Roto Riteup: September 22, 2022

I love these moments.

Trey Mancini gets a very warm welcome back to Baltimore. 👏 pic.twitter.com/Oln5sTenLk

— MLB (@MLB) September 22, 2022

On the Agenda: 

1. Sleeper and the Bust DK Contest
2. Quick Hits
3. Various News and Notes
4. Streaming Pitchers

 

Sleeper and the Bust DK Contest

On most Tuesday’s and Friday’s and some other days, Paul Sporer and I will be doing a $5 draftkings game for anyone that is interested. Will add a link once available.

 

Quick Hits

Brendan Rodgers was placed on the IL with a hamstring strain. This will likely end his 2022 season. 

Trevor Story was placed on the IL retroactive to September 19th. While he could return before the end of the season, it seems likely that his season is done. 

Julio Rodriguez left Thursday’s game with back tightness. He is expected to undergo further testing on Friday. Consider him day-to-day for now. 

Joey Wendle was placed on the IL with a hamstring injury. He is likely to be done for the season. 

Ryan Yarbrough left Thursday’s game with an apparent oblique injury. Consider him day-to-day for now, but typically these type of injuries take 4-6 weeks to recover from depending on the severity. 

 

Various News and Notes

Ezequiel Tovar was called up, but did not play in the game on Thursday. Tovar is the top prospect in the Rockies system and widely considered a top 25 fantasy prospect. He has hit 14 home runs and stolen and 17 bases in 318 plate appearances between AA and AAA this year. He doesn’t project to hit for much power in the majors, but he has a good hit tool, can take a walk and doesn’t strike out much. There is some speed as well. His major calling card is his defense which is definitely good enough to give him some rope to stick in the Majors. He is more of a long term play than anything else. 

Kyle Bradish threw 8.2 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and no walks while striking out 10 in the victory over the Astros on Thursday. 

Kyle Bradish, 9th and 10th Ks. pic.twitter.com/qGJtSB15qB

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 23, 2022

This was a very impressive start. Not just because of the line, but the pitch mix was wildly different than we have seen from Bradish in the past. Bradish has been a 50% fastball guy this year and he threw no pitch 40% of the time and the fastball was only thrown 18 times out of the 100 pitches he threw. Bradish has been up and down this year, but he has considerable upside and I love this pitch mix and sequencing change.

Jonathan Aranda went 2-for-4 with a home run in the victory over the Blue Jays on Thursday.

Jonathan Aranda, leadoff spot pop.

Big league HR No. ✌️ for the fourth-ranked @RaysBaseball prospect: pic.twitter.com/SofsYPzjG2

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 22, 2022

Aranda has quietly been very good since his debut, hitting .278/.361/.463 with two home runs in 61 plate appearances. He has also been walking at a 10% rate and striking out less than 20% of the time and playing pretty much full time since September 10th. There is a very good hit tool and some real pop in the bat. He should be an interesting sleeper next season.

 

Streaming Pitchers (Under 50% in CBS)

Pitcher for Today:  Cody Morris at TEX

Morris has been pitching well and the matchup is nice in Texas. 

High Risk Options: Eduardo Rodriguez at CHW, Javier Assad at PIT. 

 

Pitcher for Tomorrow: Wade Miley at PIT

Miley is a bit of a risk, but it is a nice matchup. 

High Risk Options: Bailey Falter vs ATL, Graham Ashcraft vs MIL. 

 

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 the recommended pitchers. It does not include the “High Risk Options.”