Roto Riteup: June 16, 2016

Freddie Freeman hit for the cycle! Not only was it the first cycle in major league baseball since August and the first for the Braves since 2008, it also had the distinction of representing the first hits a Braves player has recorded all season.

Freeman hasn’t quite lived up to his draft status as the 10th first-baseman off boards, but he’s hit the ball really well so far in June, pushing him back to 18th in value at the position. If he can get the strikeout rate down to a level he’s more accustomed to, he could be in for a solid second half.

On the agenda:
1. Team batting by pitcher handedness, park
2. Various News and Notes
3. Streaming Pitcher Options

Team batting by pitcher handedness, park
Without much of a top story to break down from Wednesday, I thought I’d just throw a couple of tables out there. You can find this information on the leaderboards pages, but for a quick glance, here’s how the league’s offenses are performing against each handedness of pitcher.

Team	Overall wRC+	wRC+ vs. LHP	K% vs. LHP	wRC+ vs. RHP	K% vs. RHP	wRC+ Difference	K% Diffrence
Padres	85	112	24.6%	75	24.2%	37	0.4%
Rays	105	125	24.1%	98	25.4%	27	-1.3%
Diamondbacks	97	114	19.5%	90	23.5%	24	-4.0%
Nationals	98	116	19.2%	94	20.3%	22	-1.1%
Reds	85	98	22.4%	82	23.1%	16	-0.7%
Rangers	97	106	20.1%	93	18.4%	13	1.7%
Athletics	91	100	18.8%	87	18.7%	13	0.1%
White Sox	88	97	23.2%	86	20.4%	11	2.8%
Cubs	108	114	20.4%	106	22.4%	8	-2.0%
Pirates	108	114	24.7%	107	19.5%	7	5.2%
Marlins	95	99	22.7%	95	18.7%	4	4.0%
Astros	94	96	24.7%	94	25.0%	2	-0.3%
Brewers	89	91	22.5%	89	26.0%	2	-3.5%
Royals	94	95	19.6%	94	20.0%	1	-0.4%
Giants	101	101	18.7%	102	16.2%	-1	2.5%
Indians	97	96	21.1%	98	21.1%	-2	0.0%
Twins	88	86	23.9%	88	22.6%	-2	1.3%
Blue Jays	101	98	19.3%	102	22.1%	-4	-2.8%
Angels	99	96	17.0%	100	15.9%	-4	1.1%
Yankees	86	84	18.3%	88	18.7%	-4	-0.4%
Red Sox	122	118	20.1%	123	18.1%	-5	2.0%
Mets	98	94	25.3%	99	23.7%	-5	1.6%
Tigers	106	101	21.3%	108	22.9%	-7	-1.6%
Dodgers	88	82	20.0%	90	20.8%	-8	-0.8%
Rockies	96	87	24.3%	99	18.9%	-12	5.4%
Phillies	72	62	23.8%	75	22.3%	-13	1.5%
Mariners	111	99	20.7%	117	19.1%	-18	1.6%
Braves	70	58	22.9%	76	19.4%	-18	3.5%
Cardinals	114	97	21.2%	120	19.6%	-23	1.6%
Orioles	107	84	22.4%	114	22.9%	-30	-0.5%

And here’s a look at the boost teams are getting from playing at home.

Team	Home ISO	Road ISO	Difference
Rockies	0.229	0.156	0.073
Yankees	0.179	0.108	0.071
Brewers	0.169	0.127	0.042
Reds	0.189	0.151	0.038
Diamondbacks	0.178	0.150	0.028
Royals	0.148	0.125	0.023
Astros	0.175	0.155	0.020
Blue Jays	0.186	0.174	0.012
White Sox	0.148	0.136	0.012
Indians	0.167	0.156	0.011
Mariners	0.184	0.175	0.009
Dodgers	0.149	0.142	0.007
Tigers	0.171	0.165	0.006
Twins	0.148	0.147	0.001
Red Sox	0.190	0.190	0.000
Angels	0.134	0.138	-0.004
Cardinals	0.185	0.189	-0.004
Rangers	0.164	0.170	-0.006
Cubs	0.163	0.174	-0.011
Marlins	0.128	0.139	-0.011
Athletics	0.139	0.151	-0.012
Pirates	0.138	0.151	-0.013
Padres	0.141	0.154	-0.013
Orioles	0.189	0.206	-0.017
Phillies	0.129	0.146	-0.017
Braves	0.083	0.103	-0.020
Giants	0.126	0.150	-0.024
Nationals	0.156	0.188	-0.032
Rays	0.171	0.215	-0.044
Mets	0.143	0.196	-0.053

Nothing striking here, just a quick mid-season glance for making sit/start and streaming decisions.

Various News and Notes
Quickly: Evan Longoria was pulled Wednesday due to left forearm tightness and is set to be re-evaluated Thursday. Neil Walker has missed a few days with back soreness and visited a doctor yesterday, but the Mets are hoping he can go today. Today also marks the start of Troy Tulowitzki’s rehab assignment.

For Starling Marte, there’s the pain of botching a hopper in the outfield, and then the pain of taking that hopper to the face. The Pirates outfielder ate a Yoenis Cespedes liner off the bounce and needed to leave the game as a result. There’s no update yet, but considering the high spirits he seemed to be in, maybe it will just be a day-to-day thing.

Sticking with the Pirates, don’t expect Gerrit Cole out too long. Placed on the DL on Tuesday, the righty said he expects to pitch the “majority of the season.” In the interim, Jameson Taillon’s around for a long stretch without an off day for Pittsburgh, as we covered yesterday.

The Rockies gave Jose Reyes the DFA treatment, and it seems likely the 33-year-old shortstop will be a free agent 10 days from now. With Trevor Story bouncing back from a slightly colder May and Reyes returning from a suspension for domestic assault (and yes, it factored in, as it should have), the writing was long on the wall here. Someone will take a flier, I’m sure.

Also designated for assignment is Omar Infante, which says an awful lot considering how thinned out the Royals already are. Expect Whit Merrifield, a 27-year-old rookie with some history of base-stealing and low-end pop, to get most of the time at second. He’s a mildly interesting add in deeper formats given the clear path to playing time, and he’s only 13-percent owned.

Rougned Odor homered twice, while Jurickson Profar started his seventh consecutive game at third base. There’s some tough juggling here, but it’s pretty clear the Rangers want Profar out there whenever possible, and he’s now three-position eligible on Yahoo.

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

A pitcher for today: Dan Straily @ ATL (Matt Wisler)
With such a light schedule overall, you’d think streamers would be thin on options. And sure, there aren’t any slam dunks, but the schedule works out kind of strangely in that 15 of the day’s 20 projected starters are less than 50-percent owned. Of those, Dan Straily is set up the best, drawing the Braves and their 70 wRC+, in Atlanta, a nice chance for him to continue his strong 2016.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Julio Urias vs MIL (Zach Davies)
There are a couple of names I like that have already been discussed here or elsewhere (Jon Gray against the Marlins, Trevor Bauer against the White Sox), so to avoid being redundant, we’ll kick the tires on the 39-percent owners rookie. No, he probably won’t go too deep, but the Brewers own just an 89 wRC+, have a .127 ISO on the road, and strike out more than any team but the Rays. Julio Urias looked much more comfortable his last two times out, and I don’t think hoping for six strikeouts over five innings is unrealistic here.