Y’all miss me? Of course you did. My Tony Robbins’ tapes keep telling me to be positive. For those that care…thank you kind sir in the back. Oh, you’re just smelling your armpit? I was at LegoLand. An amazing place. The patience and dedication required to build those structures are legendary. Kind of like our fantasy teams. We’ve toiled and perspired for months constructing our teams. Now, we are in the end of days. A month left in the regular season for a chance at fantasy immortality. Don’t be this guy.
In this weekly column, I highlight some lower-owned players that performed well over the past week. I will help you navigate the fantasy landscape and steer you clear of those pesky whammies. If you are not familiar with whammies, please go watch old episodes of Press Your Luck.
- Mitch Moreland (1B – Texas Rangers) – Guess who was named AL Player of the Week? Stop smelling your armpit you disgusting piece of bleeeeep…bleeeep…bleep. I apologize. Mitch Moreland ladies and gentlemen. 10 hits, six runs, five homers, and nine RBI. With Prince Fielder done for the year…not a good year for guys named Prince, Moreland has taken over first base duties. MM is going to strike out a lot (24.3 K% and 13.3 Swinging Strike %), but he has power, as evidenced by his 18 homers on the season. Globe Life Park is a good hitters ballpark and the Rangers are now stacked on offense. With that said, MM is batting sixth or eighth in the lineup. The .229 ISO is probably a tad high but the .249 batting average is what you can expect.
- Scooter Gennett (2B – Milwaukee Brewers) – Scooter had 13 hits, five runs, one homer, five RBI, and two stolen bases last week. F Yeah! The bouncy house makes that video so much better. So Scooter ain’t sexy. No shocker there, but he provides a decent average (.276), a little speed (seven stolen bases), some pop (next one and he gets to the tween years), and an excellent contact rate (87%). Against RHP, he bats second. Woohoo! Against LHP, he usually bats fifth or sixth. In 68 at-bats, Scooter is batting .294 with two homers. If you need middle infield help, go get yourself a Scooter.
- Alex Dickerson (OF – San Diego Padres) – So, I told you that I was on vacation for the past few weeks. As a result, most of my baseball information came from scrolling headlines or Twitter. You don’t know how many times I kept asking myself “Corey Dickerson got traded to the Padres?” Anyways, his brother from another mother, Alex, has been tearing certain things up lately. Six hits, three homers, and a stolen base for good measure. Dickerson is 6’3″ 235 lbs. and bats from the left side of the plate. Actually, it’s the right side of the plate. Depends on which camera setting I guess. I play too much MLB the Show. He’s a left-handed batter. The 11.1 K% is nice to see and I think that could be sustainable, as he had a 11.3 K% in 240 Triple-A plate-appearances. The ISO is an absurd .282, though. Since the Padres are in sell mode, you’d think they play Dickerson everyday right? Well, Alexi Amarista is splitting time with Dickerson in left field. Obama’s making it rain, Trump could be POTUS, and Amarista is taking time away from Dickerson. As the kids say, what a time to be alive.
- Tyler Skaggs (SP – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) – You interested in a LHP that threw 12 1/3 scoreless innings over the Red Sox and Royals last week? Of course you are. Ok, over the Royals not so impressive, but the Red Sox? C’mon man. Give the man some props. So, Skaggs throws from the left side and possesses a fastball (92 mph), curveball, and changeup, with the curveball being the main pitch off the fastball. The K/9 is great at 9.49 and the walk rate is at 2.19. The BABIP is at .233 and LOB% is 100%, so those are obviously going to come in. With that said, there’s a lot to like with Skaggs. He’s inducing a ton of soft contact and in 32 1/3 Triple-A innings, his K/9 was 12.53.
- Wade Miley (SP – Baltimore Orioles) – Traded from the Mariners to the Orioles, Miley had an impressive debut with his new squad: seven innings, one hit, one earned run, one walk, and nine strikeouts over the Rangers. Don’t get suckered in people. Miley is a soft-tossing lefty that has a 4.98 ERA and 1.35 WHIP with only 82 strikeouts in 112 innings. His HR/9 is 1.45 and he now pitches in the AL East.
Good luck this week and thanks for reading. You can reach me @Stan_Son.
