Roto Riteup: August 29, 2015
Today’s Roto Riteup is happy to celebrate the start of the busiest draft week-plus in all of fantasy sports as the football season draws ever closer.
On today’s agenda:
1. Raisel Iglesias does it again
2. Various news and notes
3. Streaming Pitcher Options
Raisel Iglesias does it again
Reds starter Raisel Iglesias has been on a bit of a roll, and he continued said roll yesterday against the Milwaukee Brewers, striking out 10 over seven innings of work while walking just two. Iglesias did give up a homer and three earned overall, but it’s easy to get past that with a WHIP under 1.00 for the day.
In his nine starts since returning from the DL in early July, Iglesias has struck out 62 batters over 55-plus innings, walked 14, and given up seven homers. His ERA during those nine starts is 3.40, and his WHIP a scintillating 0.97 thanks in part to a .248 BABIP.
When looking at just his last five starts, Iglesias’ ERA dips to 2.18, though his BABIP also slides down 50 points. There is certainly some regression in Iglesias’ future, but those effects are minimized by his strikeout rate and comparably low walk rate. His recent schedule has been a bit soft, but his stuff is real and he can handle baseball’s better lineups.
Various news and notes
Aaron Brooks will make a spot start for the Athletics today against the Diamondbacks, with the previously scheduled Felix Doubront slated to take the mound on Monday. Brooks has the makings of a starter who can succeed with the A’s: he doesn’t walk many, he gives up more fly balls than most, and his secondary offering is a changeup. Brooks should get an extended shot at making the A’s rotation next spring, but for now, they’ll use him sporadically while they evaluate.
Domingo Santana has homered thrice in his first six games as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, showing the upside scouts have seen since he was a 16-year-old on the Phillies’ Rookie Ball team. This is just his age-22 season, but Santana has shown off his power in the minors and could use a new challenge. Strikeouts may be the only thing holding Santana back from being a solid regular right fielder.
Taijuan Walker was pulled from last night’s start against the White Sox in the sixth inning and has been diagnosed with a strained right hip flexor. Walker had struck out six while allowing just four baserunners before having to leave the game, bringing his 2015 ERA down to 4.53. Nothing is official yet, but in a lost season for the Mariners, don’t expect Walker to be pushed to make his next start.
Streaming Pitcher Options
If you enjoy streaming pitchers or play DFS, tune into the Roto Riteup for recommendations each and every day.
A pitcher for today: Kris Medlen at TB (Jake Odorizzi)
Though he faces a tough foe on the mound, Medlen should at least deliver a quality start.
A pitcher for tomorrow: Alec Asher vs SD (James Shields)
Have some fun and roll with the rookie in his MLB debut.
Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.
Need a W with a decent ERA in H2H match. For tomorrow pick one where I only care about these 2 things (not K’s or Whip):
Robby Ray vOAK(Chavez)
McCullers @MIN(Santana)
Quitana vSEA(Montgomery)
Holland vBAL(Gonzalez)
I like Holland. Starting him myself.
Predicting Win’s is hard, but I would go with McCullers. He is matched up with Ervin Santana Sunday and Santana has been a walking dumpster fire over the last month or so. I would go with McCullers, he’s the best pitcher of that group for me and while the Twins offense is decent, I think he could be staked to a big lead and cruise to a win.
And it’s also the Twins, who has been playing better but tend to K a ton. I thought of going with Lance, but picked up his fellow Astro Fiers yesterday…couldn’t be happier.