Boxscore Bits: June 24th, 2022

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June 24, 2022
Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

A few thoughts on the pitchers from Tuesday’s games:

FOR STARTERS

Thursday’s SPs
# Name Team IP H R ER HR BB SO TBF ERA WHIP W vFA (pi) vSI (pi) SwStr%
1 Frankie Montas OAK 8 2 0 0 0 2 8 28 0.00 0.50 0 97.2 96.7 11%
2 Devin Smeltzer MIN 6 3 0 0 0 0 3 21 0.00 0.50 1 89.2 8%
3 Dean Kremer BAL 5.2 7 0 0 0 1 4 24 0.00 1.41 1 94.1 12%
4 Clayton Kershaw LAD 6 7 1 1 0 1 7 25 1.50 1.33 1 91 13%
5 Robbie Ray SEA 6 4 1 1 0 2 6 24 1.50 1.00 0 92.8 92.9 14%
6 Zach Plesac CLE 6 3 1 1 1 2 6 23 1.50 0.83 0 92.8 13%
7 Braxton Garrett MIA 4.2 9 2 1 0 1 7 24 1.93 2.14 0 92 91.2 16%
8 Ranger Suárez PHI 7.1 7 2 2 1 2 3 30 2.45 1.23 1 93.2 92.7 5%
9 Kyle Freeland COL 7 7 2 2 0 0 5 29 2.57 1.00 0 90 89.3 11%
10 Jose Quintana PIT 6 6 2 2 0 1 6 23 3.00 1.17 0 91.7 92.4 18%
11 Framber Valdez HOU 6 2 3 3 1 3 7 23 4.50 0.83 0 92.2 93.9 6%
12 Johnny Cueto CHW 5.1 7 3 3 1 1 7 23 5.06 1.50 0 91.7 91.1 14%
13 Jason Alexander MIL 5.2 6 4 4 1 2 5 24 6.35 1.41 1 93.3 92.3 6%
14 Kyle Wright ATL 5.1 10 4 4 1 1 4 25 6.75 2.06 1 94.9 94.1 8%
15 Justin Steele CHC 5.2 7 6 5 2 0 8 26 7.94 1.24 0 92.8 92.2 10%
16 Joe Musgrove SDP 6 7 6 6 2 1 1 25 9.00 1.33 0 92.7 92.1 8%
17 Jameson Taillon NYY 5.2 10 6 6 2 0 3 28 9.53 1.76 0 93.5 93.5 6%
18 Dakota Hudson STL 4.1 7 5 5 2 3 2 21 10.38 2.31 0 91.7 91.6 8%
19 Hunter Greene CIN 5 9 6 6 3 2 3 23 10.80 2.20 0 98.5 8%
20 Alex Wood SFG 1 4 6 6 1 2 1 11 54.00 6.00 0 91 10%
Sorted by ERA

Business As Usual: Nothing actionable

Notable Gems: The standouts who merit some extra attention

  • Frankie Montas – I haven’t written up Montas since his injury-shortened May 21st outing. He made his next start on time and since then has ripped off six starts with a 2.77 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and 17% K-BB rate in 39 IP. This was the best start of the day and his best of the season so far. Trade rumors will no doubt follow Montas start-to-start until the deadline. The A’s don’t have to move him this year since he has team control for next year.
  • Dean Kremer – Kremer has a Tyler Wellsian profile so I value him similarly. I had Wells 100th in my latest SP rankings as a standard streamer. Neither miss enough bats to be consistent plays in any format, but a velo jump, improved fastball command, and the spicy new home park bring Kremer onto the mixed league landscape.
  • Devin Smeltzer – Even low-strikeout guys look askance at Smeltzer’s 13% mark. It is just so It makes it nearly impossible to trust him in any tangible way. That kind of contact volume just can’t help but be extremely volatile. Great start here against CLE and he gets them again, this time in CLE along with a home start v. BAL in a 2-step next week. I’m not comfortable with it even in 15s.
  • Ranger Suárez – I saw Suarez as a sit at SD. He was great, allowing just two runs in 7.3 innings. Only 3 Ks, but the efficiency of just 94 pitches for 22 outs is great. Suarez is likely to remain volatile start-to-start, not always safe against low tier teams and sometimes dominating high tier ones.
  • Zach Plesac – That’s now 5 straight QS for Plesac with a 2.40 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 15% K-BB rate in 30 IP. He gets a home 2-step against MIN and NYY which is definitely a tough choice. I’d probably pass with the Yankees on the docket.

Decent Enough: Mostly biz as usual but with some commentary

  • Braxton Garrett – Couldn’t go with a gem here since he allowed 9 H, but only 2 R (1 ER) and 7 Ks in 4.7 IP. There’s some talent here giving him streamer appeal while in the rotation.
  • Johnny Cueto – Just 3 ER in 5.3 IP is fine when it comes with 7 Ks. Cueto isn’t more than a streamer right now and he is delivering above expectations with a 3.19 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 48 IP so far.

Duds: The worst of the day from fantasy relevant arms

  • Alex Wood – Wood had a rough and quick day in ATL. He actually rebounded after the Dansby Swanson leadoff homer but then the second inning never got going: BB, infield 1B, BB, 1B, HBP, infield 1B. His velo was down and the changeup was off a bit, too. While this does push his season ERA north of 5.00, I’m inclined to hold in 15s and maybe even 12s. His core skills (15% K-BB) are still solid, and I trust his track record.
  • Hunter Greene – This is essentially Biz as Usual in that his inconsistent command will breed these kinds of outings, especially against a top tier team like LAD. I imagine a lot of teams with Greene would’ve been able to bench this outing as he likely isn’t a major component to their rotation. He heads to CHC next week in hopes of a rebound.

FAAB FRIDAY

Heading to the weekend, I’ll give a few names to consider in FAAB for the weekend. I will try to give a name or two for many league sizes:

Shallow

  • Alek Thomas | ARI, OF (24% Y!, 14% ESPN) – Thomas is one of the few major prospects delivering on his hype with 6 HR, 4 SB, and a 118 wRC+ in his first 157 PA. That’s a 24 HR/16 SB full season pace, definitely all-formats viable, even for 3-OF setups.

Medium

  • Keegan Thompson | CHC, SP (38% Y!, 38% ESPN, OC 34%) – A sneaky 7 Ws has Thompson pretty high in SP season value rankings (29th at Razzball), but that’s not why I’m recommending him. He has been mostly good this year outside of back-to-back duds at BAL and at NYY (10 ER in 3.7 IP) and he rebounded from them very well with just 1 ER in 12 IP plus 16 Ks v. ATL and at PIT. He gets a tough 2-step next week v. CIN and BOS. I’d love to pick him up and just use the CIN start. If you must use both, it’s a team context decision. I would also be open to rostering and stashing if you like the talent but are just too uncomfortable with the BOS start.

Deep

  • Bligh Madris | PIT, OF (0% ME) – Madris’s arrival was overshadowed by Oneil Cruz joining him the same day. At 26 years old, he’s not a major prospect, but he’s got some pop and some playing time. He has started each of the four games since he arrived and they don’t have any outfielders who must play over him even as guys return from injury/COVID. It’s a thin Main Event wire as it sits right now.

OC = NFBC Online Championship (12-tms)

ME = NFBC Main Event (15-tms)

DRAFTKINGS GAME





 

Paul is the Editor of Rotographs and Content Director for OOTP Perfect Team. Follow Paul on Twitter @sporer and on Twitch at sporer.

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