Sporer Report Issue #2

Why wait for another edition of the Sporer Report? Y’all seemed to enjoy it and even commented some names you’d like to see covered so I’ve included a couple of those. Sorry about the GIFs in yesterday’s being wonky for some. I didn’t realize that host was ad-laden. Today’s won’t be so cumbersome.

Not included: Jakob Junis

The reason is two-fold. One is that I already dropped some thoughts on him just before the season started and two is that Jeff Sullivan covered him in detail today. I’m obviously pleased with the start he had on Tuesday and still considering him one to watch and at least stream in most formats.

Reynaldo Lopez – White Sox

He started getting some buzz late in draft season and threw well in his season debut. I wasn’t super-high on him coming into the season, but did slot him highest among the composite rankers here at Rotographs (89th) and wound up with a couple shares, including on in the Tout H2H league. On Tuesday, Lopez saw his velo at a career-high 96.4 mph and prominently featured a relatively new slider while shelving his curve. He was starting to get away from the curve last year, dropping it from 25% usage to just 13% and then threw all of two in his debut (out of 100 pitches). Here’s one of the nastier sliders he threw:

During that pitch the Toronto announcers were explaining how he wanted to have something in between his fastball and changeup velo-wise with down and in movement to lefties. Both curves were to righties: a whiff by Kevin Pillar and a groundout to third by Josh Donaldson. Everything was working as he allowed just two hits, one of them a solo shot to Donaldson.

It was very good start in a difficult venue against a good lineup. I’ll be keeping an eye on him to see how the slider develops. The changeup was awful against lefties last year so if this slider becomes a closeout pitch, it could spur a nice season. His next start is against Detroit and I’m starting him everywhere.

Jack Flaherty – Cardinals

Flaherty nabbed a late rotation role after an injury to Adam Wainwright and made the most of it in his debut with nine strikeouts in five innings. The strikeout potential is enticing, but how many more starts will he get before heading to Memphis? Miles Mikolas was solid outside of three solos (not that three solos isn’t something to be concerned with, btw) and hit one of his own while Michael Wacha is going to get at least a month of work. A bad opener for Wacha isn’t going to push a 22-year old Flaherty ahead of him. The likely scenario outside of an injury somewhere is waiting out the continued demise of Waino. His K-BB rate was down to just 9% last year and it’s hard to find signs of a turnaround for the 36-year old.

Flaherty’s fastball velo was down from 93.2 to 90.8 mph. In fact, it was down across the board, but a couple ticks off the slider (from 84.5 to 81.9) didn’t limit its effectiveness at all. Batters were 2-for-11 with seven strikeouts, including these gems to Ryan Braun (righty) and Eric Thames (lefty):

 

There’s been some time between writing the first part of the Flaherty section and this one and now I’m seeing Waino is slated to start the home opener tomorrow (Thursday April 5th) meaning Flaherty is one-and-done for now. I’m trying to hold him in all leagues, but that’s easier said than done in 10- and 12-team leagues, especially those with just 3-5 reserve spots. If you have to let him go because of league depth, keep a close eye on the Cardinals situation and be ready to pounce when an opportunity opens.

Jordan Montgomery – Yankees

Montgomery wasn’t his sharpest on a 40-degree day in the Bronx, but he avoided trouble nicely and escaped the few traffic jams he created. He had three-up, three-down innings in the first and second, but opened the third with a single and walk, the former coming around to score on a groundball to third. Brandon Drury misplayed for an E5, but the run would’ve scored anyway. He avoided further trouble with your standard 8-2 double play:

He opened the fourth with another walk followed by two strikeouts, a single, and a groundout. Trouble avoided. He opened the fifth with two walks this time, but then got the 6-4-3 grounder off the bat of Matt Duffy and fanned Kevin Kiermaier. One surprising aspect of his four walks was that he was ahead often with a 65% first-pitch strike rate.

He was curveball dominant at 40% usage and in the zone just 39% of the time (48% with the curve last year), but the fastball command played an even bigger role in the elevated walk total. His fastball velo was down two ticks to 90.1, but I’m wondering how much of that was the weather. This is an encouraging start as far as I’m concerned. He clearly didn’t have his best stuff in cold weather but still battled for five strong, wiggling out a few problem spots with some help from his defense, namely Brett Gardner. He was 61st in my SP rankings back in March and I’m rostering him in all formats.

Mike Foltynewicz – Braves

Was I a year early on Folty? Son of a bish. That’s going to annoy the shit outta me. I was hyped on Foltynewicz building on some things from a solid 2016 and taking a step last year, but he was worse across the board. I moved him down my board and resigned myself to the fact that he should probably be relieving. Two starts into his season has me thinking that might’ve been premature. I don’t want to run to the other guardrail and now say he’s definitely tracking for a breakout, but I’m slightly intrigued by the early success. Let’s take a closer look.

The debut against Philly didn’t really catch my eye as the seven strikeouts in five innings came with an awful 5% swinging strike rate and he still ran up 92 pitches despite just one walk. Folty looked better on Wednesday afternoon, posting a 5.3 IP/1 ER effort with eight strikeouts (including a 13% swinging strike rate). All the damage came off the fastball as the slider/changeup combined for an 0-for-9 with four strikeouts.

He threw the slider 22 times and changeup 20 times out of his 95 total pitches. He only allowed three singles, two walks, and a double all off fastballs and Max Scherzer of all people drove in the lone run. I’m still not racing out to get Folty. He gets the Nats and Cubs next, both on the road. I’m OK holding in the deeper league where you may’ve drafted him, but be careful.