With the trade deadline quickly approaching, #HugWatch has spilled over into the Fangraphs offices:
Rumors are that Fangraphs is shopping me, but that no one wants to take on the money involved which is quite minimal. #HugWatch
— Justin Mason (@JustinMasonFWFB) July 25, 2017
Jonathan Schoop is having one heck of a season, with a breakout that’s produced some gaudy numbers. He’s hitting over .300, he’s already hit 21 bombs, he’s tied for 8th in the league in RBI with 70 — basically, he’s doing everything you want as a fantasy owner, except stealing bases. It’s no surprise that he’s currently the No. 6 second baseman in standard leagues, even in a year that’s seen incredible production at the keystone.
With a career .192 isolated power, the 25-year-old already had good power production in the majors, but this year he’s upped that mark to a .246 ISO, supplementing his 21 homers with 26 doubles. Even more impressively, Schoop is hitting .307, a significant jump from his .261 career average.
Of course, with marked improvements like this come questions of sustainability, and justifiably so. With this in mind, let’s try and figure out what to expect from young Mr. Schoop moving forward.
Today’s Prospect Stock Watch takes a look at a Jays pitching prospect that might make a good trade chip, a Dodgers catching prospect that should reach the Top 100 prospects list soon, and another potential Rule 5 pick for this December.
Sean Reid-Foley, RHP, Blue Jays: Reid-Foley has been one of those maddening young pitchers in 2017 due to his lack of command and consistency. He has overwhelming stuff — as witnessed by his 12 Ks in 6.2 innings on Friday night — thanks to a 95-97 mph fastball and slider but he’s also given up 12 homers and has a habit of producing a clunker of a game every two or three starts. He’s been better lately — In his first five starts of the year he got past three innings just once. He struggles to repeat his delivery and part of his issues may also be mental – he seems to meltdown pretty easily and is prone to overthrowing. A four-pitch pitcher, Reid-Foley may be better suited by trimming his repertoire and focusing on three offerings; if he can improve the fastball command he doesn’t really need many other tricks to overpower hitters other than a change of speed and/or plane. With Toronto’s pitching in a state of flux, Reid-Foley should have a good opportunity to throw meaningful innings at the big league level in 2018 — although he also seems like the type of pitcher that’s due for Tommy John surgery sooner rather than later (throws hard, inconsistent mechanics, etc). If I’m the Jays, I’m looking to use him in a package to acquire a young, controllable hitter.
Episode 282 – Was That A “Crash Davis?”
The latest episode of “Field of Streams” is live!
In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss Colin Moran’s injury, strange ownership percentages, Chris Smith and Cesar Valdez, Alex Meyer’s inconsistent success, Matt’s hate of the bad Guaranteed Rate logo, Dylan thinking about maybe possibly considering Scott Feldman, plenty of discussion about home/road splits, the return of Vince Velasquez, Matt contemplating a potential Irish on irish matchup, Stars and Scrubs strategies, and Matt feeling like he’s in a weird fandom place.
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There are a lot of players in Major League Baseball. There are even more in the minors. I’m not a prospect guy and rarely know names much outside the top 10 in baseball. So when a player is called up, I often times never heard of the player and unless I know him as a top 10 prospect, I generally don’t even bother to do the research to determine if he’s worth a pickup. In a shallow league, 90% of the time, the answer is no. But then that hitter keeps hitting home runs and I wonder to myself “who the heck is this guy?!” Let’s discuss some of those players that led to such a reaction.
Me coming back from vacation only to see Kershaw and Strasburg get hurt today:
With the trade deadline fast approaching, there was plenty of relevant bullpen activity on a busy Sunday afternoon…
Sean Doolittle pitched a scoreless ninth with the Nationals up by four against the Diamondbacks. He now has two saves and the completion of a four-run win under his belt with his new team, and Ryan Madson has yet to see a save opportunity in Washington. It bears repeating, however, that Dusty Baker has indicated that he may mix and match with those two in the ninth, and that he will be cautious with Doolittle given his history of arm issues. Even if Doolittle is the main closer in Washington, which appears to be the case for now, Madson is probably still worth stashing in holds leagues, and to those desperate for saves, in case Doolittle falters or sustains another injury.
Zach Britton struck out two and walked one en route to his first save since April 14. Orioles ownership has reportedly given management the green light to trade Britton, so his status is worth monitoring closely in the coming days. His successful save conversion on Sunday was a good start, but Britton has missed a lot of time with a forearm injury this season and teams might not be willing to give up what the Orioles would want in return for their ace reliever. If Britton remains with the Orioles, he will likely reclaim the closer’s role in full capacity assuming he can remain healthy. If he’s traded, however, it’s possible that he could be used in an Andrew Miller-type role on a new team.
On Saturday, Hector Neris allowed a run on three hits in what had been a tie game in the ninth, and was saddled with the loss. On Sunday, with a three-run ninth-inning lead, the Phillies went to Luis Garcia for the save chance. He struck out one in a perfect frame. It was his first save of the season and just the third of his career. Despite the rare save opportunity, Garcia’s peripherals don’t suggest he’s a closer in the making, so the grid remains unchanged for now. Neris’ grip on the ninth, however, remains relatively shaky.
Jose Leclerc was brought into a left-heavy section of the Rays’ lineup in the ninth with the Rangers up by one. He struck out two and walked two to secure the save. Leclerc has an exceptional 35.5 percent strikeout rate this season, but he’s also walked 16.1 percent of batters. Along Alex Claudio and Keone Kela, Leclerc is in the Rangers’ ninth-inning mix. Despite picking up the majority of saves for the Rangers recently, Jeff Banister wouldn’t commit to Alex Claudio as his closer, and Sunday’s converted save chance by Leclerc seemed to back that up. Matt Bush, who held the closer’s role for the Rangers earlier this season, pitched a scoreless seventh with the Rangers trailing by a run on Sunday.
Kenley Jansen blew a three-run ninth-inning lead against the Braves. Jansen allowed the first two batters to reach but settled down and got two outs before finally allowing a three-run homer to Matt Adams that tied the game. It was Jansen’s first blown save of the season.
Staying in the National League West, Brad Hand picked up a save against the Giants on Sunday. Brandon Maurer is San Diego’s usual closer, and he blew a save on Friday when he surrendered two two-out baserunners and a game-tying, three-run blast to Conor Gillaspie. If Hand wasn’t likely to be traded, it might be a bigger deal that he got the save chance over Maurer on Sunday. As it is, Maurer will remain in the closer’s spot on the grid for now, and Hand’s future is completely unknown at this time. If he isn’t traded, he could conceivably take over the closer’s role in San Diego. If he is traded, there’s no telling what his role will be. He’s probably worth owning in all holds leagues, as he’s quietly one of the best relievers in baseball.
With the Yankees leading by two runs in Seatlle, Dellin Betances pitched the seventh and David Robertson pitched the eighth. Betances has struggled mightily with command this season to the tune of a 17.8 percent walk rate, and it appears that Robertson may snag the eighth inning role and be next in line for saves behind closer Aroldis Chapman. For now, Betances will remain in his usual spot behind Chapman on the grid, but that could change if he continues to see the seventh and Robertson continues to see the eighth.
There were a few fresh faces in the eighth inning on Sunday: Blake Parker of the Angels, Bruce Rondon of the Tigers, and Jason Grilli of the Rangers all pitched in close eighth innings despite occupying lesser roles recently. Parker and Grilli pitched spotless frames, and Rondon allowed two runs on three hits before giving way to Justin Wilson for a four-out save opportunity. Wilson allowed a home run and a walk in the ninth but struck out three in the outing to secure his 12th save.
Other closer activity: Raisel Iglesias notched a two-inning save against the Marlins. Santiago Casilla allowed a hit but notched his 16th save against the Mets. Kelvin Herrera struck out two in a perfect ninth in a tie game at home. Bud Norris secured a one-run save against the Red Sox. Tyler Clippard was brought into a two-on, no out situation in a tie game in the ninth inning on the road, and he allowed a game-ending single to the first batter he faced, Brandon Moss. Brandon Kintzler entered in the top of the ninth with the Twins trailing by a run, and he allowed three runs on two hits and two walks. Jim Johnson entered in the bottom of the 10th in a tie game against the Dodgers, and allowed the winning run to score. Aroldis Chapman allowed two hits but struck out one and notched his 11th save of the season against the Mariners.
Closer Grid:
[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]
J.T. Realmuto has been an unheralded star at the thinnest fantasy position this year:
Two homers AND a double last night? Sheesh, @JTRealmuto. 👀#FishWin | #LetsPlay pic.twitter.com/fKy6tvUIv5
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) July 23, 2017
The 26-year old catcher has a .305 AVG, 10 HR, and 5 SB in 332 PA so far. He needed 545 PA to notch 11 HR last year. He’s also legitimately fast, not just catcher-fast.
On the Agenda:
7/22/17
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Leading Off: Question of the Day
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The D’Backs are the new kids on the block when it comes to contending, but they quickly showed Max Scherzer that they mean business:
Back-to-back-to-back @Dbacks. pic.twitter.com/XK5szMndWR
— MLB (@MLB) July 22, 2017
David Peralta, A.J. Pollock, and Jake Lamb go back-to-back-to-back to open what would be a 6-5 walkoff win on Friday.
On the Agenda: