Roto Riteup: June 24, 2015

Another Roto Riteup, another new Spiderman. I still wish Donald Glover would have been given the nod, but Tom Holland received the honor. I guess I’ll have to settle for Glover to be in The Martian, a film I am very much looking forward to after reading the book.

On today’s agenda:
1. Luis Valbuena continues to slug
2. Bad news for Freddie Freeman
3. Streaming Pitching Options

Luis Valbuena continues to slug
After his 3-for-5 performance yesterday — including a pair of home runs — Valbuena is up to 19 dingers on the season. Unfortunately his rate stats lag far behind at .195/.269/.456. When 19 of 47 hits clear the fence, a low BABIP is to be expected. That being said, Valbuena’s .171 BABIP is in rare territory. Since the 2000 season, the only qualified batter to post a sub-.200 BABIP was Aaron Hill in 2010 (note: both Chase Utley and Stephen Drew both have sub-.200 BABIPs right now, so seeing three batters do this would be pretty bonkers). While Valbuena’s 8.2 percent walk rate is down a bit and his 22.4 percent strikeout rate has seen a slight uptick, I’m not prepared to say he’s sold out his plate discipline for power given their proximity to the non-pitcher league average marks of 7.7 percent and 19.6 percent respectively. Sporting a contact rate just two percent below average, I like Valbuena to bounce back and post a .240 average the rest of the way, even after accounting for his higher swinging strike rate. He’s currently owned in 52 percent of CBS formats and not even 65 percent of Yahoo! or ESPN leagues. For a player with both second and third base eligibility, I’d roster him in anything deeper than a standard 12-team mixed league. The middle infield in Houston is getting a bit crowded, but unless the Astros are in love with Jed Lowrie’s defense at third base — a position he hasn’t played in the majors since 2011 — then he could be on the short side of a platoon with Valbuena getting the majority of plate appearances at the hot corner.

Bad News for Freddie Freeman
Yesterday the Braves placed their first baseman on the 15-day disabled list with a bone bruise on his right wrist. As the linked article suggests, the club is hopeful Freeman won’t miss more than two weeks time. For those scrambling for a replacement corner infielder, consider Ben Paulsen. A couple of days ago commenter DeQuarium Lumpkin reminded me of Paulsen’s solid batting line, and playing in Coors Field never hurts. He’s a left-handed hitter so even if he were to get platooned at first base with Wilin Rosario, Paulsen would be getting the majority of the time. He’s largely available as he is owned in 15 percent of leagues in CBS and not even 10 percent of Yahoo! or ESPN formats.

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

A pitcher for today: Kendall Graveman at TEX (Wandy Rodriguez)
I’ll say this, I’m counting on the night time’s cool air aiding Graveman tonight. As he is mostly a ground baller, Graveman shouldn’t be hurt by the Rangers park too bad, however he has been susceptible to the long ball this year. Still, he’s available in two out of three CBS leagues and over 85 percent of ESPN and Yahoo! settings.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Taylor Jungmann vs NYM (Jacob deGrom)
The Mets haven’t hit right-handers particularly well thus far as they rank 24th with a 87 wRC+ to date. Jungmann doesn’t own a great K% or SwStr%, but I’m betting on his slider being on. He’s free to pick up in over 90 percent of the three major fantasy sites.