Roto RIteup: July 31, 2026
Where there’s a Winn, there’s a way, or so those who didn’t hear it correctly say. But a Winn is not always winning.
Case in point: Alex Bregman’s two-run double in the 10th inning to defeat Winn’s birds and have outs fall into the Webb of Jacob. There were Crooks at the stadium concession, hoping to steal the last Nootbaar, but they were instantly subdued by Aaron Sir Vale in bottom of the 10th, engulfing flames of pride in the Windy City as their Cub runneth over, standing atop the NL Wild Card standings.
On the Agenda:
- Quick Hits
- Various News and Notes
- Streaming Pitchers
Quick Hits
The Detroit Tigers called up their top prospect, outfielder Max Clark. Clark slashed .276/.368/.434 with 65 runs, 11 homers, 42 RBIs and 21 stolen bases on 23 attempts in 418 plate appearances (90 games).
Milwaukee Brewers southpaw Kyle Harrison pitched well in his lone rehab start on Wednesday, punching out five batters over 5.2 scoreless innings. Harrison threw 68 total pitches in the outing for High-A Wisconsin. He should return to the Brewers rotation next week, during their four-game series against the Pirates.
Do you remember, long, long ago, a baseball player named Roman Anthony? Apparently, he is still around and began hitting off a tee this week. It’s nice to hear, but we shouldn’t get our hopes up about a timetable for his return just yet. The best case scenario is late-August. The worst case is next season.
Elegantly mustachioed catcher Jake Rogers was dealt from the Detroit Tigers to the Baltimore Orioles. The O’s need help behind the plate with Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo sidelined. Chadwick Tromp could win a Best Baseball Names contest, but can’t manage things behind the plate on his own.
Reds outfielder Blake Dunn underwent surgery on his right elbow on Monday. He may miss the rest of the season. Dane Myers should continue manning centerfield as he’s done for the past week.
I am excited for the Major League debut of Quinn Mathews, one of my favorite pitching prospects of the last couple of years. Mathews is slated to face the Blue Jays this Saturday. QM has a 3.13 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 29.8% strikeout rate and a dangerous 14% walk rate in 13 starts (92 IP) for Triple-A Memphis. Shipping Dustin May to another club this week would open a spot in the Cardinals rotation for either Mathews or Hunter Dobbins.
Various News and Notes
Chicago White Sox pitcher Sean Burke continued his masterful run and breakout season with 10 strikeouts over six scoreless innings.
Burke has punched out at least eight batters in five of his last eight starts. He lowered his ERA to 3.04.
How about some history in the making? Can’t believe it’s the first time.
There has NEVER been a walk off grand slam down 3 with 2 outs in an 0-2 count in the history of baseball
A kids dream pic.twitter.com/ErCG4vG8pg
— Anders (@AndersPicks) July 30, 2026
A shame for Noah Cameron who pitched splendidly over eight scoreless innings of one-hit ball and no win to show for it. Matt had to have been Strahming his pain with his fingers. This was the 19th tater of the season for Kody Clemens.
The hardest home run hit on Wednesday was Jac Caglianone’s third inning blast off Bailey Ober at 113.7 miles per hour for a distance of 438 feet.
It wasn’t the longest home run of the night, as that distinction belonged to Luis García Jr., who crushed a 455-foot bomb off Grant Holmes:
Streaming Pitchers (Under 50% on Yahoo)
Pitcher for Today: Kyle Leahy, STL (34%) at TOR
Leahy is in the midst of a mini-breakout. Over his last six starts, he sports a 1.15 ERA, 0.83 WHIP and a 29:8 K:BB in 31.1 innings. They face a Blue Jays offense that has scored the fewest runs in the Majors and whose star hitter (Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) has yet to hit a dinger at home this season.
Other Options: Shane Drohan, MIL (39%) at LAA
Drohan struggled in last week’s home start against the Rockies, but a healthy elixir usually lies in a matchup with the hack-a-lack Angels, whose 25.1% strikeout rate among their offense ranks dead last in the Majors.
Pitcher for Tomorrow: Zac Thornton, NYM (34%) vs MIA
Just five big-league starts under his belt, but Thornton has been excellent (2.43 ERA, 6.4% BB) and the Mets should open as home favorites for that Saturday contest with the Marlins.
Other Options: Quinn Mathews, STL (3%) at TOR, Robert Gasser, MIL (13%) at LAA, Connor Prielipp, MIN (6%) at SEA
We are going to see Mathews fly out of the gate, dealing, serving it to Toronto’s broken offense that might be without Daulton Varsho by then.
Vlad writes for RotoGraphs and is the head of fantasy baseball content at FTN Fantasy. He is a Tout Wars Expert League champ, member of the CDM Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame and has been nominated for FSWA writing awards six times. Vlad has been playing fantasy baseball since 1995, winning 42 NFBC leagues since 2012 and ranking in the top percentile in NFBC’s Online Championship contest (33% win rate, 52% cash rate; 64 leagues). Much to the chagrin of his colleagues and most baseball aficionados, Vlad is a lifelong Dodgers fan who claims his first gut call at age 9 was Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series home run. You can follow him on X and BlueSky @RotoGut.
To be lopped in with the Schofield HR?.. why not say it’s the only instance of a team scoring all their runs in the last pitch of the game to win 4-3.
Clemens has probably bought himself an extra 2-3 years with the season he’s having. Good for him
Nice Fugees reference!
I love how the Nats took their bad hitting, bad fielding second baseman and said “kid, you’re a first baseman now so hit like it.” And since May…he has!
Dude’s just swinging harder. Not top-end hard, but more frequently his faster swings. He’s always had pop, but it looks like he’s figured out (or new coaches figured out) how to get to it more often.