Note: Any stated rostership rates come from the NFBC RotoWire Online Championship, the same rates we use on the FanGraphs Player Rater. For reference, these leagues are 12-team Roto leagues with 30-man rosters (2 C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, MI, CI, 5 OF, UT, 9 P) and weekly add/drops.

American League

Angels

• Ryan Johnson threw the best start of his career.

The rookie turned in the best outing of his young career, allowing just one hit and one walk with eight strikeouts over six scoreless innings in a 5-1 win over the Orioles on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium.

Johnson carried a no-hitter until the sixth inning before he gave up a one-out single to former Angels infielder Jeremiah Jackson on a first-pitch cutter. But he got ex-Angels outfielder Taylor Ward to promptly ground into a double play to end his night, as he faced just one over the minimum.

“I feel great,” Johnson said with a big smile after his third career start. “You can’t feel anything but great after that. That’s exactly what I wanted to do.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

• Vaughn Grissom went on a rehab assignment.

INF Vaughn Grissom
Injury: Left oblique strain
IL date: June 8 (10-day IL, retroactive to June 6)
Expected return: Mid-June
Status: Began a rehab assignment with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on June 14, going 2-for-5 and playing nine innings at third base. Is expected to play in a few more rehab games but is nearing a return.

I’m not sure where and how much Grissom (.735 OPS) will play when he returns. I will guess that Denzer Guzman (.567 OPS) gets demoted. Also, I could see Grissom splitting time at first (Nolan Schanuel, .687 OPS), second (Oswald Peraza, .732 OPS), and third (Guzman). Nobody knows. Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

• Before going on the IL, Vaughn Grissom (oblique) had been working on making more contact.

Vaughn Grissom, who has been filling in for Schanuel, also went 2-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs while Peraza, who started in place of Neto, went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Grissom noted the new approach that’s been working in recent weeks and said making more contact has been a huge key for the offense’s turnaround.

While his strikeout rate is down from 21% K% last year to 11% K% this year, the rate had grown back to 21% in June.

A deep league bench bat with his position eligibilities (1B, 2B, and possibly 3B) Read the rest of this entry »

Note: I normally dig through regular articles for information, and during the season find little useful information. I’m going to transition to at least going through the team injury information to find some actionable items.

American League

Blue Jays

• While the team likes Brandon Valenzuela’s pitch calling …

His work behind the plate has also improved during that span, with ace Kevin Gausman saying his pitch framing “is getting close to Kirky’s level where you think you’re throwing way more strikes than maybe you are.” Read the rest of this entry »

Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

• Vaughn Grissom has been starting at first base.

Vaughn Grissom, who hit a grand slam and had six RBIs in Tuesday’s 10-6 win, started at first base again on Wednesday. He’s expected to get the bulk of the playing time there in Schanuel’s absence, although Oswald Peraza and Donovan Walton could see time there as well.

“For the most part now, he’s going to fill in and get the majority of the time over there at first base,” manager Kurt Suzuki said of Grissom. “But I could see Peraza or Donnie playing some first base, so we have options.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images

American League

Blue Jays

• Sounds like Spencer Miles will be throwing bulk innings at a regular interval.

Meanwhile, Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles is slated to pitch the bulk of the innings in the Blue Jays vacant rotation spot for the time being, either as a starter or behind an opener.

“You don’t want to move him back and forth too much. If we’re going to do it, try to be consistent with it,” said Schneider before the Blue Jays game against the New York Yankees on Monday.

In his last appearance, he threw 56 pitches across 3.2 IP. Miles has been solid this season with a 2.55 ERA (3.24 xFIP), 1.09 WHIP, 8.4 K/9, and 52% GB%. Similar rate stats to Nathan Eovaldi. Nice upside play. Read the rest of this entry »

David Richard-Imagn Images

American League

Athletics

• Zack Gelof flattened his swing to take a step forward.

Glovework has never been a question mark. For Gelof, the increase in playing time is largely a result of rediscovering his swing. Through struggles and injuries over the previous two seasons, Gelof’s swing mechanics had gotten out of whack. This offseason, he worked on “leveling out” his swing, and the result has been a noticeable decrease in whiffs and increased ability to put the ball in play.

It used to be tough to see if a swing change happened, but bat path is available here at FanGraphs via Baseball Savant. Here are Gelof’s numbers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

Astros

• Because the team needed Kai-Wei Teng in the bullpen on Saturday, the plan to move him to the rotation hit a snag.

Teng stands out as a saving grace. He is one of perhaps three leverage relievers in a bullpen that boasts a league-worst 6.22 ERA. The team has toyed with stretching him out as a starter — and planned to deploy him as one in Sunday’s game. Using him for 23 pitches on Saturday scuttled the plan, setting this dismal two-day cycle into motion. Teng could not pitch at all on Sunday, which perhaps forced Espada to extend both Blubaugh and Abreu beyond reason.

That Teng threw 31 pitches across two scoreless innings on Monday — in a game the Astros trailed by five runs — epitomizes the excruciating position in which Espada is mired. He deployed one of his leverage relievers in a lopsided game because turning to anyone else would’ve jeopardized their health.

Doing so almost ensures Teng won’t be available to pitch on Tuesday or Wednesday, putting the Astros at a further disadvantage against a Dodgers team with an already superior roster and more pressure on a pitching staff that can’t absorb it.

The team needs to find some stability in their rotation. Their starters have a 5.35 ERA on the season, the 2nd worst in the league behind the Diamondbacks (5.42 ERA). Read the rest of this entry »

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

American League

Orioles

• Brandon Young will get an extended look in the majors with Dean Kremer out for weeks.

Right-hander Brandon Young was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move, and Young started Friday’s game in Kremer’s place, getting the win while allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk over 5 2/3 innings of work.

Young will probably get an extended run as Baltimore’s fifth starter since Kremer will miss “several weeks,” as O’s president of baseball operations Mike Elias told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and other reporters. Elias said Kremer’s injury surfaced during his between-starts prep work, and that “our plan is to try to keep his arm in as good of shape as possible because it’s not bothering him too much to throw right now, but we’ve got to let that thing heal and get his lower body condition back.”

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Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

American League

Angels

• Yusei Kikuchi went back to his old mechanics with some improved results.

After struggling in his first four starts of the season, the left-hander turned it around by striking out eight over six scoreless innings in a 4-1 loss to the Padres on Saturday night at Angel Stadium. And Kikuchi said it happened after he reverted to a similar arm angle to last year after experimenting with a higher release point through his first four starts.

“I went over my mechanics this week and I think that brought me good results,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Koki Goto. “Going into this season, I raised my arm angle to become a better pitcher, but for the first four games, it didn’t work out well, so I brought back last year’s form. I tried to recall the drills I did, and I think that brought me good results.”
…
He also did it with better velocity, as his four-seamer reached as high as 98.6 mph and averaged 96.4 mph, which was 1.3 mph higher than his season average. He also threw it 45 percent of the time, which was way up from his season average of 25 percent.

As long as Kikuchi throws strikes (1 BB with his new arm slot), he can be an effective pitcher. His problem is that he’s had two, four-walk games so far this season with 9 ER in 8 IP. Read the rest of this entry »