Fantasy: Looking for a young stud? Take your pick

Some young pitchers with potential and young power hitters highlight this week's waiver wire pickups.

Mat Latos (Padres, SP): The 6-6 righthander was getting sleeper status before the season, yet he's still unowned in many leagues. Latos has retired 55 of his last 58 batters and is coming off a one-hit shutout of the Giants. The K/9 of 6.65 isn't very high, but Latos, who skipped Triple-A, had 216 strikeouts in 1842/3 innings in the minors and has a BB/9 of 1.87. Some luck is playing a factor now with a .224 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) and an 80.8 percent strand rate, but a 51.6 ground ball rate and pitching in spacious Petco Park with upside makes him rosterable.

Mike Aviles (Royals, SS/2B): Aviles has played his way into the lineup and he'll see some time at shortstop and second base and that dual eligibility is especially valuable in deeper leagues. Just two years ago, he hit .325 with 10 home runs, 51 RBIs, 68 runs and eight stolen bases. In 37 at-bats, Aviles is hitting .405 with two home runs. He won't dominate any category, but can contribute across the board.

Travis Snider (Blue Jays, OF): Snider was batting .125 on April 28 and on the precipice of possibly being demoted to the minor leagues. Since then, he's 18-for-48 with three home runs, eight RBIs and nine runs. He still strikes out a lot, but it's down 7 percent from last season and his walk rate is 11.1 percent. There will be some struggles, but the power is legit.

Brennan Boesch (Tigers, OF): The 6-6 lefthander is batting .368 with three home runs and 16 RBIs in 57 at-bats. The average will decline, but the power is legit considering he hit 28 home runs in Double-A last season. Boesch's playing time could decrease when Carlos Guillen returns, but expect the Tigers to figure a way to keep him in the lineup since they could use a power bat from the left side.

Russell Branyan (Indians, 1B): As long as he's healthy, he's a good source of power.

Justin Masterson (Indians, SP): An 0-3 record, 5.23 ERA and 1.71 WHIP aren't fantasy worthy, but some bad luck has plagued him with a .411 BABIP, 64.9 percent strand rate, and a 22.2 HR/FB rate. He still needs to trim the 4.13 BB/9, but a 10.74 K/9, 55.3 percent ground ball rate and a 3.85 fielding independent pitching (FIP) show this is a skill set to own.

Max Ramirez (Rangers, C): The opportunity is there for Ramirez to seize the job, especially now that Jarrod Saltalamacchia is doing his best Mackey Sasser impersonation struggling to throw the ball back to the pitcher in his minor-league rehab. Ramirez homered Wednesday and Friday. Ramirez has shown good power in the minors except for last season, when he battled a wrist injury. He has value in AL-only leagues and deep mixed leagues that start two catchers.

All statistics through Thursday.