Roto Riteup: June 1, 2017

Many of you don’t know this, but I made on to the field at an Astros game:

SWEEEEP!#AstrosWin 17-6! 40 runs scored this series! 22 wins in May! Seven straight! Win streak! pic.twitter.com/G6ARSSCUuo

— Houston Astros (@astros) May 31, 2017

 

On the Agenda:

1. Fun with Small Samples! (Hitter Edition)

2. Various News and Notes

3. Streaming Pitcher Options

 

Fun with Small Samples!

Justin Bour led the Majors in home runs in the month of May with 11! Logan Morrison led the AL with 10. Bour’s ISO was .385 and Morrison’s was .374 which only trailed Mike Trout’s ISO at .500!

Three players stole double digit bases in the Month of May: Billy Hamilton (18), Dee Gordon (12), and Cameron Maybin (10). Jean Segura was caught stealing 6 times in May. Only 12 players in MLB had 6 or more steals in the month.

The highest hard contact %s during the month May were Justin Bour (54.9%) and Michael Conforto (54.3%). The highest soft contact %s were Jonathan Villar (32.3%), Jarrod Dyson (31.7%), and Hunter Renfroe (29.7%).

The highest BABIPs in May were Aaron Judge (.473), Miguel Sano (.473), and Ben Gamel (.460). The lowest were Kyle Schwarber (.094), Anthony Rizzo (.165), and Kole Calhoun (.178).

Giancarlo Stanton led the Majors in average exit velocity in the month of May at 104.5 miles per hour. He was followed by Joc Pederson (104.1 mph) and Manny Machado (103.8 mph).

 

Various News and Notes

Bryce Harper’s suspension has been reduced to three games. Originally Harper was supposed to lose four games, but he gets one back here. He began serving the suspension on Wednesday night.

Welington Castillo was placed on the 10-day DL with a testicular injury. He was struck in the groin with a foul tip during tuesday’s game and had to be taken to the emergency room. In spite of the fact Castillo is on his second DL stint this season, he has played well for the Orioles. It has yet to be determined how long this injury will keep him out for. See, I did that blurb without a single joke!

Mallex Smith has been recalled by the Rays. While Smith doesn’t offer the fantasy upside many thought he would not that long ago, he does have the opportunity to be a cheap source of stolen bases in deeper formats.

 

Streaming Pitcher Options

A pitcher for today: Jharel Cotton @ Cle

There are only seven pitchers that qualify for this on Thursday: CC Sabathia, Wade Miley, Jharel Cotton, Yovani Gallardo, Jeff Locke, Alex Meyer and Adalberto Mejia. Not a fantastic list so give me this guy with the best pitch in Cotton and highest upside in one start.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Jimmy Nelson vs LAD

Nelson is coming off the best start of his career and has been solid this year at home with a 3.60 ERA and 36 strike outs in 35 innings.