Roto Riteup: September 3, 2015

We’re back to our normally scheduled Roto Riteup programming today. Well, as normal as it can be given the author.

On today’s agenda:
1. Take a look at Marcell Ozuna
2. Stephen Strasburg’s scratched start
3. Good things from Marcus Stroman
4. Streaming Pitching Options

Take a look at Marcell Ozuna
I’ve written up Ozuna on these digital pages before, but he’s cracked a pair of home runs and a trio of doubles over his past seven games. He has a mere two walks in those contests — and just two walks since being recalled on August 15 — so Ozuna loses a lot of value in on-base percentage or points leagues, however if you’re looking for some cheap home runs, he could be your guy. Obvious small sample size issues aside with the batting average spread across seven games, Ozuna has plenty of power. Adding together his minor and major league home runs this year Ozuna has 13 home runs and 32 doubles, not to mention his 23 dingers last season or his minor league track record. MLB’s Statcast has his average hit velocity at 92.9 mph, good enough to tie for the 29th highest in baseball. Similarly his 34.7 percent Hard% contact ranks in the top-50 among 197 hitters with at least 350 plate appearances this year. He’s making hard contact at a high rate, a good sign for someone whose calling card is power. In the final four weeks of the season I can see Ozuna being a useful piece in most formats, even more so when OBP machine Giancarlo Stanton comes off of the disabled list, possibly Friday, and hits in front of Ozuna. He’s available in about 60 percent of Yahoo! or CBS formats and 80 percent of ESPN leagues.

Stephen Strasburg’s scratched start
Alliteration aside, this isn’t a fun headline. The Nationals announced Strasburg will miss his scheduled start on Friday due to lingering back tightness. He’ll toss a bullpen on Friday instead, and if all goes well then hopefully Stras can avoid what would be his third stint on the disabled list this season. Tanner Roark has already been tabbed to take Strasburg’s spot this week, however it remains to be seen if Roark would take the rotation spot in the event of a DL move.

Good things from Marcus Stroman
By good things, I don’t mean a pretty awesome Twitter feed, but on field results. Stroman threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings in his first rehab start at Single-A Lansing, striking out seven and allowing one walk and zero hits. As the linked article notes, he tossed 69 pitches with 44 of them going for strikes and sat around 93 or 94 mph. He’ll likely make a final rehab start at Triple-A Buffalo on Monday, and seems set to be activated soon after. To add to this good news, as a Michigan native and semi-frequent attendee of Midwest league gamess, I think everyone should spend the next 75 seconds to appreciate the Lugnuts theme song. If you’d like to sing along, the lyrics can be found here. Back to Stroman, he’s somehow available in more than 70 percent of the three major fantasy sites. Go place him on your team.

---

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

A pitcher for today: Mat Latos at SD (Colin Rea)
With only six games on the slate, pickings are slim in the streaming department. Still, I like Latos against a Padres lineup that hasn’t hit right-handers very well this season. Look to stream him in about half of CBS or Yahoo! leagues and 75 percent of ESPN settings.

A pitcher for tomorrow: Tanner Roark vs ATL (Julio Teheran)
Outside of Freddie Freeman, I’m not too scared about streaming Roark against the Braves. Atlanta ranks 28th in both wRC+ and wOBA versus right-handers this season, though they have done a good job of not striking out. Still. I’m starting Roark with the idea of him getting the win today and not just a quality start. He’s available in 75 percent of Yahoo! leagues, 88 percent of CBS formats and 97 percent of ESPN settings. Random note: it’s odd to not see CBS have the highest ownership here.