Roto Riteup: April 17th, 2012

by
April 17, 2012

• Dee Gordon’s current strikeout rate is very alarming, if you ask me. Gordon has already struck out in more than 20% of his plate appearances. Yes, it’s early, but his contact rate has also suffered, and it’s really going to kill him if it continues. Gordon can’t steal second if he doesn’t get on first, and even during last year’s stint, he only did that 33% of the time.

• Nick Hundley is a three-true-outcomes machine in the early going. Hundley is hitting a despicable .043, but his OBP is at .290 through Sunday’s action. Hundley has either struck out or walked in over 50% of his plate appearances, but he is yet to jack a homer and only has one hit on the season (again, through Sunday).

• Edwin Jackson is a pitcher who’s off to a hot start this year. His complete game against the formidable Reds was not small feat, and the biggest news was not the runs allowed or innings pitched, but the big number of grounders Jackson was able to induce. I pegged Jackson to have a great comeback campaign before heading back out to the free agent market, and I have seen no reason to change my perception.

For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here are a couple matchups you may be able to exploit.

A Pitcher for Today: Kevin Millwood (SEA) vs CLE
I recommended you take advantage of Millwood last week by playing all the Texas Rangers you could, but this week, I’m going to tell you to utilize Millwood.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Jason Vargas (SEA) vs CLE
I don’t know why I have no respect for Cleveland, but apparently that’s the case. Vargas won’t strike out more than five batters, but I’d bet his WHIP is mighty nice.

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A Hitter for Today: Jason Kubel (ARZ) vs PIT (Karstens)
I have this feeling that Kubel hits a ball really, really far.





 

Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.

7 Comments
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Ray
14 years ago

Re: Gordon-he is swinging at alot of bad pitches, but along with that K rate is an improved walk rate of 9.1%. His contact rate is a little shy of his 2011 contact rate, so we shall see if if he can improve it over the next few weeks.

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DrBGiantsfan
14 years ago

I have Gordon in a H2H. He’s been responsible for my team winning the SB category the first 2 weeks. I don’t really care what else he does as long as he stays in the lineup. That’s where the worry is.

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geo
14 years ago
Reply to  DrBGiantsfan

Dee Gordon is nowhere near ready to be an everyday major league player. Fantasy is great, but in real baseball he’s getting absolutely killed.

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greg tellis
14 years ago

Regarding Kubel, I got a feelin’ Gerardo Parra is a better player.

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Big JgkeMember since 2020
14 years ago

This was mentioned on THT, but it bears repeating that Gordon could have easily have similar fantasy season to Reyes’ .300 OBP rookie season. Not a single one of his owners would be too chagrined by that.

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JoeC
14 years ago

Looks like you were wrong about Millwood both weeks!

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Yankees123
14 years ago

If you have watched Dee throughout the season, you would see what the stats don’t show. A lot of his strikeouts are on terrible pitches. Ive seen him strike out a few times on balls in the dirt. I’m a huge Dee fan but it’s definitely alarming. If it wasn’t for bunts his avg would be shockingly low.

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