The Daily Grind: More Hoskins Chatter

Rhys Hoskins appeared on the main blog and in my chat yesterday. Now he’s visiting the Daily Grind.

AGENDA

1. Hoskins Whambamthankyamam
2. Weather Reports
3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse
4. SaberSim Says…
5. TDG Invitational Returns!

1. Hoskins Whambamthankyamam

In the case of this clip of video, Hoskins is hitting a home run – his sixth in 55 plate appearances. MLB.com apparently doesn’t understand that Hoskins is the most mis-underestimated prospect in recent baseballing. First, his results were excused as a quirk of Reading’s Coors Field 2.0. When he got even better in Triple-A, nobody said anything. As Dave Cameron noted in a column yesterday, Hoskins does something very interesting – he hits a lot of fly balls while making a lot of contact. It’s a rare skill set.

Dave does a good job pointing out the caveats including his tiny MLB sample. One thing he noticed was Hoskins’ exit velocity. At just 88 mph, it’s only slightly above league average. It’s also very similar to Justin Turner, Daniel Murphy, and Matt Carpenter. They appear to be his cohort of similar hitters. And as Dave notes, they’re all similarly unheralded players. Perhaps it’s a hard skill set to scout?

I’ve been comping Hoskins to peak Jose Bautista for fantasy purposes. In his best seasons, I see enough ability to support a .280 average and .400 OBP to go with 200 runs+RBI and 30 or more home runs. He may have seasons with more walks than strikeouts.

2. Weather Reports

Cleveland has a 30 percent chance for late rain. C’est tout.

3. Pitchers to Use and Abuse

Main Slate: We have a 13 game contest this evening headlined by Corey Kluber. For $12,700 on DraftKings, the only reason not to roster him is… well there are three reason. Kluber left his most recent start with a minor injury. That’s cause for modest concern. There’s also the spotty weather forecast, and the ubiquitous temptation to go contrarian. He will be quite popular.

For only $400 less than Kluber, you can get what should be a strong start from Luis Severino versus the Tigers. I’d find the extra few shekels for Klubot. As a high floor, low ceiling type, Marcus Stroman is entirely too expensive at $11,500. My only shares of Stroman are in ottoneu FGpts where he’s having a miserable season. I was shocked to recently realize he has a sub-3.00 ERA. Even so, this is not a good dollar-for-dollar investment.

Rich Hill is a better option at $10,400, but even that is quite expensive. All of these non-Klubers should be priced in the upper-9,000s. Just like Zack Godley ($9,700) at Chris Flexen. That’s going to be ridiculously popular.

Ervin Santana is visiting James Shields in what could be an automatic win. And a possible complete game. Santana is basically the guy who throws complete games. He has five, Kluber has four, and nobody else has more than two.

If you insist on a cheap pitcher, Andrew Heaney is opposed by a bottom-10 offense versus left-handed pitching. Beware! He allowed four home runs in his return to action. I usually like Trevor Williams, but I’ll take a pass against the Dodgers. Jhoulys Chcain could be ok versus Luke Weaver.

Stack Targets: Flexen, Shields, Asher Wojciechowski, Jordan Zimmermann, Antonio Senzatela, Austin Pruitt, Justin Nicolino, Erasmo Ramirez, Mark Leiter

4. SaberSim Says…

Kluber, Weaver, Severino, Hill, and Drew Pomeranz are the top rated pitchers. SaberSim is prone to overflating rookie pitcher values. Toss out Weaver and Heaney and Stroman becomes the fifth best arm. Hats for bats for Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, George Springer, Mike Trout, and Kyle Schwarber. The Sim is never gonna quit the Schwaa. Values include Sean Rodriguez, Yoan Moncada, Kendrys Morales, and Manuel Margot.

5. The Daily Grind Invitational

Gary Sanchez and Ryon Healy provided travisbecker with enough juice for victory. The duo combined for 67 of 159.55 points. Congrats and Leaderboard.

One more on DraftKings.