by Ray Kuhn

We celebrated Father’s Day with a full slate of exciting action around the league, so let’s jump right into some of the performances that stood out:

1) Trumbo Goes Deep
When you roster Mark Trumbo, it’s a trade-off; batting average for home runs. Instead, so far this season, it has gone in the opposite direction. Now the .261 batting average that Trumbo has after picking up three hits on Sunday wouldn’t be considered a true asset, but compared to his .234 average last season, it’s a nice upgrade. But where are the home runs? Yesterday, Trumbo went deep for just the fourth time all season, in 137 plate appearances, and his two RBI brought him up to 13 on the year. While 2016 and it’s 47 home runs a clear outlier, Trumbo is still behind his normal pace, and that is partly due to his decrease in fly balls (40.6% to 33.3%). Read more

by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

Luis Severino dominated the Rays, tossing 8.0 shutout innings allowing 3 H and 2 BB, striking out 9, to improve to 10-2 with a 2.09 ERA.  Alex Bregman helped to lead the Astros to a big victory, going 2-4 with 1 HR, 4 RBI and 2 R.  It was another big day for Eddie Rosario, who filled the box score by going 4-4 with 1 HR, 2 RBI, 4 R and 1 SB.  What else happened on the field that we need to know about?  Let’s dive in and take a look:

1) Nicholas Castellanos erupts against Lucas Giolito…
Castellanos took Giolito (5.1 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 6 K) deep twice, finishing the day going 3-5 with 2 HR, 5 RBI and 3 R.  He has not been a big source of power this season, still with only 8 HR on the year, though 22 doubles and 3 triples, as well as upside in his HR/FB (7.9% compared to last year’ 14.3%) shows that there is the potential for further growth.  There’s no questioning his ability to hit the ball hard (he entered with a 29.9% line drive rate), and that further supports it, though a 16.3% SwStr% and 39.4% O-Swing% are a bit of a red flag (especially considering his 22.9% strikeout rate).  Obviously the good outweighs the potential downside, with the potential for more power to help offset the potential rise in his strikeout rate.  Consider him a player well worth buying (or holding) at this point. Read more

by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

Kevin Gausman didn’t pitch poorly, but he struggled with walks and ultimately took the L against the Marlins allowing 2 ER on 5 H and 3 BB, striking out 7, over 5.2 IP.  Evan Gattis considered his tremendous stretch, going 2-4 with 1 HR and 4 RBI (he now has 4 HR and 14 RBI over his past four games).  James Paxton took it on the chin, allowing 6 R (5 earned) on 6 H and 1 BB, striking out 4, over 2.1 IP against the Red Sox.  What else happened on the field that we need to know about?  Let’s dive right in:

1) Is Lewis Brinson starting to turn things around…
He went 2-4 with 1 RBI yesterday and now has at least 1 H and 1 RBI in four of his past five games (the only time he didn’t was a game that he had 1 AB).  Over this stretch he’s gone 7-19 with 5 RBI, including 3 triples (2 of them came yesterday).  Of course he’s still hitting just .197 on the season as he entered the day with a 30.9% strikeout rate and .211 BABIP.  While the luck could come around, and has a bit (.286 in June), he’s shown very little improvement in his plate discipline (he entered yesterday with a 17.9% SwStr% and 41.8% O-Swing% in June).  There’s still upside and he’s the type of player to ride while he’s hot, but there’s a good chance that things go south again in a hurry.  Hold him in dynasty leagues, but in redraft it’s getting harder to believer for ’18. Read more

by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

It was a big day for Francisco Lindor, who went 2-5 with 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 R and 1 SB.  Michael Conforto went 1-3 with 1 HR, 1 RBI and 1 R, and fantasy owners can hope that it gives a small sign of hope that the turn around is coming.  It was a strong start for Felix Hernandez, albeit in a losing effort, as he allowed 2 ER on 8 H and 1 BB, striking out 6, over 7.0 IP against the Red Sox.  What else happened on the field that we need to know about?  Let’s dive in:

1) Was it really a strong showing for Dereck Rodriguez…
On the surface allowing 2 ER on 7 H and 0 BB, striking out 4, over 6.2 IP against the Marlins would appear promising.  However if you dig into the underlying metrics there’s reason for concern:

• Groundballs – 6 (vs. 10 fly balls)
• Swinging Strikes – 7

Neither one of those numbers are impressive, and the groundball rate reflects what he’s been showing (42.5% over his first 12.0 innings in the Majors, 37.1% at Triple-A prior to his recall).  That indicates that home runs are going to be an issue (and he allowed one yesterday), and even though he’s been showing strikeouts and control neither are a guarantee (7.8 K/9 over his minor league career, 3.23 BB/9 at Double-A in ’17).  There’s at least a little bit of intrigue, but it’s hard to get overly excited. Read more

by Ray Kuhn

Baseball is really a crazy game. You just don’t what is going to happen until it actually does, and that is one of the many things that keeps us hooked. Evan Gattis set a record last night, as with a solo home run after the game was well in hand, he became the first Astros’ player every with five RBI in consecutive games.

We know the Mets have been struggling to score runs as of late, but this will put it in perspective even further. Beginning on June 2nd, New York has scored a total of 10 runs. The Astros did that in the first two innings of their game in Oakland last night. With that being said, after Jacob deGrom threw another gem yesterday, allowing one run in seven innings and taking the loss, his ERA now sits at 1.55 on the season. And thanks to his lack of run support, his record is 4-2.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s take a look at some of the performances that stood out from a busy day in baseball: Read more

by Ray Kuhn

Last night brought with it a full slate of games for our enjoyment. Of course it wasn’t all good vibes across the league as we found out that Miguel Cabrera is now out for the season with a ruptured biceps tendon. The good thing, if you can find a silver lining, is that we have clarity on Cabrera’s status and you don’t have to add him to the ever growing list of injured players that are taking up valuable roster space. With that being said, let’s take a look at some of the performances of note from a busy Tuesday night:

1) E-Rod Continues to Win
If it is wins you are after, then Eduardo Rodriguez is your man. It wasn’t a particularly crisp outing, but facing Baltimore this season, you don’t need your best stuff. Rodriguez picked up his eighth victory of the season with 5.2 innings of two run ball, but you might say that he escaped. The southpaw allowed eight hits and four walks while striking four, but he was able to limit the damage. For a pitcher who is striking out 10.17 batters per nine innings so far this season, you could opine that it was a down outing, but Rodriguez was able to get through it. Read more