold making its way around an airplane cabin. Orlando Hudson, Evan Longoria, Mike Lowell and Joe Crede are just some of the infielders who are spending some quality time on the DL. Some of their replacements have played surprisingly well, but all are not necessarily cut out for mixed Fantasy league stardom. Sean Casey, for example, is batting .350 and will get a chance to produce more RBI and runs with Kevin Youkilis moving over to third base to fill in for Lowell. While Casey has always hit well for average, he is not likely to sustain his 40 percent H/BIP rate due to his complete lack of power and speed. Most likely, he will provide owners with a .300 average and little else from here on out.

Red Sox teammate Jed Lowrie has done a nice job replacing the injured Julio Lugo, hitting .310 with 13 doubles in just 129 at-bats. He has shown decent home run power in the minors, at least for a middle infielder, but it has yet to appear in the big leagues. It's unlikely that Lowrie will continue to hit over .300 as he, too, has benefited from a suspiciously-high H/BIP. An empty .280 average is about the best we expect from Lowrie going forward.

Other replacement infielders have been disappointing, but could actually be worth picking up. Chris Burke and his .204 average look inadequate for the task of replacing Orlando Hudson, but his power and contact indicators from the past few seasons are just a shade below those of Hudson. Burke could easily hit around .270 with 20 runs scored and half a dozen steals over the last six weeks of the season. This might be hard to believe after seeing his current stats, but those numbers have been dampened by his 24 percent H/BIP.

Willy Aybar's struggles with health and off-the-field issues have made people forget that he was once a prized prospect, and this year's bad luck with H/BIP (24 percent) isn't helping matters. Sitting behind Evan Longoria on the depth chart also doesn't do much for one's comeback chances. This year, however, he has shown the ability to hit for power and contact that he demonstrated in the minors. With better luck, he could make the most of his opportunity to play in Longoria's place. Aybar may be hitting just .231 right now, but he could be useful in mixed leagues down the stretch. If other third base alternatives, like Ty Wigginton, Chase Headley or Ian Stewart, are unavailable, Aybar will probably be there for the taking. He is rostered in just four percent of CBSSports.com leagues.

All statistics below are for season-to-date performances through Friday, August 15.

'Lucky' Hitters H/BIP RC/27 'Lucky' Pitchers H/BIP ERC
Ian Stewart, 3B, Colorado 40% 7.3 Jeff Karstens, SP, Pittsburgh 18% 1.94
Sean Casey, 1B, Boston 40% 6.9 Justin Masterson, SP, Boston 23% 3.53
Jerry Hairston, OF Cincinnati 39% 7.7 Justin Duchscherer, SP, Oakland 24% 2.30
Howie Kendrick, 2B, L.A. Angels 38% 5.8 Jeff Samardzija, RP, Chicago Cubs 24% 1.14
Ramon Vazquez, 3B, Texas 38% 6.5 Armando Galarraga, SP, Detroit 24% 2.99
Jed Lowrie, SS, Boston 38% 5.9 Kevin Gregg, RP, Florida 24% 2.57
Fred Lewis, OF, San Francisco 37% 6.1 Joe Saunders, SP, L.A. Angels 25% 3.17
Mike Aviles, SS, Kansas City 36% 6.4 Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP, Boston 26% 3.38
Kelly Shoppach, C, Cleveland 36% 5.7 John Grabow, RP, Pittsburgh 26% 3.64
Darin Erstad, OF, Houston 35% 4.3 Jason T. Davis, RP, Pittsburgh 27% 2.66
Unlucky' Hitters H/BIP RC/27 'Unlucky' Pitchers H/BIP ERC
Travis Metcalf, 3B, Texas 17% 1.4 Clay Buchholz, SP, Boston 36% 6.28
Andy LaRoche, 3B, Pittsburgh 18% 2.6 Jorge De La Rosa, SP, Colorado 36% 5.51
Corey Patterson, OF, Cincinnati 20% 2.4 Nate Robertson, SP, Detroit 35% 5.82
Nomar Garciaparra, 1B, L.A. Dodgers 23% 3.7 Carlos Silva, SP, Seattle 34% 5.68
Juan Rivera, OF, L.A. Angels 23% 4.2 Bronson Arroyo, SP, Cincinnati 34% 5.48
Mike Napoli, C, L.A. Angels 23% 5.9 Aaron Harang, SP, Cincinnati 34% 5.02
Geoff Blum, 2B, Houston 23% 3.9 Darrell Rasner, SP, N.Y. Yankees 33% 5.13
Chris Burke, 2B, Arizona 24% 3.2 Brian Wilson, RP, San Francisco 33% 3.90
Willy Aybar, 3B, Tampa Bay 24% 4.4 Andy Pettitte, SP, N.Y. Yankees 33% 4.33
Brandon Inge, 3B, Detroit 26% 4.5 A.J. Burnett, SP, Toronto 33% 4.43
Good stats, good skills - hitters H/BIP RC/27 Good stats, good skills - pitchers H/BIP ERC
Aubrey Huff, 1B, Baltimore 31% 7.4 Mike Gonzalez, RP, Atlanta 28% 2.90
Conor Jackson, 1B, Arizona 32% 6.9 Rafael Perez, RP, Cleveland 30% 3.09
Jody Gerut, OF, San Diego 31% 6.2 Matt Cain, SP, San Francisco 29% 3.26
Stephen Drew, SS, Arizona 32% 5.7 B.J. Ryan, RP, Toronto 28% 3.38
Melvin Mora, 3B, Baltimore 29% 4.9 Scott Baker, SP, Minnesota 29% 3.49
Poor stats, poor skills - hitters H/BIP RC/27 Poor stats, poor skills - pitchers H/BIP ERC
Freddy Sanchez, 2B, Pittsburgh 27% 3.0 Vicente Padilla, SP, Texas 30% 5.27
Michael Bourn, OF, Houston 28% 3.2 Scott Feldman, SP, Texas 28% 5.18
Carlos Gomez, OF, Minnesota 32% 3.4 Jeff Suppan, SP, Milwaukee 30% 5.04
Juan Uribe, 2B, Chicago White Sox 28% 3.4 Charlie Morton, SP, Atlanta 29% 4.82
Ryan Garko, 1B, Cleveland 28% 4.0 Jason Bergmann, SP, Washington 30% 4.74
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
Base Hits per Balls in Play (H/BIP) -- 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.