Roto Riteup: June 5, 2024

by
June 5, 2024

I love knuckleballs:

On the Agenda: 

  1. Closer Chaos
  2. Quick Hits
  3. Various News and Notes
  4. Streaming Pitchers

 

Closer Chaos

Andres Munoz left Tuesday’s game with a back issue after a collision while covering home plate:

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Consider him day to day for now, but if he were to miss time, Ryne Stanek would likely be the next man up for the closer role.

 

Quick Hits

Trevor Williams was placed on the IL with a forearm strain. This does not sound good and very disappointing considering how well he has pitched thus far. There is no timetable for his return. 

Wilyer Abreu was placed on the IL with a sprained ankle. The hope is he can return from the IL after a minimum stay. 

Tommy Pham was placed on the IL with an ankle sprain. There is no timetable for his return. 

Dominic Fletcher was placed on the IL with a strained shoulder. He is expected to miss about 2-to-3 weeks. 

Sean Murphy left Tuesday’s game with an elbow contusion after being hit with a pitch:
He stated after the game that it was not believed to be a serious injury. Consider him day-to-day for now.

Spencer Arrighetti left Tuesday’s start with a calf injury. Consider him day-to-day for now.

Jack Flaherty left Tuesday’s start with back stiffness. This sounds like it may have been precautionary. Consider him day-to-day for now.

 

Various News and Notes
Jack Suwinski went 1-for-3 with a home run in the victory over the Dodgers.

Suwinski had just been recalled from the minor league yesterday. While it was just one at bat, he looks like he may have made an adjustment in the minor leagues to his hand positioning which allowed to load faster. Here is a great comparison from Alex Stumpf of MLB.com:

If Suwinski has made a real change, then this could be a nice time to buy.

Connor Norby went 1-for-4 with a home run in the victory over the Blue Jays on Tuesday.

Norby is a top 100 prospect that was recently called up by the Orioles. Norby was hitting .286/.374/.510 with nine home runs and seven stolen bases. Norby doesn’t necessarily have a massive carrying tool in fantasy, but can do a bit of everything as long as he is getting playing time. If he can make consistent contact then he has a chance to do that, but if the strikeouts become an issue, he could end up back in AAA once Jorge Mateo comes back.

Masyn Winn went 3-for-3 with a home run in the loss to the Astros on Tuesday.

Winn has quietly been fantastic to the Cardinals, hitting .309/359/.446 with three home runs and eight stolen bases in 197 plate appearances. He is making fantastic zone contact and while he doesn’t have a lot of power, he knows how to use all fields and has recently moved to the leadoff spot for the Cardinals.

 

Streaming Pitchers (Under 50% in CBS)

Pitcher for Today: None

Some decent high risk options, but none that are that I love. 

High Risk Options: Joey Estes vs SEA, Spencer Schwellenbach at BOS, Jose Soriano vs SD. 

 

Pitcher for Tomorrow: Cooper Criswell at CHW

Criswell has been good this season and has a nice matchup versus a bad White Sox team. 

High Risk Options: Jake Irvin vs ATL, Michael Lorenzen vs SF, Alec Marsh vs SEA. 

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.”





 

Justin is the co-host on The Sleeper and The Bust Podcast and writes for Rotographs covering the Roto Riteup as well as other periodic articles. In addition to his work at Rotographs, Justin is the lead fantasy writer/analyst and co-owner for FriendswithFantasyBenefits.com, and the owner of The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational. He is also a certified addiction treatment counselor. Follow Justin on Twitter @JustinMasonFWFB.

3 Comments
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dannyrockMember since 2017
2 years ago

That Suwinski change is so nice you had to post it twice

4
AnonMember since 2025
2 years ago

Waldron – looking at the pitch chart from his start on Monday, his knuckler had horizontal break that ranged from 21 inches arm side to 17 inches glove side and from 861 rpm (huge outlier, the next highest was 470) down to 74 rpm. He threw 45 knucklers in that game – 22 broke arm side and 23 glove side. That pitch was to Ward and was a called strike. He threw 2 called strikes to Ward – one broke 4 inches arm side and one 17 inches glove side. Going to guess that one is the 17 inches glove side given the catcher missed it and seems to be employing the old Bob Uecker strategy on catching knucklers of wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up. Not sure how hitters are supposed to hit it or catchers catch it when even the pitcher has no idea where it’s going. It’s fun having a knuckleballer in the majors again. One of my favorite GIFs is, I think it was Steven Wright, throwing a particularly good one to Chris Davis that moves 2 different directions on its way to the plate.

I mean, what does it tell you that a guy paid specifically for his ability to catch major league pitches, a guy that teams are willing to accept his lack of ability to hit or run precisely because of his ability to catch pitches, a guy who routinely catches a 3″ baseball moving at 100 mph (or whatever speed it’s at when it actually gets to him) in the 4″ pocket of his glove, what does it tell you that he whiffed on that pitch? The final frame of it is of the ball glancing off his glove and he missed that one by, what, maybe 8″? I don’t know if what Waldron is doing is sustainable, but I’m in.

Suwinski – I wonder how often changes like that are really just mental more than any sort of actual mechanical improvement. I mean, I get it that oftentimes it improves the hitter’s timing and that is a “mechanical” improvement in some sense. But how often is it really just a jedi mind-trick convincing someone a certain adjustment is going to fix things.

Norby – he had a 30.7 K% and a .397 BABIP in the minors this year. If his wRC+ was like 170 or more, I’d be interested but he was running a 127 wRC+ despite those numbers. Now, his K% was lower last year also at AAA and he has run a good LD% so maybe he can run above average BABIPs but there are warts there. . . .

Last edited 2 years ago by Anon
1
NL Rules
2 years ago

Nice rite-up!

2