In his short stint with the Brewers, Keston Hiura had thirty points and a 0.447 PPPA over 17 games and 69 plate appearances. Somewhere out there Bill and Ted just rejoiced. In case you were wondering Travis Shaw has 36 points in 180 plate appearances. Mind blown. So sorry Keston, but clearly the head office in Milwaukee might be putting back a few too many Miller Lites. Since being sent down to San Antonio Hiura has gone 11 for 34 with 4 home runs, 11 RBIs and a stolen base. Factoring in seven strikeouts he’d be good for about 40 fantasy points. In case you were wondering what Travis Shaw has been up to since his return, he’s managed ten points thanks to four hits in 21 at bats. Like I said, it’s a head scratcher.
I wonder if Kyle Tucker is willing to admit that he has Yordan Alvarez on his fantasy team? Speaking of Alvarez, he just hit his third big league home run in his fourth game. Jose Ramirez has just four home runs in 66 games. Just saying.
I haven’t talked much about Freddie Freeman, but he’s been quietly having an MVP season. Of course several are having an even better season, so Freeman isn’t even in the MVP conversation, but it’s worth pointing out that in the last fourteen days no hitter has scored more points than Mr. Freeman. Even with bonus points for a cycle, Ohtani falls short. Freddie has 70 points over the last two weeks. Behind him is Christian Yelich with sixty something. Freeman is on pace for 40 homers, 100+ RBIs, a .310 batting average and 569 points. Bill and Ted just jumped up again. 569 points would have put him in the top five hitters the last seven seasons. I’m as free as a man now. And this bird you can not change…
Edwin Encarnacion is about as consistent as it gets. He’s well on track for his fifth consecutive season with at least 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in. In 2014 he fell two RBIs short with 98, otherwise this would be his eighth in a row. Over the last seven seasons he’s averaged about 473 points and is currently on pace for about 480. Not to shabby for a player with an ADP of the 15th round!
In 184 plate appearances Howie Kendrick has approximately .9 points per plate appearance. That puts him firmly in the top ten hitters, sandwiched between Josh Bell and Nolan Arenado. If he keeps things up he’ll finish the season with more than twenty homers, nearly 100 RBIs and a batting average greater than .300. Can’t ask for much more from your second baseman. Especially one that went undrafted in many leagues.
Lucas Giolito has legitimately been the best pitcher in baseball this year. Magically he has transformed into the pitcher his prospect hype had promised. I don’t write much about pitchers, but what Giolito has done is unavoidable. I own him in one roto league, but I do not have him rostered in any points leagues. Only Hyun-Jin Ryu and Justin Verlander have more points than Lucas. However, Verlander has had two additional starts. When you break it down to point per start (PPS), Verlander is at 24.8 and Giolito is at 24.7. I’d call that pretty damn even. But if it’s up to me, I’m giving the nod to Giolito considering Verlander pitchers for the top offensive team in the league.
Of pitchers with at least ten starts, Ryu leads all with about 25 points per start. Then comes Verlander and Giolito, who are followed by Charlie Morton (20.64), Mike Soroka (20.72), Zack Greinke (20.26), Stephen Strasburg (20.21) and Jake Odorizzi (19.92). While I’m listing pitchers I’ll add a few more. Gerrit Cole (19.86), Max Scherzer (19.86), Clayton Kershaw (19.54), Jose Berrios (18.92), Walker Buehler (18.76) and Luis Castillo (18.5). That’s quite an impressive list of pitchers.
Alvarez just hit his fourth. It’s taken me a few days to get this post written and in that time Yordan continues to mash!
Paul Goldschmidt has been downgraded to Paul Silverschmidt.
Jose Ramirez is going to be on a lot of teams that don’t win the championship.
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