Roto Riteup: August 7, 2015

Today is Mike Trout’s birthday. He is a 24-year-old likely hall of famer. Today is also my birthday. I am 28-year-old caustic writer. Clearly I’m ahead of him in life!

On today’s agenda:
1. Tomorrow is Strasmas!
2. Khris Davis‘ big day
3. Streaming Pitching Options

Tomorrow is Strasmas!
Sure, it’s Trout’s birthday, but the other thing to celebrate is the Washington Nationals are set to activate Stephen Strasburg for Saturday’s game against the Rockies. He’s been on the shelf due to a strained left oblique for over a month, though to be honest when healthy, Stras has been a disappointment. Although he sports a 5.16 ERA — but a 3.41 xFIP and 3.48 SIERA — and a 22.7 percent strikeout rate that ranks as his worst big league season, I’m still holding out hope he can return to the mound and be effective down the stretch. It’s only been 61 innings this season, however he’s tossed fewer changeups and more fastballs, something that I believe has led to his lowered swinging-strike rate. Even without a ton of whiffs, it’s hard to imagine a .355 BABIP continuing for Strasburg given his nearly league average Hard% and better than average Soft% contact rates. He’s still an automatic start for me.

Khris Davis‘ big day
Now that Davis is getting some more playing time, he could get back into a similar power groove that he flashed last season. Yesterday he posted a 3-for-5 day with a pair of dongers, bringing his seasonal line up to .244/.326/.446. I could envision him hitting another 5-8 home runs the rest of the way. I’m a bit worried that we’ve seen about a 10-foot dip in Davis’ average home run and fly ball rate from last year compared to this year (prior to yesterday’s game), though a right knee injury that sidelined him for five weeks may have thrown off his timing. He’s available in 75 percent of Yahoo! and CBS leagues as well as more than 90 percent of ESPN formats. If you do pick up Davis, keep in mind that while he has playing time now, he may lose some to Domingo Santana or even Brett Phillips once the rosters expand next month.

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Streaming Pitching Options
If you enjoy streaming pitchers, tune into the Roto Riteup for recommendations each and every day.

A pitcher for today: Daniel Norris vs BOS (Joe Kelly)
The Sawx are about league average against southpaws, yet I’m still thinking Norris can post a solid day. He’s free to stream in almost half of CBS leagues and over 75 percent of Yahoo! and ESPN settings.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Michael Montgomery vs TEX (Martin Perez)
With swing-and-miss stuff, Montgomery matches up well against a Rangers team that the sixth highest strikeout rate against left-handers. Make sure to stream him if possible as Monty is available in over 35 percent of CBS formats, 70 percent of ESPN leagues and 75 percent of Yahoo! formats.