Roto Riteup: April 4, 2019

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April 4, 2019

The Roto Riteup is here for ALL the pitcher home runs!

On the Agenda:
1. DeGrom
2. Various News and Notes
3. Streaming Pitchers

 

DeGrom
Jacob deGrom twirled seven innings of shutout ball against the Marlins on Wednesday, allowing only four baserunners total (3 BB/1 H) and striking out 14. In addition to pitching a stellar game, deGrom also brought his boomstick out and went yard!

Yes, it was the Marlins, and yes, deGrom is one of the premier starters in the league — but here are a few tweets from Anthony DiComo of MLB.com that really demonstrate just what class deGrom is in.

 

 

Not a lot to glean from a fantasy perspective here. DeGrom is a bonafide ace and has every possibility of being the top fantasy starter when it’s all said and done (especially if he gets a few more wins than last season). To tie a bow on things here, why don’t we check out another amazing GIF from “Pitching Ninja.”

Various News and Notes
After hitting a double off of Padres closer Kirby Yates in the ninth inning, Jake Lamb came up lame and exited Wednesday night’s game. After further tests it was determined that Lamb is dealing with a left quad strain, and he’ll be heading for an MRI sometime today.

We don’t see the mechanism in this video, but anyone with eyes can see that the oft-injured corner infielder is in a serious amount of pain. There’s no current timetable at the time of this article, but one would assume that he’s going to be out for quite some time. Brutal news for the Diamondbacks as they recently lost Steven Souza for the season as well. With this injury to Lamb, the most likely beneficiary in terms of playing time is Christian Walker. Originally an Oriole, Walker has been prone to the strikeout, and will no doubt continue to have an issue with that moving forward. With that said, he has three home runs in PA thus far, and is set to receive at least a 50-60% playing time increase. He’s currently in the top-three percentile in Barrels per PA, and Exit Velo. He’s a pick-up in 15-team leagues.

Clayton Kershaw is set to throw 60 pitches in a rehab start with Triple-A Oklahoma City today. Manager Dave Roberts said that he’ll make another rehab start following tomorrow’s outing as well. If all is well after that second start, we could see Kershaw make his 2019 debut sometime during the week of April 14th. If you follow me on twitter you probably saw me gush on Julio Urias during his start, but Kershaw’s return is one of the many reasons he’ll be relegated to the pen. I still stand for trying to snag Kershaw at a discounted rate if you can. He could easily perform like a top-10 starter this season barring health.

America’s hero Matt Boyd delivered another quality outing on Wednesday – allowing 1 ER over 6.1 IP – surrendering 5 H with 13 K and 3 BB. Boyd’s velocity on his four-seamer started the game at about 92 mph and ended at 89 ish, not throwing cold water on anything, just something to monitor. With that said, he got 23% whiffs on his fastball and 32% with his slider against a meager Yankees lineup (at the moment). Over 2 GS (11.1 IP) he has a 23/4 K:BB with a 3.18 ERA (1.08 SIERA) and 1.20 WHIP. He’s currently only 21% owned in ESPN leagues, go pick him up if you can.

Marcell Ozuna was held out of the lineup on Wednesday due to what manager Mike Schildt is concerned is an intercostal strain. Jose Martinez took his place in the lineup, but the Cardinals have Tyler O’Neill on roster and could give him some decent run if Ozuna is placed on the IL. Ozuna is headed for an MRI on Thursday, so we should have some more info on this tomorrow night.

The Yankees injury news continued to get worse on Wednesday after the club placed Troy Tulowitzki on the IL with a calf injury. After the announcement, NYY promoted infield prospect Thairo Estrada to the big club. According to Fangraphs NYY top prospects list, Estrada is rated as the 24th-best player in the system. He was shot during a robbery in Venezuela last year and had to have surgery, which sapped some of his capabilities. The fact that New York promoted him bodes well for his overall recovery. He’s only a “watch list” guy right now as the Yankees have Tyler Wade penciled in to start for the time being. If Estrada starts to get some playing time before Tulo comes back, he could be an add in deeper AL-Only.

Streaming Pitchers (Less than 50% owned)
A Pitcher for Today: Aaron Sanchez @ CLE
Sanchez looked good in his first start and gets a lackluster CLE team on the road

High-Risk Option: Tyler Mahle @ PIT
Mahle showed promise last season in spite of poor surface numbers and the Pirate lineup doesn’t scare me at all.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: Lance Lynn @ LAA
Not the best results in his first start, but he kept the ball on the ground – had a good amount of whiffs. The Angels offense has been a lethargic bunch to date, so a lot of this is predicated on that. He was superb in one start, and mediocre in another against LAA last season.

High-Risk Option: Trent Thornton @ CLE
Let’s just keep picking against Cleveland until they give us a reason not to. Thornton has two-plus pitches and logged 8 K in 5 IP against DET his first time out. Let’s see if he can get something going twice in a row.





 

Fantasy Baseball and Tampa Bay Rays enthusiast. Restaurant manager by day, fantasy analyst by night. Contributor to Rotographs, Baseball HQ, Fantasy Pros, and co-owner of Friends with Fantasy Benefits. Follow me @MikeWernerFWFB.

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helikoopter
5 years ago

I’m happy that we are back from bizzaro-world now that Tulo is on the IL.

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