It’s time for an updated list of potential HR/FB rate surgers! As usual, I scanned the batted ball distance leaderboard, matched each hitter with his HR/FB rate, and identified those hitters whose distance suggests major HR/FB rate upside.

Please be aware that the other two components of my xHR/FB rate equation are missing from this analysis. So to avoid giving wrong advice, it’s why I have stayed away from discussing the hitters in the middle of the distance ranking. Also remember that this ignores park effects, which certainly plays a role.

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Pitchers seemingly undergo true talent level changes far more frequently than hitters do, especially on a game by game basis. The velocity and movement of a pitcher’s pitches, along with his command, on any given day go a long way toward determining his fate. Let’s talk about two pitchers who struggled earlier in the year. One of whom we may never know for sure what the root cause of his issues were, while the other was almost surely injury related.

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I have nothing clever to say. Let’s get right to it.

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Last year, I would regularly look at the Roster Trends page on my CBS sports league site and discuss the players who were most added and dropped over the last week, ultimately concluding whether the moves were justified. I have yet to publish such an exercise this year, so figured we were overdue. Today I’ll check in on the top pickups, defined as the players whose ownership percentage in CBS leagues have increased by the highest rates.

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Last week, I discussed a multitude of players who have hit a shocking number of home runs so far this season. So today let’s check in on those on the opposite end of the spectrum, the players that beg the question…what the heck happened to your home run power?!?!?!

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Who’s inducing more swings and misses? Let’s take a gander at the American League starting pitchers whose SwStk% marks have most surged versus last year. Perhaps it’s added velocity, a new pitch, or change in pitch mix driving the spike. Let’s find out.

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Injury replacements is the theme of this week’s waiver wire. It was probably the theme of last week’s too. And the week prior. Basically, if you don’t own the guy who got injured, injuries are good! Opportunities!

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Yesterday, I discussed five players whose early season home run totals have like totally shocked the world. Clearly, I missed a couple of obvious names and some of you commented reminding me of such. So let’s get to the rest of those shocking hitters sitting on home run totals we never expected at this point in the season.

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Contrary to what you might assume given my status as a veteran RotoGraphs writer and member of the Tout Wars and LABR leagues, I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to players on none of my fantasy teams. So every so often, I express surprise, or perhaps even shock, when I peruse the day’s box scores and notice a batting average or counting stat from a player at a level far off from our expectations. “Player X has 15 homers already?!?!” is how I will frequently react. Let’s discuss some of these players.

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Throughout his career, Danny Duffy has shuffled between the Royals starting rotation and their bullpen. Let’s compare his underlying skills in each role:

Danny Duffy Skills – Starter vs Reliever

Role	K%	BB%	LD%	GB%	FB%	IFFB%	SwStr%	BABIP	LOB%	HR/FB	ERA	SIERA
Starter	18.6%	9.7%	21.6%	36.3%	42.1%	15.1%	8.3%	0.288	75.5%	8.7%	3.89	4.48
Reliever	31.2%	7.1%	21.7%	43.4%	34.9%	10.3%	15.0%	0.298	79.2%	3.4%	2.08	2.48

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