Boxscore Bits: May 27th, 2022

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May 27, 2022
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

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

FOR STARTERS

Thursday’s Starters
# Name Team IP H R ER HR BB SO TBF ERA WHIP W vFA (pi) vSI (pi) SwStr%
1 Frankie Montas OAK 7 3 1 0 0 2 11 27 0.00 0.71 0 96 95.7 19%
2 Devin Smeltzer MIN 7 2 0 0 0 1 6 23 0.00 0.43 0 88.6 9%
3 Mitch White LAD 4 2 0 0 0 2 2 16 0.00 1.00 0 93.5 3%
4 Aaron Nola PHI 8.1 5 1 1 0 0 10 31 1.08 0.60 1 92.7 92.4 14%
5 Nestor Cortes NYY 8 4 1 1 0 1 5 29 1.13 0.63 1 92.8 6%
6 Martín Pérez TEX 7 4 1 1 0 2 6 27 1.29 0.86 0 93 92.9 7%
7 Daniel Lynch KCR 5.1 7 2 2 0 2 6 25 3.38 1.69 0 94.2 16%
8 Ryan Yarbrough TBR 5.1 2 3 2 0 1 5 20 3.38 0.56 0 87.3 14%
9 Eric Lauer MIL 5 4 2 2 0 4 1 23 3.60 1.60 1 93.2 8%
10 Hyun Jin Ryu 류현진 TOR 5 6 2 2 0 1 1 21 3.60 1.40 1 89.3 3%
11 Tarik Skubal DET 7 5 3 3 0 1 5 27 3.86 0.86 0 94.1 95.5 11%
12 Kyle Wright ATL 6.2 3 3 3 1 2 5 25 4.05 0.75 0 94.3 93.7 14%
13 Patrick Corbin WSN 6.1 7 3 3 0 2 3 27 4.26 1.42 1 91.8 92.3 5%
14 Adam Wainwright STL 5 10 4 3 1 1 2 26 5.40 2.20 0 89 88.9 6%
15 Shohei Ohtani LAA 6 6 5 5 2 1 10 24 7.50 1.17 0 96.1 16%
16 Germán Márquez COL 6 6 5 5 0 3 2 27 7.50 1.50 0 95.3 94.4 6%
17 Konnor Pilkington CLE 3.1 7 3 3 0 4 4 21 8.10 3.30 0 91.4 15%
18 Hunter Greene CIN 5 7 5 5 3 2 6 24 9.00 1.80 1 98.3 19%
19 Michael Wacha BOS 4.1 7 5 5 1 0 2 20 10.38 1.62 0 93.8 93.4 8%
20 Humberto Castellanos ARI 4 10 6 6 1 1 1 23 13.50 2.75 0 89.6 90.4 4%
21 Dallas Keuchel CHW 2 7 6 6 2 2 4 15 27.00 4.50 0 88.7 9%
22 Justin Steele CHC 2 7 7 7 1 2 2 14 31.50 4.50 0 92.6 92.3 6%
Sorted by ERA

Business As Usual: Nothing actionable

Notable Gems: The standouts who merit some extra attention

  • Devin Smeltzer – I’m going to be honest with y’all, I completely missed Smeltzer’s first two starts of the season. He came up in mid-May and did well enough in a couple starts (1.74 ERA in 10.3 IP) despite just 2 Ks and 3 BB. He got a rematch against KC last night and looked really solid, notching 6 Ks and just 1 BB over his seven-shutout innings. He is a finesse lefty with just an 18% K rate and 9% SwStr rate in 87 innings as a big leaguer. His spot could be temporary with Joe Ryan on the Covid IL, but even if Ryan returns over the weekend there is still a start on tap for Smeltzer next week because the Twins have 8 games including a Tuesday doubleheader at DET. I could see throwing Smeltzer against the putrid Tigers in a deep league (ideally AL-Only) but that’s about it.
  • Tarik Skubal – His last start ended prematurely when he was hit in the leg with a liner. He was rolling through five innings (4 H, 0 ER, 5 K) with just 66 pitches and essentially picked up where he left off against Cleveland, tossing seven strong innings on Thursday. One bad inning (3 H, 1 BB, 3 R) was the only damage done and Skubal now has 51.7 IP with just 2 HR allowed. Compare that to last year when he allowed 51.7 HR in just 2 IP. OK fine, it was 35 in 149.3 IP! It’s still relatively early, but Skubal has done a great job addressing his biggest issues from 2021 by cutting the HRs down and improving versus righties (184 pt. OPS improvement to .624 vR).
  • Martín Pérez – I mean this is almost Business As Usual at this point… SOMEHOW!!! I hate to be such a wet blanket on a fun, out-of-nowhere run like this, but I just don’t see how this isn’t all tied to the 0 HR allowed and .266 BABIP. Credit where it’s due, the 12-pt. jump in GB rate to 56% is unquestionably good (fueled by 13-pt. jump in sinker usage to 38%) and helping suppress homers, but his 14% K-BB rate is league average and just 2 pts better than last year. He has a 2-step next week at home against TB and SEA.
  • Ryan Yarbrough – He opened his season with a 5 ER dud in just 2.3 IP at OAK but has since reeled off 18 IP with a 2.00 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. He is winless on the season as only 2 of the 4 good starts have been 5+ IP. Yarbrough is pitching well enough to garner some attention on the wire this weekend with a 2-step at TEX and v. CWS next week. There is plenty of risk with the soft-tossing lefty (remember Josh Fleming’s 2-step earlier this year?) so be careful. I’d only consider him in 15s or deeper.
  • Patrick Corbin – This basically qualifies as a gem for Corbin so consider this grading on a curve. Only 3 Ks in 6.3 IP, but it was a quality start (3 ER) and he got the win (his 1st of the season). I can’t envision a scenario where I would start him at NYM and at CIN next week.
  • Daniel Lynch – I’ll give him Gem status despite the 1.70 WHIP thanks to the 3.40 ERA and 6 Ks in 5.3 IP.

Decent Enough: Mostly biz as usual but with some commentary

  • Shohei Ohtani – Just as fantasy managers were starting to consider him more as a pitcher, he drops 5 ER on us. One bad inning got him (3 ER in the 3rd), but he still had 10 Ks and a 1.17 WHIP so it’s not a dud. He gets at NYY and v. BOS in his next two so back to the UTIL spot for Ohtani!
  • Hyun Jin Ryu 류현진 – I appreciate that he wound up doing well at LAA with just 2 ER in 5 IP, but it falls short of a gem with just 2 Ks and 2 swinging strikes. It is still just his third start off the IL and fifth of the year, so he is still ramping up. He gets CWS next week, which is iffy, but then a 2-step the week after at KC and at DET could be just what he needs to really amp up.
  • Mitch White – Progress. It was just his second start and he made it 4 innings on 61 pitches, both season highs. I hope they keep stretching him out, though we need more swing-and-miss if this is going to work. He has just 4 swinging strikes in his 2 starts (6.3 IP/110 pitches). If they keep him in the rotation, he is set up to face PIT next week. I suspect his roster rate in deeper leagues will start to rise.

Duds: The worst of the day

  • Adam Wainwright – The 5 IP/3 ER isn’t that dud-like, buuut he did allow 11 base runners and had just 2 Ks (not that Ks are a big part of his game, but if he had 5-6 it could’ve offset the hideous WHIP a bit) so it qualifies. The 40-year-old righty is still doing fine enough overall, though the 1.29 WHIP is definitely a good bit higher than what was expected when drafting him especially given the low K rate.
  • Hunter Greene – There’s that volatility I mentioned in the last BB that mentioned Greene, though I didn’t have any issues starting him v. CHC. The problem with poor command pitchers is that the opponent rarely matters. If you aren’t commanding on a given day, any MLB team can absolutely blitz you. That said, his electric stuff means that when he is commanding it well, he can thwart any team with relative ease. It makes for a frustrating time on the fantasy landscape, though. WAS and ARI for his next two are worthy starts if you can stomach the downside.
  • Justin Steele – “’I’m still starting Steele in deeper formats (15+) this week even with a trip to CIN on the docket” – an idiot, earlier this week. OK, so it was just him teeing off on Arizona. I was hoping he would be build upon it, but Cincy erased all the good work, saddling him with 7 of the 20 (!!) runs they scored! He gets MIL this week… hard pass (he’ll probably drop 7 scoreless now).
  • Michael Wacha – This is just the beginning of some due regression as the .204 BABIP and 83% LOB rate are doing most of the work for his 2.83 ERA/1.09 WHIP combo. He gets CIN next week and then a 2-step at LAA and at SEA. I don’t think I’m really interested in any of those three starts. CIN has rebounded a good bit from their dreadful April with 5.2 runs per game in May. Even if you take off the 20-bomb from yesterday, it’s still at a healthy 4.6 runs per game.
  • Germán Márquez – Who is still rostering him anywhere?

COMBO MEALS

Shoutout to ESPN’s Fantasy Focus podcast for coming up with the “combo meal” term when guys get a HR and SB in the same game. Here are yesterday’s combo meals:

FRIDAY FAAB

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

  • Brady Singer | KCR, SP (12% ESPN, 28% Y!) – Singer has back-to-back 7 IP gems, allowing 4 H and 0 ER in both and totaling 12 Ks against just 3 BB. He draws MIN this weekend, a second straight start against them, and if he does well, he will be in high demand this weekend where available. He still has some availability in Rotowire Online Championship (75% roster rate), too, so check your wires just to be sure. It never hurts to do a cursory check. The 25-year-old righty has shown flashes over his first 192.7 IP as a major leaguer and as I mentioned in Monday’s BB, he is worth the pickup even if this is just a heater and I stand firm there despite a start v. HOU next week (at least it’s at home).

Medium

  • William Contreras | ATL, C (48% OC) – Is Willson’s brother the next non-catching catcher gem? Daulton Varsho in the king of that category right now while Evan Gattis is the patron saint, but Contreras has garnered my attention with five straight starts and just one of them behind the dish (DH and LF in the others). It helps that he is absolutely raking with a bananas 204 wRC+ and 7 HR in 55 PA. Contreras is 12th in wOBA according to The BAT X for rest of season catcher projections. The counting categories are a bit light with just 59 games projected, but with Manny Piña out for the year and Contreras playing elsewhere beyond C, he can definitely beat that projection. He is playing well enough for 1-C depending who you have and he is a must-roster in 2-C leagues. His roster rate will likely push near 100% in the Rotowire Online Championship, which are 12-team, 2-C leagues.

Deep

  • Tyrone Taylor | MIL, OF (53% ME) – Taylor was getting some time in CF (4 of 5 from 5/18-5/23) before the Hunter Renfroe injury, but now that clears RF for him to start daily. Taylor was originally pigeonholed as a short-side platoon guy despite being a bit better vR for his career (.777 OPS vR; .758 vL). Over the course of last year and so far this year, he has been essentially a 20 HR/10 SB-type player with a .244/.310/.448 line. Everyday playing time in a decent lineup can be quite a find at this juncture in the season when injuries start piling up and underperformance is leading to cuts instead of just reserving someone.

OC = NFBC Rotowire 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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