Roto Riteup: June 20, 2015
In case you had forgotten, today’s Roto Riteup reminds readers to purchase their Father’s Day gifts for tomorrow.
On today’s agenda:
1. The author watches Lance McCullers’ defense fail him
2. Various news and notes
3. Streaming Pitcher Options
<!–more>The author watches Lance McCullers’ defense fail him
As a resident of the greater Seattle area, your author has a nightly opportunity to watch the Seattle Mariners disappoint him. This time around, it was the Astros who were disappointing, failing to support Lance McCullers in the first inning with an error and a misplayed bloop single. Catcher Hank Conger also dropped a third strike in the second inning, allowing fellow backstop Mike Zunino to reach base.
McCullers looked like his usual self against the Mariners; arms flailing, the ball flying to the plate in the mid-90s, and an effectively wild approach. McCullers’ changeup tails off like a digressing professor, and his curveball dives out of the zone with ease. His command is going to hurt his WHIP for at least the remainder of this year, but if he can improve just a little bit, he’s nasty.
The Astros defense has been solidly in the bottom half of the league this year, though the addition of Carlos Correa could bump them up a smidge. Be wary of a couple of extra hits getting through, even if that hasn’t been the case with the likes of Dallas Keuchel.
Various news and notes
Hisashi Iwakuma will begin his minor league rehab assignment with the Mariners A-ball affiliate, and is scheduled to throw about 50 pitches. Iwakuma will likely need at least three starts in the minors, and will replace Mike Montgomery in the M’s rotation when he returns.
The legend of Joey Butler continues. The Rays’ “phenom” hit a homer yesterday, giving him six on the year with a .336 batting average. Think of Butler as Bryan LaHair and stay away.
Ike Davis has been activated by the A’s and should take his spot back at first base. Davis was a different man before getting hurt, cutting his strikeout rate to 14% and hitting .282 with not much pop to speak of.
Jose Altuve claims to be feeling well despite missing the Astros last few games. He could return as early as today.
Streaming Pitcher Options
If you enjoy streaming pitchers, tune into the Roto Riteup for recommendations each and every day.
A pitcher for today: Anthony DeSclafani vs MIA (Tom Koehler)
While a Reds starter at home can be a risky proposition, the Marlins are a bottom-three offense against righties.
A pitcher for tomorrow: Vincent Velasquez at SEA (J.A. Happ)
Velasquez will square off against a middle lineup (at best) in a pitcher’s park. If the defense holds up, so should he.
Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.
Any thoughts on Joe Ross staying up for the Nats? Fister looked like a corpse his first start out and Roark hasn’t found what form he had last year as a starter.
The dumbshit author of this post has clearly looked into Butler’s game and seen ample evidence of regression coming, as supported by ____________, ________, and ___ ______.
.432 BABIP, 2.7% BB rate. I don’t really need to know anything else to know regression is coming.
Should probably add his 33.3% HR/FB to that, too.
BABIP and done – FG commenters
If you paid any attention to how he’s getting pitched, lots of strikes. Hard to walk on strikes.
Over his career at AAA (more than 1000 PAs), he posted a walk rate north of 12%. But no, I’m sure he’s a true-talent 2.7% BB because of 40 games, games in which he’s seen the same rate of pitches in the zone (per PitchFx) as feared power hitters Ender Inciarte, DJ LeMahieu, Josh Harrison, Brandon Phillips, and Michael Bourn.
So tell me, where has this guy NOT hit well as a professional? Dude has a great batter’s eye and has been very impressive, and fangraphs wants to dismiss him because he doesn’t fit the projections. Just another example of statnerds not being able to see past BABIP.
Yeah, I think he’ll get closer to something like his 7.9% projected walk rate. But anyway, I’m just pointing out some red flags on Butler since I think it was incredibly unfair to refer to Zach as the “dumbshit author of this post.”
My insult was just as flippant as his, so there you go. At least I took the time to back up my stance.
Maybe, but you still lead a pathetic life.
Pretty sure Conger still managed to throw Zunino out, but only because Zunino stood around without realizing Conger had dropped it.
Time to drop Syndergaard or stick with him?
Oh, drop him. I might just be saying that to pick him up on the cheap, but yeah, totally drop him.
Would you drop him for Ian Kennedy?