Taking a look around the league, here’s a recap of last night’s action and suggestions for your fantasy baseball team.
Mr. Clutch (pitcher) – Last night can only be described as a pitchers duel. Cliff Lee and Matt Harvey were brilliant against their respective foes, but not better than Hyun-Jin Ryu. Against the Angels, Ryu had a compete-game shutout, allowing just two hits while striking out seven. Ryu has been fairly solid in his first big-league season with a 3.30 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. What is even more surprising is he’s still available in over 75 percent of leagues. With a big game like this, it should put him on the map. He is worth owning in a 12-team mixed league.
Mr. Clutch (hitter) – Adam LaRoche continues his hot month of May, going 2-for-3 with two home runs, three runs, four RBIs and a walk. If you were lucky enough to get Adam LaRoche after he fell to waivers in many leagues, you’ve got to be happy with the results. In the past two weeks, only Joey Votto and Chris Davis have been better according to ESPN’s player rater.
Surprise, surprise! – If you picked up Rick Porcello to stream yesterday, you have to happy with the results. Against the Pirates, he went 8.0 innings allowing zero runs, three hits, a walk while striking out eleven. He didn’t get a win, but he was lights out. Porcello has struggled this year but looking at his advanced stats has been a bit unlucky. He has been prone to the long ball, but a 20.6% HR/FB rate is just unsustainable. He could be a nice matchups play from here on out.
Here comes the heat – Brian McCann looks to have gotten over his 2012 injury-plagued season and has been red hot since coming off of the DL. Last night was no different, going 2-for-5 with two home runs, two runs and four RBIs. McCann has four home runs in 60 plate appearances and has a slash line of .269/.350/.667. The major drawback to his value is he’s losing at-bats to Evan Gattis. Unless Gattis cools off, this will be a problem this season going forward.
Left out in the breeze – Mariano Rivera blew his first save last night against the Mets giving up two runs (one earned) as the Mets walked off. No worries here, Mo looks like he could do this gig for another 10 years.
Who’s trending? – Top Cardinals pitching prospect, Michael Wacha has been called up and gets the nod Thursday against the Royals. In triple-A, he had a 2.05 ERA and a 34:15 K:BB. If you need pitching, he could be a decent pickup. He will at least be a streaming option tomorrow.
Bench me, please? – As one pitching prospect comes up, look for another to head back down soon. Kevin Gausman got lit up last night going only 4.0 innings allowing eight hits, seven earned runs and a walk. This, to me, looks like a trend with Orioles pitching prospects, and I start to question the organization on their pitching development. They are leaving Gausman up to face the death squad (Sunday vs Detroit), which will probably shatter his confidence, ruining his value as a pitcher for years to come. When you see guys like Gausman, Brian Matusz, Zach Britton, and Chris Tillman, who were all good pitching prospects, just not fully developed as pros, you wonder about Dylan Bundy. Elbow issues aside, I wonder if he is going to have a similar fate? He is a head above in pedigree than any other Orioles pitcher, but clearly they have a track record for failure.
The Streamer – I am a David Phelps believer and he should have a big game facing the Mets. Deploy with confidence!