Roto Riteup: September 14, 2016

A reminder: While “look good, feel good” is a nice axiom, you do not, in fact, have to look good to be good.

On the agenda:
1. Walker rebounds
2. Various News and Notes
3. Streaming Pitcher Options

Walker rebounds
For the second day in a row in this space, we’re talking about a near-no-hitter. In the case of Taijuan Walker, it was actually a close-call with a perfect game, depending on what inning you start calling things close. The Mariners righty went 5.2 without allowing a base runner before Ketel Marte skipped a routine throw from shortstop past first base for an error. From there, Walker would allow a single to Kole Calhoun to open the seventh, ultimately cruising to a complete game shutout with just three hits allowed. Most notably, he posted an 11:0 strikeout-to-walk ratio, a nice change from the 12:6 he had posted over his last four starts combined. It’s been a tough, up-and-down year for the 24-year-old, one that’s resulted in his ownership drop to 47 percent, but Tuesday served as a reminder of how much talent is here if he can put the pieces together. He induced 20 swings-and-misses, by the way, including 10 with his splitter. Yeaoh.

Various News and Notes
The Pirates are shutting down Gerrit Cole for the remainder of the season due to inflammation in his right elbow This can probably be considered their official waiving of the white flag, six games back of the wild card, though they did make a move to acquire Wade LeBlanc as a fill-in from the Mariners. Cole finishes the year with a 3.88 ERA and 3.32 FIP over 116 innings, the significant drop in his strikeout and swinging-strike rates having never regressed to the levels of 2014-2015. His health will be a story to watch entering draft season next year (he also missed a month mid-season, remember).

Josh Donaldson sat for a second consecutive day with a sore hip but is expected to play in Wednesday’s matinee. The Jays need a win pretty badly, so here’s hoping. Aaron Judge, meanwhile, may not be back – the team sounded pretty pessimistic after he strained his oblique yesterday, and he’s set for an MRI today to confirm his timeline.

Also in the AL East, Andrew Benintendi returned ahead of schedule for the Red Sox and was available yesterday, though he went unused. Adding him back into the OF mix is a nice boost for Boston, and the rookie is widely available if you want to roll the dice on his .324 average from his first 21 games holding up.

Julio Urias picked off a runner for the sixth time this season, an MLB high despite the 20-year-old throwing just 72 innings so far. I’m not sure how to price that in, exactly, but if he keeps up that rate over the course of a season, perhaps he’ll be the type to ride a higher-than-average strand rate without a requisite call for regression.

Following up on a note from yesterday, Jacob deGrom may “piggyback” Steven Matz (or vice versa) in the Mets’ game on Sunday. It was reported yesterday that deGrom could work out of the bullpen before moving back into the rotation, and Matz has been sidelined with a shoulder impingement, so this looks like a creative way to get both arms in there without over-working either or taxing the bullpen. Make sure you slide both into an SP slot, even if they don’t have the starter icon next to their names.

Robbie Ray became just the fourth Diamondbacks pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts in a season. He’s joining unique company in another regard, too – a quick search shows he’s in line to have the worst ERA (4.55) of a 200-strikeout arm since Brandon Morrow in 2011 (4.72) and could become just the third pitcher since 2000 to post 200-plus strikeouts with an ERA worse than 4.50. Morrow’s ERA dropped significantly in an injury-shortened follow-up season and the other name, Javier Vazquez, bounced back with a career year in 2009. So…hope.

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

A pitcher for today: Rubby de la Rosa vs. Col (Jeff Hoffman)
In his first start off of the DL, Rubby de la Rosa managed just two innings, surrendering a run and striking out three. The concern with firing him up in his second start is obviously that he’ll be limited to too few innings to nab a victory, but if that doesn’t prove an issue, de la Rosa is in a great spot to succeed. Not only has he missed a fair amount of bats all season while keeping the ball on the ground, he squares up against a Rockies team with a middling 97 wRC+ over the last month and a 95 wRC+ against righties overall. Steven Brault wouldn’t be a terrible play here against Philadelphia, if an innings limit worries you about the three-percent owned de la Rosa.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Mike Montgomery vs. Mil (Jimmy Nelson)
I’ll continue to ride the late-season Mike Montgomery train at a discount while some are slow to buy into him as a starting option. Even stripping his strong relief stint out of the equation, Montgomery’s fashioned a 3.64 ERA over six starts, striking out 21.8 percent of batters. The walks are a little high and he’s had some good fortune in those outings, but he’s also yet to really turn in a bad start. Here, he draws the Brewers, who strike out more than any other team in baseball and own a bottom-five offense over the last month (and bottom seven on the year).