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) – Patrick Corbin has taken the fantasy world by storm this season, and he delivered a coup de grâce last night. Patrick Corbin threw a complete game allowing three hits, one run, a walk while striking out 10 in Colorado. Patrick Corbin screams sell high with a hefty 88.2 LOB% and a minuscule 3.9 percent HR/FB rate but he continues to pile up solid numbers and is having an amazing year.
Mr. Clutch (hitter) – Is Brandon Belt emerging? Going 4-for-4 with a home run, four runs and a RBI gets you noticed. You have to like that everything is pointing up for Belt — OBP of .329, SLG of .449, ISO of .188 are all career highs. His plate discipline has improved as well. Belts Z-Swing% has remained on pace from last season of 81.5 but his Z-Contact% of 89.2 has improved from his career average of 86.1. Belt’s O-Swing% of 34.8 is up just a bit from his career average of 31.5. The big difference; however, is his O-Contact% of 64.6 is much higher than his career average of 58.8. You wonder if his contact percentage is just a young player improving or just a young player playing above his head in a small sample size. I have said all year I like Belt’s upside. I think he is going to be a .270 hitter with 20-home-run power. He is out there in way too many leagues, and he should be owned in at least 12-team mixed leagues.
Surprise, surprise! – Yan Gomes was the big winner last night going 3-for-5 with two home runs, two runs and four RBIs. In 55 plate appearances, Gomes has a .302/.309/.642 slash line and a .340 ISO. The K% is half of what it was from last season, but he only has one walk. Gomes doesn’t get enough playing time for 12-team mixed leagues to be relevant, but he is a guy to keep an eye on if more playing time opens up. He could have value, especially as a catcher.
Here comes the heat – Shh! Don’t look now, but Evan Longoria is very quietly having a career year. The big knock has always been health, but we are 190 plate appearances in and Longoria is still kicking it. Last night, he continued his 14-game hitting streak going 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs. He has a .331/.395/.580 slash line along with a .250 ISO. While I don’t think Longoria is going to win the MVP like I predicted at the beginning of the year, he could find himself in the discussion by the end of the season.
Left out in the breeze – Someone had to be on the end of that smack down that Corbin had and it is none other than Carlos Gonzalez. Having an 0-for-4 night with three strikeouts helps no one. I’m not worried about it. CarGo has been money in the bank. An 0-for-off-night is nothing to worry about.
Who’s trending? – Jurickson Profar is trending and he should be. He’s a very good prospect at a pretty weak position. I don’t believe Ron Washington when he says that Profar and Leury Garcia will split time. The Rangers need to know if Profar can stick. If he rakes, they will find a way for him to stay up and that is a fact. I don’t think I am risking it in a 10-team mixed league that’s a non-keeper, but every other league I am picking him up. Got to love that upside!
Bench me, please? – Is it time to start worrying about Todd Frazier? Last night he was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, giving him a .224/.306/.395 slash line on the season. K% is up however F-Strike% of 58.6 as well as SwStr% of 11.4 are both down from last season. Another couple numbers that jump out a bit is his O-Swing% of 32.4 is down from last season from last season’s 34.3 and his O-Contact% of 59.5 is way down from last season which was 65.7. It seems as though Frazier is not being aggressive enough at the plate. In my opinion he is a buy-low from this point forward.
The Streamer – Jose Fernandez is legit people — 9.0 K/9, 1.16 WHIP, 3.48 ERA, 3.44 FIP and 3.44 xFIP. He is taking on the Phillies who, by all accounts, have a bottom-five offense. Deploy with confidence!
