Roto Riteup: June 10, 2019
Words matter:
As a baseball fan, I love Muncy throwing shade back at Bumgarner. As a Giants fan, I want to correct Muncy that the stadium is built by a bay, not the ocean. pic.twitter.com/NxL775x4ZI
— Justin Mason (@JustinMasonFWFB) June 9, 2019
On the Agenda:
1. Various News and Notes
2. Streaming Pitching Options
Various News and Notes
According to manager Mike Schlidt, Adam Wainwright will most likely miss his next start. Wainwright left his start on Sunday with a hamstring injury. While it is not considered serious, he it is obvious that it was more than just a tweak or a precautionary pulling. He is sporting a 21% strikeout rate and a 4.34 ERA so far this season, but the underlying numbers are much worse and he likely shouldn’t be started in most formats anyhow.
Tommy La Stella hit his 15th home run of the season on Sunday. No one in Major League Baseball has benefited more from the juiced ball than La Stella. He has a 20.9% HR/FB percentage which is extremely unsustainable with a league average barrel rate and below average exit velocities and hard hit percentages. Now is the time to sell high on the “breakout.”
Pablo Lopez threw six innings versus the Braves allowing only one run on four hits. Lopez has been fantastic at home this season, posting a 1.78 ERA and over a strikeout an inning in 35.1 innings pitched. Lopez has struggled on the road with walks and home runs, but at home he is protected by the larger park in Miami. He has another home start versus the Pirates up on deck.
Jason Kipnis left Sunday’s game with a hip injury. After the game, Kipnis and manager Tito Franconia said that they thought they caught the issue before it became a serious injury. He is expected to play on Tuesday. Consider him day-to-day for now.
Nathan Eovaldi suffered a setback in his rehab from an elbow injury. Eovaldi experienced bicep soreness and has had his next rehab appearance pushed back. The Red Sox were expecting him to start a minor league rehab schedule this week, but that is likely not going to happen now, but this is being characterized as a minor setback. Those stashing Eovaldi may want to reconsider that decision now.
Yordan Alvarez was brought up from the minor leagues for his Major League debut on Sunday. Alvarez went 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk.
Yordan Alvarez's swing is GORGEOUS. First homer already in the books. 10/10 would recommend. #Astros 🔥💪📈 pic.twitter.com/abYaz9YXXA
— Lance Brozdowski (@LanceBroz) June 9, 2019
Alvarez is one of the top prospects in the game, hitting .343/.443/.742 with 23 home runs in just 213 at bats in AAA this season. He is likely going to DH everyday and hit in the middle of one of the best lineups in baseball. He should be picked up in all formats.
Streaming Pitching Options (Less than 50% owned)
Pitcher for Today: Anibal Sanchez at CHW
Sanchez has been much better as of late and gets a White Sox team that strikes out a fair amount.
High Risk Options: Jason Vargas at NYY
Pitcher for Tomorrow: None
High Risk Options: Trent Thornton at BAL, Felix Pena vs LAD.
Justin is the co-host on The Sleeper and The Bust Podcast and writes for Rotographs covering the Roto Riteup as well as other periodic articles. In addition to his work at Rotographs, Justin is the lead fantasy writer/analyst and co-owner for FriendswithFantasyBenefits.com, and the owner of The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational. He is also a certified addiction treatment counselor. Follow Justin on Twitter @JustinMasonFWFB.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/tommy-la-stella-is-doing-mike-trout-like-things/
What about the 7% K rate? You really think he’ll crater?
Small quibble: Tito Francona is Terry’s father. Tito is just Terry’s nickname, as his birth name is Terrance.
A big wide bay, at a point only a few miles near the open ocean, is close enough to be considered “the ocean”
La Stella is more legiit than the author thinks. When you make contact >90% of the time you swing and generally elevate the ball (14.7 degrees avg launch angle), you don’t need to have off the charts average exit velocities and hard hit percentages. Statcast pegs him for a .306 xBA, .500 xSLUG and .373 xWoba. When you take into account the lowered right field fence at Angels Stadium , La Stella’s power surge makes sense. I think of him as a Scooter Gennett with a better hit tool or 90% of peak Daniel Murphy to give examples of guys who hit for plenty of pop without ever having studly exit velocities and hard hit percentages.
Agreed. He’s hitting it hard when he gets it in the air, which is a lot. He’s hitting the same amount of high drives as Pete Alonso, and he’s hitting them harder than Alonso is, too. And he doesn’t strike out. Borderline elite exit velo on high drives, and elite contact rates. He’s for real.
Actually both those guys fit the mold perfectly. Contact oriented hitters who broke out basically out of nowhere. I mean Murphy was fine and rosterableish before, but he wasn’t a superstar fantasy player that he became in his peak. To me Stellas swing is amazing. Not like visually pleasing, more like, wow how can a guy swing be that short. I actually picked him up during a hot streak in NFBC and dropped him. Really sucks now, but at the time the roster crunch was Stella, Kendrick, Lowe, or Whitley (pitcher). In hindsight obviously the correct answer was Whitley, but you know what they say about hindsight. Kendrick and Lowe have continued to mash, and I am top 10 overall even after dropping Stella (sick brag) but it sucks to think about, as according to my math I’d be 4th overall if I had dropped Whitley instead.