Roto Riteup: June 15, 2023

Good grief, Ronald:

461 feet to dead center! 😳 pic.twitter.com/NeWrriJJeV

— MLB (@MLB) June 14, 2023

With that mammoth blast (his second of the double-header), Ronald Acuña Jr. became just the second player (J.D. Martinez) in the Statcast era to hit a home run over 460 feet to dead center at Comerica Park. Acuña Jr. is now slashing .333/.405/.580 over 311 PA, with 15 HR, 59 R, 44 RBI, and 29(!) SB. Also, it is June.

Just a friendly reminder that he’s somehow still just 25 years old.

On the Agenda:

1. News and Notes
2. Bumps and Bruises
3. Streaming Pitchers

News and Notes

Poor out a little bit of Brunello for our dearly departed Italian Breakfast. Vinnie Pasquantino will have surgery to repair a torn right labrum and is out for the season. Nick Pratto has started every game at first base since Pasquantino was initially injured, after previously splitting his time in left field. The good news on Pratto is that he’s started 16 games in a row, batting leadoff in all but one, and is slashing a tidy .281/.367/.425 over 169 PA. The bad news is a .430 BABIP, 34% K%, and playing for the Royals.

According to Astros general manager Dana Brown, Yordan Alvarez could miss at least four weeks from his oblique strain. Hopefully, no one’s main event team has him, Corey Seager, Manny Machado, Cody Bellinger, Brandon Lowe, Nico Hoerner, Drew Rasmussen, Nestor Cortes, Pete Fairbanks, and José Alvarado all on it. That would really suck and might just take someone from 2nd overall to 350th in lickety-split, no time at all. Poor bastard; thank god this is just a silly hypothetical.

Carlos Rodón is scheduled to face live hitters again today after coming out safely from the same thing last Sunday. If all goes well, Rodón’s next move would be a rehab assignment, where he is expected to need 3-4 starts.

Cody Bellinger had his second rehab game yesterday, going 1-for-4 with an RBI. Bellinger played first base and after reading comments from president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, it seems likely that he’ll be playing first base when he returns to the Cubs, at least until they’re confident of easing him back in center field.

After starting a rehab assignment on Wednesday, Harrison Bader (hamstring strain) could return to the Yankees this weekend in Boston. No word yet on whether he’s still technically made of glass.

Lance McCullers had surgery to repair his flexor tendon and remove a bone spur, officially ruling him out for the season five months after you should have.

No condiments needed – Jake Burger went double stack on Wednesday, hitting his 14th and 15th home runs of the season. But unless the White Sox want to the dangerous game of playing Eloy Jiménez (who returned after missing the previous four games with a calf strain) regularly in the outfield, Burger’s playing might be about to again get burnt. Well, at least until Jiménez inevitably misses time for whatever the next weird injury is.

Eury Pérez was again superb, locking up the Mariners for six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out six. The rookie now has a 1.80 ERA and 36 K over seven starts and 35 IP. But as soon as Trevor Rogers returns, Perez could still be right back to the minors. Rogers was moved to the 60-day IL after experiencing discomfort in his non-throwing shoulder but is still eligible to return on June 20. Whether he will or not remains unknown.

Wow – the Mets won! No real news just wanted to give a shot of positivity to all of the sad Yorkers who have been handling this latest Mets swoon with such calm and rational aplomb. Totally…calm and rational.

How did I miss that the Tigers inexplicably gave the always-injured Trevor Rosenthal a $2 million minor league contract? Again, no fantasy-relevant news, just wanted to say wow. Oh, and that Rosenthal will also have elbow surgery next week.

Bumps and Bruises

Salvador Perez took a cutter to his left pinky on Wednesday and seemed to be in a mess of pain before ultimately leaving the game. Oh sweet jeebus, you gotta be kidding me – I guess add Perez to the roster of that poor hypothetical bastard from before.

Byron Buxton could return to the Twins lineup in the next couple of days according to manager Rocco Baldelli. Hold on, right quick – let me just plug this into my Buxton Injury Translator: beep boop beep-bop-bop (computer voice): June 27th…affirmative*.

An MRI showed a Grade 2 hamstring strain for Max Muncy but he won’t be placed on the injured list, with manager Dave Roberts claiming he’ll be back on Saturday. And since baseball people famously always tell the truth, this is obviously what will happen.

Weird injury magnet, Mitch Haniger, is scheduled to have surgery today to repair the forearm fracture he sustained after getting plunked by Jack Flaherty on Tuesday. Top prospect Luis Matos made his debut in center field last night, going 1-for-3 with a single in his first appearance. Prior to being called up, Matos slashed .398/.435.685 over 116 PA at Triple-A, with 7 HR and 6 SB. And at Double-A before that, he had 3 HR and 9 SB with a .304 AVG and .398 OBP at Double-A. Ya know, I think the kid can play.

* In the future we no longer say yes. Instead, we say, “affirmative”.

Streaming Pitchers

Streaming pitcher for today: AJ Smith-Shawver, ATL vs COL. Not many streamable options for today but when all else fails, why not pick on the road Rockies? Smith-Shawver’s first start went well, allowing two runs (0 ER) over 5.1 IP in a no-decision over the Nationals, striking out just two but that tends to happen when facing the stingy whiffing Washingtonians, so I’ll give him a pass. At three stops in the minors this season, Smith-Shawver had a total of 45 K in 31 IP, after running a 34% K% over 69 IP at Single-A in 2022.

High Risk for today: Johan Oviedo, PIT @CHC