Actionable Items From Opening Day

1. Injuries

Keep track of these banged-up guys over the next couple of days to see if replacements will need to be rostered.

#MLB injuries from opening day:
Rosenthal (OAK) – shoulder
Donaldson (MIN) – hamstring
Senzel (CIN) – shoulder
Dozier (KC) – thumb
Barnes (LAD) – hand
S Sanchez (MIA) – shoulder

— Jesse Morse, MD (@DrJesseMorse) April 2, 2021

2. Eighth hitters in the National League.

These guys see their fantasy stats, specially stolen bases, suffer because they are hitting in front of the pitcher. I examined the effect a few years back.

The hitter’s SBs increase quite a bit, especially if they are moved to the lead off spot. They go from averaging just 6 SB to 22 SB over 600 PA. Also, SB jump by 9 by moving to the 7th position.

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While these aren’t great hitters, a few are being counted on to provide some stolen bases.

3. Velocity and spin rate changes

With velocity changes, it’s important to know who is up or down right now, but be careful about overreacting. Some of these pitchers are throwing in cold weather and may not be on their A-game. I combed through the Savant’s Gamefeed, here are some pitchers who stood out to me.

4. Max exit velocity gainers.

A new high in Max Exit Velocity over 108 mph (explanation here) can point to a power uptick. Two hitters improved off their 2020 highs.

Brantley’s bump is pretty dramatic. He had not hit a ball that had since 2017.