Roto Riteup: July 25, 2015

The weekend Roto Riteup duty feels like my old stomping grounds. It’s good to be home.

On today’s agenda:
1. Quick thoughts on Michael Conforto
2. Randal Grichuk fills up the stat line
3. Streaming Pitching Options

Quick thoughts on Michael Conforto
So the Mets did a thing yesterday — and not just the trade for Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson — by calling up outfielder and preseason No. 77 prospect according to our rankings. The promotion coincided with the club placing Michael Cuddyer on the 15-day disabled list due to a bone bruise on his left knee. Conforto torched Double-A pitching at a .312/.396/.503 line with five dongers in 197 plate appearances before getting the call. He appeared seventh in the lineup, but even with hitting in the lower third of the lineup I’d consider putting a claim in on Conforto in any league deeper than 10-team. Via Brian Cartwright, we have the Oliver projection for Conforto for the remainder of the season:


Randal Grichuk fills up the stat line
The breakout season continues for the 23-year-old as Grichuk blasted his 11th home run of the year and stole his fourth bag. His .375 BABIP isn’t going to last forever, however I can appreciate his ability to drive the ball. Grichuk’s average exit velocity of 95.2 mph is second only to Giancarlo Stanton according to MLB’s Statcast leaderboard. In his brief big league career Grichuk has hit same-handed pitching better than lefties, however in the minor leagues he showed a normal platoon split. Spread out over 464 MiLB plate appearances against southpaws he posted a .954 OPS versus a more modest .736 OPS when facing a fellow righty. Despite the high BABIP — which is influenced by him mashing the ball — I don’t think Grichuk is a total illusion. I’ve grabbed him in a deep 12-teamer have began rostering when the Cardinals face a left-hander in DFS. Grichuk can be picked up in 60 percent of ESPN or Yahoo! settings and over 40 percent of CBS leagues.


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

A pitcher for today: Erasmo Ramirez vs BAL (Miguel Gonzalez)
So the O’s can thump right-handers, but they also go down swinging at the third highest rate. It’s likely to be a feast or famine start for Ramirez, but at home in a pitcher friendly park, I’ll take the risk. He’s free to stream in about 50 percent of ESPN or CBS formats as well as 40 percent of Yahoo! leagues.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Matt Moore vs BAL (Wei-Yin Chen)
Basically the same applies for Moore. Except Moore might walk a few more batters, as even pre-Tommy John surgery, his control was never his calling card. Moore can be utilized in 40 percent of CBS settings and around 80 percent of Yahoo! or ESPN formats.





You can catch David spouting off about baseball, soccer, esports and other things by following him on twitter, @davidwiers.

4 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Chris
8 years ago

Had the chance to watch him hit a few times in AA this year. Really smooth swing who makes contact. Not shocked he is moving up prospect lists. Doesn’t seem to run fast on the basepaths though as I would have though from his build. Kind of reminds me of Arenado in that he has quickness but doesn’t translate to base stealing easily.

For fantasy purposes, I think I would rather go for Bradley Zimmer, who just has the tools to fill up the roto box.

FeslenR
8 years ago
Reply to  Chris

Also, he’s a Met, Mets offensive players are black holes for fantasy purposes.