It was another exciting trade deadline day with a flurry of deals and a monstrous blockbuster. Lots of trades = lots of new faces entering starting lineups. As we head into the final two months of the season, playing time will continue to be king and active owners will benefit from uncovering those new starters. So let’s review a bunch of new everyday players once again. Today’s theme is going to players who had all debuted previously, were either demoted to the minors or injured, and are now back.

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Holy guacamole, what a blockbuster! On Tuesday, the Padres acquired superstar Juan Soto to bolster a middling offense that has been without Fernando Tatis Jr. all season. Let’s consult the park factors to find out how the park switch may affect Soto’s performance.

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On Monday, Tommy Pham was traded to the Red Sox as the Reds continue to dismantle and build for the future. The 34-year-old has endured a weak offensive season and his xwOBA sits at the lowest of his career. Let’s see if the park switch provides any hope of a rebound.

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Last Friday, the Mariners made the first big splash of the trade deadline deals when they acquired Reds starting pitcher Luis Castillo. The 29-year-old is enjoying another strong season, having posted a career best ERA so far and his second lowest SIERA. His SwStk% has declined to a career worst though, but his CStr% has risen to a career best to somewhat offset the drop in pure dominance. His GB% has also declined below 50% for the first time since 2018. It seems pretty clear this isn’t exactly the same type of pitcher as he’s been in the past, but he’s been just as effective. Now with the move to Seattle, how might his new park affect his results? Let’s consult the park factors.

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Let’s post one more new regular faces article as we return from the all-star break. This should also help you get through next week without me, as I’ll be North of the U.S. border on vacation!

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Yesterday, I asked you to vote on which group of pitchers you expect to post a better ERA over the rest of the season. One group was composed of the 10 biggest SIERA overperformers, while the other comprised the underperformers. For just the second year, I’m going to take the same polling idea and use it for hitters. So let’s follow the same concept and compare two groups of hitters based on xwOBA overperformance and underperformance. We know that xwOBA isn’t perfect. Neither is SIERA. In fact, no estimated/expected/forecasted equation is going to be perfect, because there will always be players that do something we have a difficult time quantifying. Furthermore, there will always be players each year that fall into either end of the extremes for no other reason than complete randomness. So let’s keep that in mind when reviewing these two groups.

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Since 2013, I have polled you wonderful readers on which group of pitchers you think will post the better aggregate ERA post all-star break. The two groups were determined based on ERA-SIERA disparity, pitting the overperformers versus the underperformers during the pre-all-star break period.

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Let’s continue reviewing the rookie pitchers. Today, I will update my review on another trio of pitchers I first discussed in late May. Let’s remind ourselves how each pitcher had performed through that point and what each has done since.

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Today, let’s flip over to re-reviewing the rookie pitchers I first discussed in late May. Like I did for the hitters, I’m going to compare their skill metrics through my original post with how they have performed since.

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Let’s keep it going with the rookie hitters, as there are several more that have made impacts, both in fantasy and real baseball.

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