Well, we’ve made it, friends — we’ve officially just passed the halfway point of the season. While we may still see a few Marcus Semien-in-2022-esque turnarounds, I think we’re beyond the point of being able to blame our teams’ struggles on a handful of players getting off to a bad start, and our team’s strengths and weaknesses should be getting more clear by the day. Please, blog, may I have some more?
I've been giving the Tigers a hard time, unlike the contact their hitters make. Okay, okay, that's enough. It's time to dig in on Spencer Torkelson (2-for-3, 4 RBIs and his 10th and 11th homer, and 3rd homer in two games). You have to dig deep because his prospect status has sunk so low. All right, that's not nice. Seriously, I need to look at Torkelson. Yikes, that's a jump scare. In 187 games in the majors, he has 19 HRs, 2 SBs and a .210 average. Josh Bell is a bad hitter; Torkelson is a bad-hitting Josh Bell. Call him Gosh That's Hell. Any hoo! He's young and he just had his best month in the majors, 7 HRs in just under 100 ABs. He still hit .180-ish, but baby steps, Gosh That's Hell. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
This used to be a fantasy baseball website. We had something beautiful. Why is there a second playlist of videos!?! Why would you do that???
The calendar is almost to July and All Star voting is in full swing. So in the spirit of the season, let's dive into the fantasy All Stars. As expected Shohei Ohtani is the best thing since sliced bread in daily leagues so you can take advantage of his hitting and pitching. He's been great on both sides with 28 home runs (best in the league) and 127 punch outs (3rd). We've almost become accustomed to this, but it really is wildly impressive what he's doing.
A haze wraps the country in a blanket as Canada continues to breathe its smoky breath down from the north. A five-game DraftKings night slate opens. At 7:10 eastern, Max Scherzer, grunting with a look of malice in his two-toned eyes, tosses the first pitch of what will be 110 total, striking out 12 Brewers with their 25% team K rate against right-handed pitchers. Please, blog, may I have some more?
What's the German word for "everyone knows a person is cheating but the umps just want the game to end?" Schaden-fraud feels too perfect like. Dot dot dot. What else was perfect last night? Oh, yeah, Domingo German (9 IP, 9 Ks, ERA at 4.54). How about a German word for I just dropped him in all my leagues because he gave up 10 runs in his last freakin' start? Uberidiot? Prolly Uberidiöt, because the Germans like that an umlaut. This was the first perfect game since F-Her in 2012, and there were three in 2012. By the way, if you haven't seen the movie, Tár, it was great. It's about German's hands when he's pitching.
Dane Dunning was supposed to be the lede, but he'll have to settle for co-lede. He was holding his hands in front of his mouth, screaming like a teenager, "Me?! I get a Razzball lede?! Oh my God!" You come within one out of a complete game shutout with 10 Ks? Yes, you get a lede. Step right up. *begins the formal pat down that every player goes through* I'm sorry, when I tell you to cough, you have to cough otherwise I'll get arrested, okay? What, you thought you just had to perform well? Ha, silly, you Dane Dunning! So, Dane Dunning (8 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 10 Ks, ERA at 2.69) should actually be used to the Razzball spotlight. This might come as surprise to some of youse, but I liked Dunning so much I included him in starters to target two years ago, and he wasn't great. His peripherals were fine, but his ratios were laggards. He doesn't have a great fastball (90 MPH), but he barely throws it. He's figured out his pitch mix, though; he has a great cutter and has nearly doubled its usage. A great cutter? Yup, solid ground ball rates. Dane Dunning is a poor man's Gausman. Call him Petrolman. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Gavin Williams looked incredible against the Royals on Tuesday night, firing seven shutout innings and allowing just one hit. Kansas City is missing Vinnie P, and Sal P is out of the lineup right now, but I got to see every pitch Williams threw on this night, and he was in rhythm from the first inning, particularly with his fastball atop the zone. He’s got some room for growth with his off-speed command, but Cleveland is a great place to hone that.
Coming from beautiful Acadia National Park this week! If you’ve never been, go. It’s fantastic.
Box scores. I love a good box score. Not much better in life than waking up, fresh coffee, and reviewing every game for 15 minutes or so. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Happiest of Wednesdays, Razzball Nation! Tonight marks the midpoint of our week, but also the midpoint in our MLB season as most teams either play their 82nd game or are pretty close to it today. Long gone are the small sample sizes or ‘slow starters’. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Pop quiz: Which MLB team has the worst offense since June 1st?
Give up? It’s the New York Yankees, who come in with a woeful 69 wRC+ for the month.
To make matters worse, their best hitters of late have been Jake Bauers and Billy McKinney, lefties who will face Oakland Athletics southpaw JP Sears tonight if they’re in the lineup at all. Please, blog, may I have some more?
Yesterday, Kevin Gausman went 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 12 Ks, ERA at 3.01. Gausman was being drafted like, "Oh, I guess I'll punt top starters and take Gausman." Gausman was being drafted like: Person looking at your draft results, "You didn't draft an ace." Person who drafted Gausman, "I think Gausman is my ace." "No, you need someone like Corbin Burnes or Sandy Alcantara." I won't break the record that I continue to break that people continue to ignore. I just want everyone to think about one thing: Pitchers are impossible to rank, thus draft. ERA, Wins and WHIP, to a lesser extent, are heavily influenced by luck. When there's no luck playing a factor, they're prone to injuries. You could've had Gausman as your ace everywhere. Or, you could've had Alek Manoah, who was scorched for 11 runs in 2 2/3 IP in the Florida Complex League. Oh, he's absolutely going to have a complex, thinking, "Wow, I really suck." Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
