by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

Aaron Sanchez made his Major League debut out of the bullpen, tossing 2.0 perfect innings with 2 K (unfortunately there’s little chance he makes an impact in 2014).  Mark Reynolds showed off his power, going 3-4 with 2 HR, 3 RBI and 2 R, but of course he is still hitting just .207.  Bartolo Colon flirted with perfection, ultimately allowing 2 ER on 3 H and 1 BB, striking out 5, over 7.1 IP against the Mariners.

1) Jose Quintana continues to get the job done…
It wasn’t necessarily his “best” performance, considering he managed just 3 K, but he allowed 1 R on 7 H and 2 BB over 7.0 IP and nearly matched James Shields pitch for pitch (7.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 7 K).  Overall he owns a 3.15 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, but has been even better since June 19.  In seven starts since that date he is just 2-0, but owns a 1.72 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 9.34 K/9 and 2.48 BB/9 over 47.2 IP.  Granted, he has benefited from a .256 BABIP, but he has kept the ball in the ballpark (five straight starts without allowing a HR).  Also, his overall .300 BABIP and 22.2% line drive rate aren’t outrageous and his 68.1% strand rate is unlucky.  There will likely be bumps along the way, but he’s thriving right now and is a must own and must use in all formats.

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by Will Overton

There were several under the radar performers who stepped up last night and made a big splash in fantasy baseball. That always makes for good talking points and here are 10 of the night’s biggest stories:

1. J.A. Happ Is Solid At Home, But Only At Home

The splits for J.A. Happ at home and on the road are startling and he turned in another great start at home last night against the Red Sox. Happ threw six shutout innings with four strikeouts and picked up his eighth win of the season. Happ has an ERA of 3.42 at home this season now and 6.27 on the road. Happ is also good for an extra K per nine innings at home at 7.7 K/9 when in Toronto. Things have been kind of rough for Happ recently, but he’s proving to be at least a decent spot starter at home right now, especially in the right matchups. Read more

by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

Cliff Lee made his much anticipated return from the DL, but fell completely flat (5.2 IP, 6 ER, 12 H, 1 BB, 3 K).  It’s a great example of why we are generally skeptical of pitchers in their first start off the DL.  He wasn’t the only pitcher returning pitcher, with Bud Norris (who was recalled from Triple-A and we’ll talk about in a bit) and Jonathan Niese (6.0 IP, 4 ER, 11 H, 2 BB, 6 K) also taking the mound.  What else do we need to know from yesterday’s games?  Let’s take a look:

1) Shane Greene has first unimpressive outing…  Kind of…
He wasn’t awful, allowing 4 ER on 5 H and 1 BB, striking out 5, over 5.2 IP, though you can blame five errors as part of the problem (of course, he committed three of them himself).  Greene still owns an impressive 2.79 ERA and 0.98 WHIP over 19.1 IP, though you have to wonder if this could be the beginning of his demise.  We have to remember that he owned a 4.61 ERA and 1.58 WHIP in 66.1 innings at Triple-A prior to his recall.  Also, while he was a decent groundball pitcher in the minors (48.4% since 2011), there’s little chance he maintains his current 63.6% mark.  Throw in potentially questionable control (3.58 BB/9 in the minors since ’11, 2.79 in the Majors) and you see the potential struggles.  Don’t move mountains if he’s still on your waiver wire, especially since the Yankees figure to be active on the trade market.

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by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

On a day where Casey McGehee actually homered (2-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R) and Gio Gonzalez struggled (3.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 5 K), there were ample stories on the field that we need to keep track of.  Let’s take a look:

1) Drew Smyly solid against the Indians…
Over 7.0 strong innings he allowed 1 ER on 4 H and 2 BB, striking out 6.  It was a strong bounce back performance, after allowing 13 ER over his previous three starts (14.1 IP).  The Tigers have been inconsistent with their usage of Smyly, at times, this season though that wasn’t the issue during his poor stretch of games.  Overall the numbers are still solid, with a 3.80 ERA and 1.30 WHIP, as home runs (1.33 HR/9 entering the day) have been his biggest issue.  Even yesterday the lone run against came via the long ball so it’s going to be something we have to continue monitoring.  Consider him a low-end option, though one worth owning.

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by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

There were injuries across the game yesterday, including Troy Tulowitzki and Yasiel Puig, though both appear to have been scares but only minor issues.  We’ll have to monitor the situations closely, however, just in case.  What else happened that we need to know about?  Let’s take a look:

1) Marcus Stroman thrives against the Rangers…
He tossed 7.0 shutout innings allowing 4 H and 0 BB, while striking out 5.  He’s now thrown 54.0 innings as a starting pitcher, owning a 2.50 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 8.00 K/9 and 2.00 BB/9.  He has benefited from a little bit of luck, given an 80.2% strand rate, but he also owns a 48.1% groundball rate.  As we’ve been saying all along, Stroman’s upside is as high (if not higher) than any other young pitcher who is going to arrive in 2014.  The thing to watch is going to be his innings, as he threw 123.1 innings a year ago.  However, he’s only at 96.0 this season so we have to assume he has around 60.0 innings to work with.  That should get him to the end of the year and, with his trio of skills, is worth owning in all formats.  Just be prepared for a few blips on the radar, but don’t panic when they hit.

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by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

Yu Darvish sparkled, with 12 K over 6.2 IP against the Blue Jays.  Jason Kipnis showed signs of bucking his poor second half trend, going 2-5 with 2 HR, 4 RBI and 2 R.  Travis d’Arnaud continued his renaissance by going 3-5 with 2 RBI and 1 R, including driving in the game-winning run.  What else happened on the field that we should know about?  Let’s take a look:

1) Is Corey Dickerson for real…
He had a big day, going 2-4 with 1 RBI and 2 SB hitting in the leadoff spot, and how owns an impressive line for the year (.329, 11 HR, 36 RBI, 37 R and 8 SB over 213 AB).  However, there’s a lot of questionable numbers in his underlying statistics like a 30.6% line drive rate, .388 BABIP and 20.0% HR/FB.  Are any of those numbers maintainable?  Keep in mind he owned a 16.6% line drive rate in the minors (since 2011) and since 2009 there have only been 10 seasons where a player carried a line drive rate of 27% or more for an entire season (with 29.8%, by James Loney last season, being the best).  It’s not to say that he shouldn’t be owned or isn’t worth using, just expect a regression to be in his future.

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