Hello again, dear readers!
Thank you for once again braving this barren wasteland of fantasy baseball injuries with me. It’s not all bad news this week, but of course, there’s still plenty of bad to go around. Let’s jump on in, shall we?
Note: The writers cover injuries throughout the week, so if you’re looking for an update on a player not mentioned here, slap their name into the ol’ search bar and give it a look-see. I’m just here to give you the latest injury buzz for the week, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll be mentioning everyone you care about each time.
Jazz Chisholm: Everyone’s favorite blue-haired professional athlete went down this week went a strained hammy. It was bad enough to land him on the 10-day IL. Just as he was reaching the apex of his breakout, it seemed. So many of us dig him we might even petition Grey to rebrand the site as Jazzball. But then that makes me think of…well, you probably understand where that was headed. Anyhoodles, Jazz was lighting it up this year, slashing .290/.375/.551 and rising to the 96th percentile in barrel rate. His xBA doesn’t fully support his actual BA (a .390 BABIP will do that), but still, it’s been a hell of a year. The power is real. The speed is real (7 SB, 100% success rate). Yeah, the BA could sink some, and yeah, the Ks are a problem, but *J-Roc voice* you can’t not be feelin’ dis. Good news is this doesn’t sound like a very serious issue, so he should be good to go around when his IL time expires.
Corbin Burnes: Fantasy baseball’s Golden Child hit the IL for unclear reasons. Team said they couldn’t talk about it, so that pretty much means it’s a positive COVID test. I don’t need to rehash the numbers for you. He’s sensationally good. His Statcast profile has one blemish, something pretty much out of his control, and then it’s deeeeeeep red, like, everywhere else.
Christian Yelich/Lorenzo Cain: The OF duo both played in a sim game on Thursday. Old Yellerch has an outside shot to make an appearance this weekend, so keep your eyeballs peeled for any more updates. Same goes for Lorenzo “Been Needing A” Cain.
Juan Soto: The latest update on Soto reported that he can hit just fine, but throwing is what’s causing pain right now. He’s still on the shelf, but a return is very close (barring setbacks, obviously). Just a matter of ramping up the shoulder enough that he can play in the field. Might even see him this weekend — he started throwing again yesterday.
Adalberto Mondesi: Finally! A real update! And it’s encouraging! Mondesi has been taking BP and is looking good. That’s about all there is to work with, but that’s very positive news.
Stephen Strasburg: Not much to report, but at least we know he’s progressing: Stras started throwing from 200 feet yesterday and should start throwing from a mound today or tomorrow.
Bryce Harper: Dude took an upper-90s fastball directly into his face Wednesday night but somehow avoided an injury. Turns out he’s got a little bit of a sore wrist, so he didn’t play again Friday. Doesn’t sound serious.
Lance Lynn: Back today! Woohoo!
Teoscar Hernandez: Finally returned to action yesterday! Hallelujah!
George Springer: Springer returned Wednesday and quietly went 0-fer. But yay! He’s back! The Jays now have Springer and Teoscar back to help pad the lineup that already has Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.…that straight up ain’t fair.
Yadier Molina: I don’t know how Yadi is the #3 catcher on our Player Rater at the time of writing, but he surew is. Too bad he’s hurt. A foot injury has him on the 10-day IL. Strained tendon. He’ll miss a couple games, played one, then the team decided he needed an IL stint to get back in order. The bat is in the best groove it’s ever been in (.323, 13R, 5HR, 14RBI in 19 games), so hopefully he can keep it up when he gets back.
J.T. Realmuto: Scratched from Friday’s game for unknown reasons. Keep an eye on it, but I’m not the only one around here who told you not to bother drafting him. What’s that 3rd round pick getting people these days? The #6 catcher on Player Rater. That’s good, sure, but is it what you paid for? Narp. (Fully realize the season is barely out of its infancy. This is just some good old-fashioned trollery).
Tommy Pham: A calf injury kept Pham out yet again Friday — third game in a row he had to miss. It’s not uncommon to see Phamtastic dealing with some sort of injury. This one shouldn’t land him on the IL given he was available off the bench some this week, but keep an eye on it.
Matt Olson: Ol’ Son took a ball straight into his face during BP on Thursday. Ricocheted right into his eye. Luckily, X-Rays were negative. Not sure when he’ll be back, but shouldn’t miss much time at all.
Luke Voit: Voit has progressed to the point where he’s taking live ABs at the alternate site. He’s already been doing drills and running, so it’s looking like a return is rather close. Owners in need of HR hope he can replicate last year’s 63.6 HR pace lol. I mean, probably not…but maybe?
Ke’Bryan Hayes: Welllll color me corrected. He’s not entirely out of the woods yet, but Hayes got re-examined and the news was pretty good. I was ready for a lengthy absence. Looks like it won’t be so lengthy after all. He still needs to progress to doing baseball activities again, though we could be looking at a return within the next couple of weeks. Way better than the dire picture I painted last week, eh?
Mike Yastrzemski: Yaz has an oblique injury that’ll sideline him at least until May 7. Could be longer. Last season’s breakout has not carried over, sadly, as he’s slashing just .215/.303/.468 through 22 games. Still pacing for 29 HR at least, but there’s not a lot to get excited about on the Statcast profile. You just hate to see 4th percentile xBA, 9th percentile xwOBA, 11th percentile K%, 20th percentile xSLG, 25th percentile avg. EV, and 31st percentile HH%. Statcast is not predictive, of course, it just shows context to what’s been going on. He could always find himself turning those blue dots into red dots. The season is young.
Mike Soroka: The Braves transferred Soroka to the 60-day IL as a bit of housekeeping. He obviously hasn’t appeared yet this year, so this move is retroactive to the start of the season. He started throwing this week and will need a full ramp-up into pitching at full speed.
Max Fried: French Fried threw in a live BP session on Thursday. It went very well. If he stays issue-free over the weekend, we’ll likely see him return by midweek.
Matthew Boyd: Knee tendinitis forced Boyd out early in his last start. He’ll miss his next one, though that should be the only one. A plethora of Boyd hate across the fantasy baseball landscape kept him either undrafted or very cheap. Risk-takers have been rewarded handsomely: 2-3 (which says something on Detroit), 2.27ERA, 0.93WHIP, 29.8 CSW%. The Ks are not there, but the walks and hits aren’t either. The H/9 (6.56) and BB/9 (1.77) are straight-up ace-worthy.
Elieser Hernandez: Hernandez tossed a bullpen session this past week. Given I haven’t seen anything negative as a result, it’s safe to assume he’s progressing rather well. Figure he’ll be back sooner rather than later.
Mitch Haniger: Haniger? More like Mitch The Maniger, amirite? Dude has picked up where he left off in 2019, smacking 5 HR and tallying 17 RBI from the leadoff spot in 24 games so far. You may or may not have forgotten his 26 HR in 2018 or his 15 HR (in just 63 games) in 2019. He’ll probably never hit above .290, or even .280, but he can bop, and he’s got an increasingly talented lineup around him. Oh yeah, I should talk about his injury I guess. Or whatever it is. He was scratched Wednesday and Thursday for unspecified reasons. Fatigue of some sort. Stay tuned.
Miguel Sano: Sano has been out since April 20 with a hamstring injury. Reports indicate he’s practically running at 100%. I’m not even a little high on the dude anymore, but I’d be lying if I told you the power potential wasn’t there.
Kole Calhoun: Pretty much fresh off the IL after knee surgery, Swole Calhoun is back on it with a hamstring strain. In fact, he underwent surgery Friday. A procedure that reportedly takes 6-8 weeks to recover/rehab from. Cooooooooool. He was looking real good, too, dammit! Hitting .292 with 6R, 2HR, 5RBI, and even swiped a bag in 13 games.
Khris Davis: Khrush is nearing a return. He’s been playing games and DHing at the alternate site. Any day now. Not sure I’d go scoop him up anywhere, but probably not a bad DFS option against the right kind of arms…or should I say “left” kind of arms *insert Pun Dog meme*. Just kidding, that joke doesn’t even work cuz he hits both sides pretty much equally.
Tony Gonsolin: Gonso has progressed to the point of throwing off a mound. His fantasy relevancy depends on what type of league you’re in. Not super useful in standard leagues, but I could foresee a situation where he’s the Dodgers version of Tejay Antone, and I have that dude rostered everywhere I can.
Carlos Carrasco: I was a little too hopeful about the speed of Cookie’s recovery, cuz I thought maybe he’d be back by now. Welp, we’ve now learned the Mets are looking at a return sometime during the second week of May. Not far away, but not as early as I was hoping. I invested pretty heavily, so I’m hoping he can step right in and kick ass like he kicked cancer’s ass.
Noah Syndergaard: Hitting mid/upper 90s on the heater. Felt great after throwing recently. Not eligible to return until the end of May but looking like he’ll be ready to rock once it’s time.
Luis Severino: He’s progressing very well and will face live batters very soon.
Framber Valdez: Framber has been cleared to face hitters. Don’t get too excited just yet, since he’s still gotta get loose enough to go 5+ innings at a time. He’s close, but a return isn’t imminent yet. Looking like the latter half of May if I had to guess.
Hyun-Jin Ryu: Ryu wound up on the IL with a strained booty muscle. Should only cause him to miss one start, though. It’s felt like an up-and-down year kinda, but really the dude is pitching very well: 1-2, 2.60 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 32.2 CSW%.
Chris Paddack: Landed on the IL for unspecified reasons. Not sure yet if it’s just some kind of COVID precaution or if he’s going to have an extended absence. Having a poop year anyway. That fastball he was supposed to be fixing? You know, cuz it was reported he was paying attention to metrics and spin rate and shizz? He’s throwing it even more often this year and it’s still bad. Has a .332 xBA against. Spin is a hair worse, to boot. He needs to vastly change his repertoire or I figure his MLB career is destined to be a short one unless he hits the bullpen.
Adam Wainwright: Vintage Waino so far this season, but now he’s on the COVID-IL. It’s just precautionary, though, since a family member tested positive. He’ll miss this weekend’s games, but he’ll likely return Monday as long as he continues to test negative. He may not have any wins to show for it, but Waino has been incredibly effective aside from his first outing. Take out Game 1 and you have a guy who’s struck out 31 and walked just 5 in 26 IP, allowing 7 ER and sporting an xFIP of 2.91. Oh, even adding back that first game, he’s got a 31.9 CSW%, good for 16th among all qualified arms.
Javier Baez: A light hammy strain kept Baez out of action for a few games this past week, but he came back Thursday and hit a triple. The HR/SB pace is ridonk right now (46/39), but the strikeout pace is even more ridonk (270). At one point he was pacing for well over 300 Ks lol. All-time record is 223, set by Mark Reynolds in 2009.
Find me on Twitter: @jkj0787. DMs are always open for questions, comments, concerns, complaints, etc. Odds are good I’m drinking black coffee, dark beer, or some form of bourbon at any given time.
