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) – Shelby Miller! Welcome to the big stage fella! Shelby Miller had a one-hit, complete game shutout last night with zero walks and 13 strikeouts against the fading Rockies. If you recall, Shelby Miller had a rough go of it last season in the minors. Throw on a DUI to boot, Miller went from one of the top-ranked prospects to a guy who many thought could not hold up to the pressure of the big leagues. This year has been a different story. For me, he is a top-30 pitcher going forward now, making the case to be in the top-20. You have to love the 10.05 K/9 and the only red flags are the LOB% of 84.2 and the .239 BABIP. Before this game, he probably was a buy-low, but now that ship has more than likely passed.
Mr. Clutch (hitter) – Ichiro Suzuki has been a shell of his former self with his numbers down all across the board. Last night, he gave us a glimpse of what he used to be. Going 3-for-5 with one home run, two RBIs, three runs and one stolen base. He is definitely not ownable in 10-team mixed leagues, and he is a fringe player in 12-team mixed players based on his upside, which at this point is probably .280 batting average, eight home runs, 25 stolen bases, 60 runs and 45 RBIs.
Surprise, surprise! – By all accounts, the Yankees should be awful, just awful and yet there they are sitting on top of the division. It is all thanks to guys like Lyle Overbay. They sign his corpse this season and some how gives them games like this last night. You know 4-for-5 with one home run, two runs scored and five RBIs. They are trotting out an old-timers softball exhibition game lineup that is some how getting it done with the Lyle Overbays of the world.
Here comes the heat – Matt Cain shutdown the Braves last night going 8.0 innings allowing three hits, two runs, two walks while striking out seven. His biggest problem has been the home run ball, and he continued to struggle with that again allowing one home run. The HR/FB rate has ballooned to 16.1 percent this season (career 7.0 percent) so this could be a start that gets him back on track. He is a definite buy-low candidate.
Left out in the breeze – When it is all said and done, Tony Cingrani could literally be left out in the breeze if he keeps up his insanely high HR/FB rate. Last night, he went 4.0 innings allowing five hits, two runs, two walks while striking out four. His two runs came off of back-to-back jacks by Ryan Braun and Jean Segura. To me, Cingrani looks to be a feast-or-famine type of pitcher. If I own him, I am cashing out for what I can get now.
Who’s trending? – As the old saying goes, you can overlook a lot when you keep hitting home runs. Five days ago, Mike Moustakas had only one home run to his name. Now, after going 1-for-4 with one home run, one run, one RBI and one walk, Moustakas has pushed his home run total to four. He could have a little Pedro Alvarez in him, but he could also be turning it around. He has been dropped in quite a few leagues so I think he is definitely worth a speculative pickup.
Bench me, please? – Well it had to end sometime, and benching Dexter Fowler would definitely help your team. Hopefully, you are smiling right now as you sold high. In his last eight games, Fowler is 3-for-26 with three runs and a stolen base. His numbers were just unsustainable. If you can find someone that still is buying Fowler, I’d take them up on it.
The Streamer – Kevin Slowey against the Dodgers is probably as good as it gets. Slowey may not get the win due to the lack of run support, but should be able to gobble up some innings with his low WHIP and ERA. Deploy with confidence!
