The game of baseball in MLB is moving away from fastballs. The times keep changing, and this being one of them. The 4-seam fastball used to be the bedrock of every pitcher's arsenal. But now, that's not always the case, and with some pitchers, they try to hide their fastball amongst their other pitches as best they can. 
Monthly Archives: July 2021
The game of baseball in MLB is moving away from fastballs. The times keep changing, and this being one of them. The 4-seam fastball used to be the bedrock of every pitcher's arsenal. But now, that's not always the case, and with some pitchers, they try to hide their fastball amongst their other pitches as best they can. Learn more about our 2025 Fantasy Baseball Subscriptions!
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Hitter Profiles: All-Star Buy and Sell
July 10, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Hitters | 10 Commentsby: Jeremy Brewer
The 92nd All-Star game takes place this coming week on Tuesday the 13th, or is that the 91st All-Star game with last year’s rendition being canceled? This should be Mike Trout’s 10th trip to the midsummer show which is impressive on so many fronts, instead he settles for his 9th trip. Thanks 2020, for reminding us of what all you took from us! On the flip side, there will be 34 first time attendees which tells us something about the parity in the league or the impact of the one player per team rule. Regardless, we are going to spend some time doing a rapid fire buy or sell session with our hitter profiles focusing on the second half of the 2021 season for our first time All-Stars.
Happy weekend friends, it’s our final weekend of action before the break, so let’s go out on a winning note. My winning strategy tonight is saving some serious cash with Patrick Sandoval ($7,700) and stacking all the choice bats. Sandoval has been a DFS goldmine on the cheap since June and I fully expect that to continue tonight against the Mariners. With their bottom two team OPS and their top five team strikeout marks, they make for easy pickings. Pickings that Sandoval’s 9.7 K/9 should tear apart. Looking at the top pitchers on the slate, I’m very willing to pay down at SP and pay up everywhere else. Let’s dig into the everywhere else.
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Bam! Enrique Hernandez had two hits including his 11th home run of the season Friday night and has been hotter than twin Black Widows since returning to the lead off spot. You heard that correctly, friends, there is another Black Widow and she's just as hot, and smart and badass as the first. As for Enrique, the home run was Kiké's fifth out of the lead off spot and his fourth lead off home run in the past two weeks! Time to Kiké it into high gear! Hernandez struggled at the top of the order in May and early June but has found his groove since return to the #1 spot responding big with a .288 batting average, 9 runs, 11 RBI, and five dingers in the past two weeks! I know what you're thinking--Enrique Hernandez? Is this guy for real? We all know what Kiké Hernandez is at this point, a career .240 hitter with very little speed who's never hit more than 21 bombs in a season. He's a clubhouse guy, a utility player, a swiss army knife for sure, but not a fantasy stud, right? Yeah you right, and Dodgers fans are rolling their eyes at me so hard right now, but hear me out! He's leading off for possibly a top three offense in baseball and was basically headhunted by Sawx Manager Alex Cora. Cora loves himself a good swiss army knife, and Kiké is the guy he's wanted leading off since day 1, despite his struggles and despite much more desirable, and likeable and handsome (*cough Verdugo*) options available. The impending arrival of top prospect Jarren Duran also puts Hernandez's future as the lead off man even more in doubt, but he's currently one of the hottest hitters in the league and scoring runs for one of the best teams in baseball. I'm not saying he won't come back down to Earth, but I am saying he could be worth adding while he's at least pretending to be the leadoff hitter Alex Cora always dreamed of. And as long as he has studs like JD Martinez (2-for-3, HR (18), 4 RBI) and Rafael Devers (1-for-3, HR(22)) driving him in he doesn't have to do much but get on base and could help Kiké start your offense in the second half!
Here's what else I saw Friday night in fantasy baseball:
Ambulance Chasers: Joe R.S.O.S.
July 10, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Injury Report | 16 Commentsby: JKJ
Howdy, Razzfolks!
I hope your summer is treating you well and that you all had a happy and safe Fourth. Mixed bag this week as far as Good News and Bad News goes. Some stars you've been waiting on are making progress, although that progress is to varying degrees of satisfaction. Plenty of injuries to talk about, too!
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(NOTE: THIS POST WAS RELEASED EARLY THIS WEEK ON OUR PATREON. IT’S $10/MONTH OR $13/MONTH WITH AN EXTRA WEEKLY PODCAST.)
You ever think there's forces larger than ourselves at work? For instance, Taco Bell removes the Mexican Pizza from its menu, but then you're sitting in traffic, eating nachos off the passenger seat. *screech* You slam on the brakes, and, suddenly, the nachos slide off and crash onto the ground. You frantically pull onto the shoulder, and, as you're eating the nachos off the floormat, you realize the fall to the ground makes those nachos look like that badly-missed Mexican Pizza. Life gives you what you need. A baseball example: The White Sox were supposed to be good this year, then they lose everyone from their lineup. One tragedy after another, and Tony La Russa, drunk, just filled in the lineup like, "I'm not going to drive my Mercedes...But I could go for a Burger," suddenly standing and grabbing his ass, "First I need to take a Sheets." Yet, they'd still win! Another circumstance that has managed to sort itself out is Rowdy Tellez. He was supposed to be great, but the Jays added player after player this past offseason, and Rowdy was squeezed, which had his Jewish mother say, "Why don't you get married?" Then, he was traded and now The He'Brewer should get playing time again, and it's a great park in Milwaukee. There's a chance Rowdy could be again what we hoped he would be. "A doctor?" No, Rowdy's Jewish mother. A top 10 1st baseman, if the Brewers, ya know, play him. Why exactly did they trade for him and are not starting him? Oh, that's right, the Brewers are stupid. Well, if they smarten up, I like Tellez a lot. Anyway, here's some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:
So what's the equivalent of Loch Ness to Nessie here? Larnach... Lar Nach... Lar...Nachos? Nachos! I say we have a winner, because, you know, FOOD. And food that's specifically nachos, well, you just can't go wrong. Now that his problem has been efficiently solved, we can now spend our time together taking a look at platooner (which also sounds like a pirate profession) Trevor Larnach and what the rest of the season might look like for this right fielder. But why Trevor Larnach? An existential question if there ever was one (it isn't), Larnach represents what is perhaps a true under-the-radar option with generally low ownership-rates across the board. And while there are legitimate reasons for this that we'll delve into below, producing a .361 OBP while sustaining a solid .262 AVG to go along with seven homeruns is not nothing and could perhaps be the beginning of something. What the something is? Find out after the jump! (Who brought the nachos. I have no nachos. Sadness abound.)
Points Leagues: Top 100 Hitters ROS
July 9, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues | 9 Commentsby: Butters
Well folks it's that time of the season. With the All Star Game next week it's time to reassess things for the second half of the season. There's still quite a bit of baseball left to be played so now is the time to take a look at your team and see where you can improve. So to help you out with those tough decisions, I have re-run the numbers to rank the top 100 hitters for the rest of the season. These numbers are pulled from the Razzball Steamer ROS projections and then I totaled up the points according to this scoring format (ESPN standard):
Run 1 point
Total Bases 1 point
RBI 1 point
Walk 1 point
Stolen Base 1 point
Strikeout minus 1 point
This week we'll be looking at hitters. Tune in next week for the ROS pitching projections. So, what can we expect as the season moves into it's second half?
Kenta Maeda ($7,300) appeared to be left for dead this season, until his start last time out where he struck out 10 batters in six scoreless innings. If we can see more of this level of performance, Maeda will be an extreme value at such a low salary. He has a high ceiling against a Tigers lineup that strikes out 26.2% of the time against righties, the second-highest rate in all of baseball. Maeda is an ideal tournament starter who can smash the slate with another great start.
New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!
Gilbert Got Freed By M’s To Roast The Yankees
July 9, 2021 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 206 Commentsby: Grey
Sometimes, on almost-every-occasion, a rookie pitcher isn't great when he is first promoted. Then, almost by the magic of the silent one from Penn & Teller, the rookie pitcher gets better. It's called, bear with me here, not shizzing a brick like during your first start. Also, a pitcher may shizz a brick from the moment he's called up for a few years. Or just not be dialed in. Or just be off. There's a reason why scouts and their ilk liked -- ilk liked? What's this, Dr Seuss? -- Logan Gilbert so much before he did a brown brick on the mound for a month-plus. At any point a rookie pitcher can figure it out, and, yesterday might've been that day. Gilbert went 7 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, zero walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.51, ending his start by retiring 18-straight Yankees. That sure has the makings of an ace, even if those Yankees look like your great uncle's Yankees, when he used to tell you things like, "Don't count out that Roy Smalley. He makes things happen with his bat!" Gilbert's slider was getting a 58% whiff rate, up from 32% and he was touching 99 MPH on his 4-seamer, with a higher spin rate than his yearly average. If Gilbert was abandoned early on in your league, I could see getting back in on him. Yesterday, might be the start of Logan's run, until at least age 30. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
With the MLB All-Star voting complete and the starters and reserves decided, I thought I would take this opportunity to pick the real points league All-Stars. What do I mean by "real" All-Stars? Well it's easy to spot the superstar players that are performing above the board, but when it's a player that you drafted in the early rounds that is only doing what he was expected to do, it's not nearly as impressive as a guy that you drafted late or picked up off the waiver wire. I've said this several times before and I'll say it again, it's not the studs you draft early that win you the championship, it's the players that outperform their draft day value and the waiver wire wonders that do that.
We're reaching the point of the baseball season that feels like the Bastogne episode of Band Of Brothers depicting the Battle of the Bulge. We're running out of everything, can't help the injured, and hold our breath that disaster isn't looming. It's also the turning point. Ground gained now will decide who's in for the stretch run. The ever-changing saves landscape is a big part of that. Get in a foxhole with someone you can trust.
