Roto Riteup March 31, 2017
This will probably be the millionth time you will see the first sentence of an article this week that reads “Opening Day is almost here.” But deal with it because I’m excited, and you’re excited and everyone is excited that baseball is actually happening.
On the Agenda
- Vote for Pedro
- Mr. Gray, of Coors
- Perdomo Dude
Vote for Pedro
Pedro Alvarez did not make the Opening Day roster for the O’s. We kind of saw that coming.
He will begin the season in Triple-A. We do know he will be promoted, but it’s just a matter of when. Until then, he’s the guy who hit 22 balls over the fence for the Oriole’s in 2016 with a .249/.322/.504 line at the designated hitter position. Which is more than likely where he will stay once he’s back in a major league uniform since he doesn’t have much success when it comes to his defense. But a .255 ISO last season blankets that a little bit.
Just what the Orioles need, more bats.
His fly ball rate increased last season (36.4-percent) and he shows little to no signs of regression. Should be an interesting guy to watch during his minor league outings and we already know how he performs in a major league uniform.
I’m just not crazy about him.
http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/the-sleeper-and-the-bust-episode-437-nfbc-12-team-breakdown/
Mr. Gray, of Coors
Jon Gray was named the Opening Day starter for the Rockies and that’s exceptional news after leaving a spring training game with some discomfort in his toe. That was a bit anti-climactic, but hey…the guy’s healthy.
We know when it comes to pitching at Coors Field we kind of cringe thinking of the pitchers that have to deal with it. In Gray’s case, it’s not all bad news. He still has some upside despite a 4.61 ERA that doesn’t really exemplify what he’s capable of.
Despite the team he plays for, he was also a rookie last season so those two elements combined could scare some away from giving him a home on lineups. But in this case, those fears could prove beneficial.
Paul Sporer is a major fan of Gray this season highlighting his 26 percent strikeout rate and 1.26 WHIP among other things.
Perdomo Dude
Padres announced Luis Perdomo will get the fifth start in the rotation.
His spring stats were strong tossing a 2.87 ERA with nine strikeouts in 15.2 innings. And despite a 5.71 ERA last season in 146.2 innings, he shows promise.
Perdomo has this split-finger fastball he began showing off last year that was being talked about before he ever put on a Padres uniform. He began throwing the pitch more as the season went on, but not enough to make it any type of specialty pitch. So don’t bank on that.
In August, the 23-year-old dropped his ERA to a 3.24, but still only finished the month with a 5.94 K/9-rate and is about average with a 4.04 SIERA.
Not a bad guy to stash away on your lineups to eat up some innings and still be productive.
Yeah, the Perdomo sleeper makes sense. The Pads stole him from my Cards, which says something about the depth of Red Bird minor league hurlers, or their analysis stupidity. But the guy throws strikes, and may pitch 180 innings.