Shohei Ohtani’s arrival in Major League baseball caused chaos for fantasy league service providers. With his ability to both hit and pitch, every service and individual league needed to determine how to handle his stats and position eligibility. Unfortunately, not every site or league adopted the same rules, which means that some league may find themselves in stick situations they did not foresee. Such a situation just arose in one of my leagues that I would like to share with you in exchange for your insightful feedback and suggestions.

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Since I’m not in enough fantasy league to own every Major League hitter, I am frequently surprised when I see season home run totals. Even for the guys I own, I am not necessarily aware of how many home runs they currently have. One example is Shin-Soo Choo, who I actually own in two leagues, but didn’t even realize he was already up to 17 homers, just five fewer than his career high. He’s not included in this post, however, because I want to dive into the real surprises that essentially no one saw coming. So let’s discuss seven hitters with at least 15 home runs that no one predicted.

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While HR/FB rate has dropped back to its 2016 elevated level after a final spike in 2017, this season’s 12.6% mark still ranks third going back to 2002. Also keep in mind that home run rates typically rise into the summer, so this mark will likely jump back above 2016. Given the frequency of fly balls leaving the yard, it’s more important than ever that pitchers keep the ball on the ground. Some are doing that more often this season, while others are not. Let’s check in on both sides of the coin.

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Yesterday, I identified and discussed eight hitters who boosted their fly ball rates from May to June by the greatest amount. Today, I’ll check in on batters whose fly ball rates have plummeted from May to June. For some, this is actually a positive, while for others, it’s a potentially ominous sign for their power.

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Leaguewide fly ball rate is up again this year, though barely. Its current 35.6% mark is the highest since 2011, which is a reminders that this so-called fly ball revolution is merely pushing the rate back to where it had been after a temporary dip. As usual, there are individual players who have changed their swing to hopefully tap into their power. Let’s discuss the eight hitters who have enjoyed the largest fly ball rate surge from May to June. All else equal, more flies equals more homers, so from a fantasy perspective, a higher FB% is typically a good thing (though not always).

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A week ago, I listed and discussed eight starting pitchers who have enjoyed the biggest jumps in fastball velocity. As the weather warms, velocity rises on average, so we would expect the typical starter to post an average velocity higher in June than May. But that isn’t the case for everyone, of course. So let’s discuss six whose fastball velocity is actually down from May. It’s not an automatic red flag or sign of injury, but it’s something to monitor as it could lead to performance decline.

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Yesterday, I discussed the seven players whose ownership rate jumped the most in CBS leagues. Today, I’m going to check in on the dropped players. I often find opportunity here a pitchers coming off one bad start get jettisoned or a hitter in a cold spell are kicked to the curb. The dropped list is a bit tougher to analyze, though, as many of them were bitten by the injury bug and placed on the DL, or demoted to the minors. So I’m only going to include those that are healthy and remain in the Majors.

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It’s always fun to discover which players fantasy owners are rushing out to the free agent pool to add to their rosters. Typically, it’s the hot player of the week or the pitcher coming off one good start. But sometimes, the player was criminally underowned to begin with, and the ownership surge simply get this percentage to where it should have been. So let’s check out the hottest pickups in CBS leagues and decide whether fantasy owners are right to be rushing to add these players to their teams.

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We know that the average pitcher gains velocity as the season wears on, typically adding around a mile an hour by the end of the year versus where he began. But, obviously, not every pitcher follows that pattern. So it would be beneficial to learn which pitchers have gained significant velocity month-to-month, as it might portend improved results. Let’s discuss eight starting pitchers who have gained the most velocity from May to June.

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Today’s deep league wire features a blast from the past and a hitter at a position you are almost surely in need of upgrading.

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