Jose Ramirez continues to dazzle with a strong performance against the Tigers Saturday when he finished 4-for-4 with two bombs in the 13-6 win.
He’s on fire right now, in his last 22 plate appearances he’s slashing a .316/.368/.732 line. His walk and strikeout rate are parallel at 9.5% this season with an increase in flyball rate and hard contact percentage. Read the rest of this entry »
Do you think Archie Bradley’s beard arrives a few minutes before he does? Not entirely sure, but that thing is epic. I caught a glimpse of it in the bullpen when the Diamondbacks were taking on the Dodgers.
He’s also been impressive on the mound and wants to solidify himself this time around heading into his third big league season and he’s doing everything right so far. The 24-year-old has increased his velocity summing a few miles per hour to his fastball and slider. He’s also showing significant increases in his changeup’s consistency this season which just adds to his value.
He’s currently sitting at a 38.5% strikeout rate facing 26 batters over the season with a 46.2% groundball rate. I wouldn’t say he’s a “brand new” pitcher, just the pitcher he was always supposed to be. Read the rest of this entry »
There is a lot to go over, so let’s just get right into it okay?
Okay.
On the Agenda
It’s 2017 and Jeremy Guthrie and Bronson Arroyo started on the bump for their teams. Quite a treat, right?
Not really.
MLB’s app couldn’t handle what the Phillies did to Jeremy Guthrie.
His 135.00 ERA doesn’t fit on one line. pic.twitter.com/XTOL8K4vee
— Joe Giglio (@JoeGiglioSports) April 9, 2017
Arroyo lasted only four innings in his first big league start since 2014. He allowed six hits, six runs, and three walks Saturday against the Cardinals. Read the rest of this entry »
We didn’t anticipate an abbreviated outing like we had with Francisco Liriano Friday night, did we? Just 1/3 inning of an inning pitched, seven base runners and five earned runs.
Playing in Tampa did give me some apprehensions with Liriano, but I wasn’t expecting this disastrous outing. In that weather, the ball tends to fly, but this was absolutely nuts. Fantasy players were not happy about it either.
Taking a look at the entire slates on Friday though, the popularity and ownership surrounding Liriano is not too much of a surprise.
R.I.P to any technical devices that may have been harmed following his outing.
Keon Broxton managed to break his nose, but if you watch this, you’ll realize things could have been much worse.
Keon Broxton hit in the face though the extra flap thankfully seemed to take *some* of the brunt. He’s out of the game. pic.twitter.com/Md2uF2ZxtO
— Paul Sporer (@sporer) April 6, 2017
With the injury, the centerfielder will not be placed on the disabled list. If something does change, Kirk Nieuwenhuis will get the start in Broxton’s place. If that’s the case, the idea of Nieuwenhuis is better than the reality.
He has guts, I’ll give him that. He swiped eight bags last season, but he’s been caught stealing a lot as well. He struggles against lefties and even if he did start against Brett Anderson, it’s Brett Anderson.
On the Agenda
News and Notes
–Sonny Gray will throw a bullpen session Friday which is the next step in his rehab process after straining his lat. This is following a session he tossed on Tuesday and was reported to be returning to a major league uniform by the end of April.
-Phillies outfielder Daniel Nava hit two home runs off of Reds starter Rookie Davis Thursday. There’s no fantasy value there, but we are certainly proud of him.
–Collin McHugh left his rehab start with Triple-A Fresno Thursday after only one inning. Bryant-Jon Anteola of the Fresno Bee reported McHugh threw 26 pitches, but after some warm-up tosses prior to his second frame, “he called for the trainer to come to the mound and was removed from the game.”
He was supposed to throw 85 pitches, so this limit cannot be great news.
Stump the Schwarb
A healthy Kyle Schwarber is a good Kyle Schwarber. The Cubs have been having him bat leadoff, and it seems to be working. In nine plate appearances so far he’s slashing a .333/.556/.500 line with a .443 wOBA. I know, it’s a small sample size, but it’s fun for a bit to have those numbers.
Probable Pitchers for the day
Steven Wright @ Detroit Tigers
Max Scherzer @ Philadelphia Phillies
Ubaldo Jimenez vs. New York Yankees
Shelby Miller vs. Cleveland Indians
We don’t have a lot of stuff to go over, but real baseball is about to be played and that’s all that matters. Tell your loved ones you will see them in October.
On the Agenda
Beltre and Gallo
Adrian Beltre will start Opening Day on the disabled list. That means 23-year-old Joey Gallo will get the starting job for the Rangers at third base.
And just like I said to the last guy who asked me out on a date, “no, thank you.”
Gallo has unbelievable power, but that power stays in Triple-A. He hit 25 balls over the fence last season in the minors, but once he was promoted, it was a different scenario. Just one hit in 25 at-bats. I won’t go over the slash line to save you some grief, but his strikeout rate alone (63.3-percent) will talk you out of most fantasy situations. Daily fantasy wise, I would think about it. That’s a lot of raw power to be ignored.
http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/the-2017-lottery-ticket-team-hitters-edition/
Others have beat me to the punch on predicting great success for Daniel Norris and throwing cold water on Robbie Ray, but I’m guessing no one has yet to argue that Tom Koehler will outperform a pitcher who is being drafted among the top 60 starters. Here is my case for Koehler and nine other bold predictions with slightly lower degrees of difficulty.
Happy April Fools Day for those of you who observe.
Tyler Glasnow was named the fifth starter for the Pirates and he had a roller coaster of a spring. His last couple of starts were solid, though. In two outings he pitched eight innings allowing nine hits, three walks, one home run, and striking out 14.
He has the velocity in his primary pitches, but when it comes to his secondary they are pretty hit or miss. No pun intended. Maybe a little pun intended. He struggles with some confidence in his changeup as well.
His minor league numbers were stellar. In Triple-A he tossed a 1.87 ERA with a 1.174 WHIP. Following his promotion, those numbers changed obviously. A 4.24 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 23.1 innings.
On the Agenda
Can he do this?
Matt Cain is officially the fifth starter for the Giants which kind of bums me out because I was pretty excited to watch Ty Blach in action, but that can be on the next RR.
Anyways…
Cain in 2017 will not be the same guy the baseball world once grew accustomed to. He’s not going to be a guy to accumulate a ton of strikeouts, but his home run to fly ball ratio sits at 15-percent and it continues to increase. Batters were not only hitting him more in 2016, but they were hitting the ball further than ever off of the 32-year-OLD.
That is in caps for a reason.
Injury Bug Brantley
A slow start during spring turned out to benefit Michael Brantley which is a similar approach Sean Doolittle took, so it seems to be successful. He will be on the Opening Day roster for the Indians.
He will have resting days during the season, and the fact that he’s a target for injuries could make some nervous.
He only played in 11 games last season, but in 2015 Brantley faired well. He had a 10.1-percent walk rate with a .310/.379/.480 line and swiped 15 bags.
He’s definitely not fantasy trade bait and I’m not too excited knowing he’s going to get a lot of rest days.
http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/mixing-fantasy-reality-tout-wars-miller-brantley/
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
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/