Trey Mancini aka All Day Trey Bombz was 2-for-4 Friday night with his 11th home run. He was all like, “Na Na, Bottoms Up, let’s see that one in Slow Motion.” Those are Trey Songz songs for the unindoctrined. Trey is the MAN-cini lately, for real, batting .423 in the past week, with four homers and 11 RBI over the past 15 days. With Chris Davis out with an oblique injury (it’s still a little unclear), Trey looks to see an everyday role in the stacked Orioles line up. He’s been especially hot in June, with a .333/.370/.647 slash and an 1.017 OPS. Mmmm. The 25-year old rook has also hit safely in his past seven games, with multi-hit games in three of his past five. So how is it he’s available in 75% of fantasy leagues? Sure, the .368 BABIP is a bit high, but if we’re going to cherry-pick nerdy stats why not enjoy that 134 wRC+ and a 37.6 hard hit percentage. Did I mention he leads the team in batting average? And is second in RBIs with 35 on the year? Let’s not leave out the multiple position eligibility to sweeten the pot even more. In Baltimore/Washington, they love everything named Trey, and they might be onto something here. Grey told you to BUY, and I’d grab Mancini anywhere I needed some offensive help. If he can do the kind of damage in a full time role that he’s done part time, there should be plenty of Trey bombz in the future.
Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:
Max Scherzer – 8.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, 2 BB, 10 K, 8th win. When Max got that crazy look in his one brown eye. For the Glory of Valhalla! Witness him! Man, if I only owned Mad Max, life would be different. I’d still have a job and a real life human wife, and my cat wouldn’t hate me so much. Also, strikeouts. I’d have way more strikeouts.
Steven Matz – 7.0 IP, 8 hits, 4 ER, 4 K. After a nice debut return against the Braves last week Matz was put to the test in a big way versus the fearsome Natz, who tagged him for three home runs. When the Natz batz combat the Metz Matz begatz statz. Hey, that kind of rhymed! Still, I am encouraged from what I am seeing from Matz. I feel encouraged, you guys! Quick, some random commenter out there, take me down a peg! I’m hoping I can take this start and his next one in LA as my buy low opportunatz.
Michael Taylor – 2-for-4, HR (8), SB (5). A slam & legs! MT has hit safely in his past four games and is batting .400 with 2 homers and a stolen base in the past week. If you missed out on owning Trea and Harper, or Rendon or Zimmerman, or Daniel Murphy or Wieters, well, I guess Michael Taylor could be your chance to own a piece of this action.
Jay Bruce – 2-for-4, HR (18). Bruuuuuuce! Hitting .364 with 6 homers and 12 RBI in the past two weeks. This one came in the ninth down 6 runs. And yet…Mets still lose? Classic.
Jose Reyes – 2-for-3, HR (4). Jose Reyes is the most Mets player ever. That should be an award.
Carlos Martinez – 6.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 6th win. Is Carlos Martinez the most low key ace ever? After his complete game shutout last week of Philadelphia, C-Mart got to show an even better team this week how good he is. He holds a 2.86 ERA, 1.05 WHIP with a 10.2 K/9. Perhaps I could trade for him somehow. Anyone interested in my worst catcher? No? How about my best? I would offer both, but they are the same player.
Paul DeJong – 3-for-4, 3 runs, HR (2), 3 RBI. When DeJong Goes Long With a Ding Dong. The Cardinals had 15 hits, including home runs from just about everyone in their line up whom I will list now to pad my word count: Matt Carpenter, Dexter Fowler, Tommy Pham, and Jedd Gyorko.
Ian Happ – 2-for-5, run. As he bat second again. You got to hand it to Joe Maddon’s wild batting orders. They do produce a lot of solo home runs.
Jose Quintana – 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 3rd win. Is this your buy low opportunity or your chance to sell high? I don’t know!
Alen Hanson – 3-for-4, 3 runs, RBI, SB (1). After his pinch hit “Mmm bop!” (that’s what he calls his home runs) on Wednesday, Hanson lit it up leading off Friday night with three hits and a steal. It remains to be seen how much playing time he’ll get, but his speed upside makes him an interesting add, in particular if he continues to lead off for the White Sox. I’ll be watching him closer than the 2017 NBA Finals. Which to be fair I wasn’t watching all that closely after the first two games.
Melky Cabrera – 2-for-4, 3 runs, HR (7), 5 RBI. Well, except for Rihanna, of course. I continued to watch her real, real closely for the remainder of the series and beyond. When your crush is as good at trolling and memes as she is at work, work, work, work, working it. I got your love on the brain, Riri!
Justin Smoak – 1-for-4, HR (19), 2 RBI. Now tied for second for the league lead in homers. Dayum Justin, what u been Smoakin’?
Alex Avila – 2-for-5, 2 runs, HR (10). Oh hey, a catcher that’s hitting. Should you pick him up? I don’t know! I don’t care! Sure! Why not? No big deal! Thank you! Next question!
Alex Wood – 8.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, 5 K, 7-0. Fantasy owners will be very happy to wake up with Wood after last night’s game. When did this dude get so good? He’s rocking a 0.92 WHIP with a 10.51 K/9, and 29.8 K%. Sweet sassy molassy! Scared of that .268 BABIP? The advanced stats suggest you have nothing to fear, opponents are hitting just .188 against Alex and his 2.15 FIP (2.56 xFIP) tell me that 1.90 ERA is about where it should be. The real deal Alex Wood. Try knocking on that!
Dan Strailly – 6.1 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, 8 K, 5th win. Possibly his best start of the year. He gets the Nats next week. Pick him up if you hate yourself.
Dee Gordon – 3-for-5, 2 runs, 2 SB (23). Now has seven steals in June! FLASH! A-ahhh! Savior of your fantasy universe.
Justin Bour – 1-for-3, HR (17). Returned form the DL and picked up right where he left off: hitting dingers.
Edwin Encarnacion – 1-for-4, 2 runs, HR (14), 3 RBI. Don’t worry, Cleveland. Now that the Cavs are out you can focus on the only team that really matters in the Believeland–the Browns.
Carlos Gomez – 2-for-5, HR (5), 4 RBI. Gomez returned from the DL to the heart of the Tejas line up and treated fans to a home run and a double. Somehow he’s available in 70% of leagues, but I wouldn’t know because I’m not in any of those leagues. If you happen to be, you should probably pick him up as soon as possible.
Delino DeShields – 2-for-4, 2 runs, SB (15). Rangers scored 10 runs on 13 hits which Carlos Gomez modestly attributed to his return. DeShields could see reduced at-bats with Gomez back, but his five steals in the past week make me think the Rangers will find plenty of ways to keep him in the line up. Sorry Choo!
Tyson Ross – 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1st win. Ross got the win with five Tyson punch outs in his return from surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. I would google that but I’m afraid the images might be too graphic. I liked Ross a lot in San Diego but I’d take a wait and see approach with him this time around. Like, wait-and-see if he gets crushed by the Blue Jays next week before picking him up.
James Paxton – 3.2 IP, 7 hits, 7 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. After a solid start in his return from the DL Pax the Destroyer has looked like he needs a little help from the Guardians of the Galaxy lately. Which is weird because he totally carried that second movie!
Ben Gamel – 1-for-2, 3 runs, SB (2). Extended his hitting streak to eight games, with six multi-hit games and 2 steals in the span. He’s also scored 10 runs in that stretch! You should probably add him while he’s still available in 90% of leagues. But I’m not you’re dad, you don’t have to listen to me. And if I was, you’d probably only pick him up after I told you not to.
David Peralta – 3-for-5 with a run. Now hitting .409 over the past week. Grey told you to BUY, click the link so I can get paid mere pennies for what is actually hours of work!
Mookie Betts – 1-for-2, 3 runs, HR (12). When someone asks if there’s any player you’d own over Aaron Judge right now and you scoff at them. Mookie is one of my favorite people in the world. I love him more than I could ever love a human baby. He’s hitting .400 with 8 runs, 3 homers and two steals in the past week. The hits, the catches, the throws are great, those moves tho!
Mike Fiers – 7.0 IP, 5 hits, ER, 2 BB, 4 K. That’s four straight quality outings against at least one decent offensive team. See if you can figure out which team that is! He gets a nice start against Oakland next week and you can’t stream Michael Fiers unless you own Michael [expletive deleted] Fiers!
Drew Pomeranz – 6.1 IP, 4 hits, ER, 3 BB, 4 K. If you started him versus Houston you deserve this okay to mediocre outing, which qualified as Pom’s fifth quality start of the season. I can totally see him getting rekt by the Royals next Wednesday.
Eric Thames – 3-for-5, HR (19). He’s back. FEAR HIM.
Keon Broxton – 1-for-4, HR (10). Keon’s now hitting .300 with four homers and nine RBI in the past week. Note to self, if you want to get someone out of a slump, call up Lewis Brinson and threaten to steal the majority of their at-bats.
Travis Shaw – 1-for-3, 2 runs, HR (12). I am reminded of Shaw’s talent every time I have to watch Pablo Sandoval try to field a ground ball at third.
Jeff Samardzija – 6.0 IP, 11 hits, 8 ER, BB, 4 K. 2-run HR (1). Sure, he gave up 8 ER at Coors, but he also hit a 446 foot dinger because, Colorado. What did you expect? It’s a give and take. Homers are way more popular with the millennials anyway. You can watch it again on his snapstory.
D.J. LeMahieu – 4-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI, SB (4). DJ kept cranking out the hits and even stole a base! Hey DJ, can you play that one song–it’s like dum, dum, dum, dum. Dum dum dum dum. Arrrrr-click boom! Dum dum dum dum dum. Cheeeeeeeeeeeee. Chicka, chicka, chicka, bummmmm bop! It’s like dopest ish out. Do you know it?
Raimel Tapia – 2-for-4, run. Now three straight multi-hit games for Raimel who’s worth keeping an eye on as long as he’s hitting in Colorado. Yep, your weekly Coors streamer, for your Coors streaming pleasure. Mmm, sounds like a beer ad.
Joe Panik – 3-for-5, 3 runs, HR (4), 2 RBI. Joe Panik at the Disco! is one of the hottest hipsters around hitting .462 in the past week, which makes the exclamation point less ironic, I guess.
Ian Kennedy – 6.0 IP, 2 hits, ER, 4 K. His first win of the year. Woof. Don’t worry though. He’s had a number of “moral” victories this season so rest assured he’s feeling just fine about himself.
Lorenzo Cain – 3-for-4, 2 HR (10), 3 RBI. Sugar…Cain has been real sweet in June batting .368, and he’s hitting .462 with 11 runs, 6 home runs, and 11 RBI in the past seven days! Is it merely coincidence that the Royals are 8-2 in their last 10 games?! Yeah, probably.
Aaron Judge – 2-for-3, HR (23), 3 RBI. Your Honor with his league leading 23rd home run. As in, Your Honor to own him. He’s slashing .339/.447/.713 on the year and hitting .450 in the past week with 13 runs, 5 homers, 11 RBI and a steal. The 1.160 OPS is fine I guess. Whatever. The 41.8 HR/FB ratio is obviously unsustainable. And how about that .430 BABIP? Could suggest he’s just getting lucky, right? *dodges tomato OK, fine I get it, you’re the best player on the planet right now. But I’d still rather own Mookie for his moves and his smile. Amiright my over-the-internet friends? *dodges second tomato No? I’m alone on this one, huh? I accept that.
Thanks for reading! Questions? Problems? Complaints to management? Advice, small gifts or large bribes? Please leave it in the comments below. Join us next Saturday for another Friday recap as fantasy baseball continues next week, all week long!
