4/24/19

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 20, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER20!

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STARTING PITCHER ARSENAL CHANGES

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A live look at my coworkers avoiding responsibilities:

When the ball is lava. pic.twitter.com/btIoHGDHiY

— Cut4 (@Cut4) April 24, 2019

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We’re still not a full month into the season, but a group of hitters are standing out atop the leaderboards ranging from superstar to fill-in. This week the “The 10” looks at a group that is reaching a level well beyond expectations thus far to see how they’re doing it and whether or not it can sustain at a fantasy-relevant level.

Yoan Moncada, White Sox | .314 AVG, 19 R, 6 HR, 18 RBI, 2 SB in 93 PA

Moncada’s first full season didn’t exactly live up to expectations as he hit just .235 with 17 HR and 12 SB while leading baseball with 217 strikeouts. A breakdown of his bountiful strikeout rate showed that he had the most called third strikes last year (85), just a stunning amount. Jeremy Frank of MLBRandomStats highlighted this fact as well as the fact that Moncada hasn’t struck out looking yet this year:

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A rainout at Fenway can't stop Chris Sale.

(via @NBCSCameraGuys)https://t.co/vt8VYvmu03 pic.twitter.com/Jf4yjW4HKk

— Cut4 (@Cut4) April 22, 2019

Unfortunately, the garbage can took him yard.

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4/22/19

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is brought to you by Out of the Park Baseball 19, the best baseball strategy game ever made – available NOW on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms! Go to ootpdevelopments.com to order now and save 10% with the code SLEEPER19!

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• @sporer – Host
• @justinmasonfwfb – Producer/Co-Host

GET THE SLEEPER & THE BUST T-SHIRT FROM ROTOWEAR!

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Perusing the names atop early-season leaderboards is always fun. Take, for example, earned run average among all starters who have thrown at least ten innings this year. Three pitchers are tied for first, having not given up a run this year. Mike Clevinger was ace-like last year, and he’s been otherworldly in 2019. Matt Moore was good, and then he was hurt. CC Sabathia was hurt, and now he’s good. But the surprising name is the guy who’s fourth: Jordan Lyles.

Lyles is a former well-regarded prospect in the Rockies system who flamed out because he couldn’t miss bats. After signing on with Pittsburgh this offseason as rotation depth, the righty has suddenly taken off. Lyles checks in with a 0.53 ERA across three starts and seventeen innings for the upstart Pittsburgh Pirates, and has quickly gone from depth arm to third in the rotation behind stalwarts Jameson Taillon and Chris Archer. With pitching always in short supply in fantasy, it’s worth looking at whether ace Lyles is sustainable, or at least worth a pickup.

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The Houston Astros do a lot of things very well.

Drafting pitchers in the first round is not really one of them. Over the past 10 years, the Astros have selected hurlers four times. Brady Aiken and Mark Appel were huge misses as first-overall selections. Forrest Whitley, taken 17th, looks like a future top-of-the-rotation arm.

And then there is J.B. Bukauskas. The right-hander was a polarizing pick but the Astros bought into his college success — despite the question marks surrounding his transition to pro ball — and selected him 15th overall in 2017. Three years into his pro career, those questions are only getting louder.

Bukauskas made just three pro appearances in 2017. His 2018 season was stunted by injury. He played at five levels, including his rehab appearances, and topped out at Double-A (one game). In total, there was nothing alarming about his numbers. In fact, overall, he had a 2.14 ERA and struck out 71 batters in 59 innings while also showing some solid ground-ball rates.

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The juiced ball is for real:

wow the @statcast numbers on this are INSANE pic.twitter.com/xKpr3kNEAg

— Cut4 (@Cut4) April 20, 2019

On the Agenda:
1. Blue Jay Blues
2. Various News and Notes
3. Streaming Pitching Options

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I believe there are some diamonds in the rough available this week. It’s tough to know who exactly. Will Michael Chavis grab Bostons second base job? Is Scott Kingery going to play full time? Will one of Robert Stephenson, Trevor Hildenberger, Ryan Pressly or Diego Castilla get Saves? Maybe one or two.

As usual, I use ownership rates from CBS since some of their leagues are quickdraw leagues where players can be picked up at any time. The FAAB estimates are based off 15-team mixed NFBC leagues with $1000 FAAB. First, Here are the pitchers who were owned in fewer than 50% of leagues and have seen the highest jumps in ownership.

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