Roto Riteup: June 16, 2023

This is my kind of parenting:

Pete Fairbanks returns from the IL with a black eye, but don't worry, he didn't lose a fight… He dunked 🏀 on a 3-year-old…@RaysBaseball | #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/Ytp0UO8PQe

— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) June 15, 2023

On the Agenda: 

1. Sleeper and the Bust DK Contest
2. Quick Hits
3. Various News and Notes
4. Streaming Pitchers

 

Sleeper and the Bust DK Contest

On most Tuesday’s and Friday’s and some other days, Paul Sporer and I will be doing a $5 draftkings game for anyone that is interested. 

 

Quick Hits

Yoan Moncada was placed on the IL with a back issue. There is no timetable for his return. 

Matt Mervis was optioned to AAA on Thursday by the Cubs. This isn’t surprising as Mervis was hitting .167/.242/.289 with three home runs in 27 games, but some of the underlying numbers were encouraging. He hit the ball hard and was getting some bad BABIP luck. There definitely were some contact issues, but they were improving under the hood even if it didn’t show in the surface numbers. If someone in a dynasty league wants to sell low on him, I would buy. 

Zach Neto was placed on the IL with an oblique strain. Typically these injuries take about 4-to-6 weeks to return from.

 

​Various News and Notes
Danny Jansen went 3-for-4 with two home runs in the loss to the Orioles on Thursday.

Danny Jansen is back to doing what he does best:

Yanking home runs to left field. pic.twitter.com/GAxLtDRLxF

— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) June 15, 2023

Jansen made a splash in just his third game back from the IL, which is great to see because he had struggled prior to getting hurt. With Brandon Belt on the IL, Jansen figures to get additional playing time at DH. If he was dropped in your league, he is worth a pickup in most formats.

Jake Burger went 1-for-5 with a home run in the loss to the Dodgers on Thursday.

Jake Burger – Chicago White Sox (16) pic.twitter.com/tLApHtR8oq

— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) June 16, 2023

This is a fantastic example of who Burger is. He went deep but also struck out four times in the game. He is tied for the tenth most home runs in the Majors this season and with Moncada going down, has no competition for playing time. He is still rostered in under 50% of CBS leagues which is insane.

Tyler Wells threw 6.2 innings versus the Blue Jays, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out eight in the victory on Thursday.

Tyler Wells, Painted 84mph Slider. 🖌️🎨 pic.twitter.com/QkAhWhMCdF

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 15, 2023

Wells had a 42% CSW on his cutter and a 36% CSW overall. He has been really great this season in spite of a home run issue which showed up in this outing as well, but he is doing a great job keeping men off base via the free pass and getting a ton of strikeouts over his last seven starts. Pitching in Camden helps a bit at keeping the ball in the yard, so I am not too worried that the homers will completely sink him, but there needs to be a little improvement in that regard. For now, he is a team streamer in most formats.

 

Streaming Pitchers (Under 50% in CBS)

Pitcher for Today: Rich HIll at MIL

Hill has been up and down this season, but this is more about how bad the Brewers have been this year against left handed pitching. 

High Risk Options:  J.P. France vs CIN, Jared Shuster vs COL, Brady Singer vs LAA, Julio Teheran vs PIT, Kyle Hendricks vs BAL, JP Sears vs PHI, Trevor Williams vs MIA. 

 

Pitcher for Tomorrow:  Griffin Canning at KC

Canning has been better of late and faces a Royals team that has struggled mightily versus right handed pitching this year. 

High Risk Options: Clarke Schmidt at BOS, Connor Seabold at ATL, James Kaprielian vs PHI. 

For those of you that would like to see how these picks play out, I have a doc I put together to track the stats from my recommended pitchers. It does not include the “High Risk Options.”