Greetings all, I’m stepping in for Mr. Pants today throwing on short rest. I went and got loose in the pen and now I’m ready to get poppin’. It’s been a long week so rather than beat around the bush, let’s just dive right into what I saw around the MLB on Friday night:
Ryan Weber – 3 inn 7 baserunners 2 ER 3 Ks. He’s bad and so is their bullpen.
Brandon Workman – 1 inn 0 ER and SV. Okay except for him, he’s the only bright spot in that radioactive wasteland.
Andrew Benintendi – 0-4 with BB, 1 run, and the golden sombrero as he continues to bat leadoff hitting .061/.279. I’ve noticed he’s walking a lot yet his contact is atrocious. His eyes are fine, but his swing is way off. I have no idea why Roenicke is keeping him at leadoff. Could be to ensure he has more ABs to help him out of his funk and/or further evidence the Sawx are mailing in this entire season. Just one big extended Spring Training.
J.D. Martinez – 0-4 with 2 Ks. Just Dong is another one struggling and has yet to hit a home run. It’s just been 2 weeks but feels like its been an eternity. With the season as short as it is, how much longer can we wait for him to stop wrecking your roster, 1 week? 2 weeks (like half the season)? Yikes, the sun is getting real low big guy.
Alex Verdugo – 2-3 with BB, 2 HRs, now hitting .294 with hits in last 3 games, from the 7-hole (could be leadoff). He’s back… and his back seems 100 now. Jose Peraza – 2-3 with BB hitting .283 from the 9-hole (could be leadoff too). Mitch Moreland 1-3 with BB and HR (4) and 3 RBIs.
Xander Bogaerts – 1-1 with 3 BBs, 1 run, SB, now hitting .333 and 9-19 in last week. Was concerned a bit early on but looks like he’s finally thawed out.
Cavan Biggio – 2-4 with BB and HR (3) as he bat leadoff ahead of Bo Bichette 1-4 and 1 RBI. That’s new, looks like it might be working with him. Vlad Guerrero Jr. – 1-2 with 2 BBs and 1 RBI. The three sons of the Three Amigos.
Antonio Senzatela – 6 inn 6 baserunners 2 ER 5 Ks, ERA at 2.65. So many of the Rockies starters are quietly having a respectable start to the season. Manfred! What have you done?!
Garrett Hampson – 1-4 with BB and 2-run HR (1) as he hit leadoff. It’s a rare gift with him getting a full game’s ABs in.
Charlie Blackmon – 3-4 with BB, 2 runs, HR (3), hitting .423. Charlie is like a kid in the candy store right now. The candyman can because he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good. sorry.
Matt Kemp – 1-4 with BB, 2 runs, hitting .286 while he drains the life from Sam Hilliard. I call Kemp the “Hilltopper” because every time he starts at DH I picture him climbing over the lifeless corpse of Hillard to claim another AB. And Owings in the starting lineup is just insulting. You’re not my guy, Buddy.
Daniel Murphy – 2-4 with HR (3), 4 RBIs, and a partridge in a pear tree. Hitting .342. Murph feels like he might be on his way to have that season we’ve all been waiting for since he signed with the Rockies (cough-Rudy-cough).
Yusei Kikuchi – 5.2 inn 7 baserunners 4 ER 3 Ks. Yusei, the price of my love is not a price you’re willing to pay (by giving me a QS back to back)
Kyle Lewis – 1-4, hitting .375. Nothing wild tonight, but like Dr. Dre he just keeps dropping hit after hit.
Kyle Seager – 2-4, 1 run, hitting .315. The elder Seager is not the meager Seager, this time he’s relevant and so far I’m loving it.
Austin Nola – 2-4, 1 run, HR (1), 3 RBIs, hitting .324. I don’t know why but I really want him to either catch a game for his brother or pimp a home run off him. Yup, either will do. This is his 3rd game in a row with 2 hits… Hot Schmotato Alert!
Mallex Smith – 2-4, RBI, SB (2), hitting .147. We have a steal ladies and gentlemen! I know we all expected him to have like 10 by now, but with a .194 OBP it makes it kinda hard. This is hits in back to back games now, say a prayer!
Humberto Mejia – 2.1 inn 4 baserunners 1 ER 6 Ks. WUT. hummana hummana humberto. Miami can’t miss right now. *frantically sends intern to find information on the rookie* LOL, they call up a low tier prospect from High-A to be an opener for a bullpen game and he throws gas. Oh 2020, you are a treat.
Francisco Cervelli – 1-4, 3-run HR with hits in back to back games. He could be heating up, because, Marlins.
Michael Wacha – 5 inn 8 baserunners 4 ER 9 Ks. You get Ks, but also get shelled. Nice punchline, Wacha wacha wacha.
Pete Alonso – 2-4 and hits in his last 3 games. Yessss! Get hot you fridged cold-ice bear!
Dominic Smith – 1-4 with HR (2), J.D. Davis 1-4, RBI hitting .295, Michael Conforto 1-4 hitting .308 to start the season. That whole Cespedes fiasco is the most Mets thing the Mets have done since the last one.
Zack Greinke – 6 inn 6 baserunners 5 Ks, ERA at 3.00. That pretty much summarizes Greinke.
Kyle Tucker – 1-4 with RBI, hitting .217 as he hit leadoff. So glad to see The Toothpick finally decide to start playing him. I feel like this is a setup before the fall.
Chris Bassitt – 7 inn 6 baserunners 1 ER 3 Ks, ERA at 1.08. Bassitt is absolutely pitching filth right now with command. Oakland is on a roll right now, winning the last 7 games including this one with another walk-off and Bassitt has been a huge part of it. And now looks like we’ve had the bullpen settle into form: Diekman, Soria, Hendriks as the 7, 8, 9.
Robbie Grossman – 1-3 with 2 runs, HR (1). If he continues to see time in the field he could a nice source of that sweet sweet SAGNOF. Not so gross after all.
Matthew Boyd – 4.2 inn 11 baserunners 7 ER 5 Ks. I don’t understand why people keep going to this well. Boyd’s arm can’t cash the check that’s been marked “void.” And devoid of any command that commands any respect I have on hand.
Joe Jimenez – 1 inn 3 ER 2 Ks, BS. Aye Carumba!
Niko Goodrum – 2-6(2Bs) with BB, 5 RBIs. If you had the Tigers-Pirates game as the highest-scoring game of the week on your bets, you probably float because you are a witch. Just as we all drew it up. Nico feasted on on the Bucs along with C.J. Cron 2-4, 2 runs, HR(3), 2 RBIs (shockingly the only Tiger HR) and Jeimer Candelario 3-6, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and Victor Reyes 2-5, 4 runs, 1 RBI, BB.
Chad Kuhl – 4 inn 1 hit 1 ER 7 Ks, ERA at 2.00. He kept a kuhl head before giving way to chaos. The Tigers couldn’t wait to pounce on the bullpen.
Josh Bell – 2-5 with zeros. Colin Moran 0-6, 2 Ks. Ticker tease!
Bryan Reynolds – 3-5, 3 runs. BryRey has been so cold, maybe this is the wakeup he needed. Others who went off: Philip Evans 3-5, 3 runs, HR(1), 4 RBIs and Adam Frazier 2-6, 2 runs, HR(2), 2 RBIs and Erik Gonzalez 4-5, 1 run, HR(1), 6 RBIs.
Masahiro Tanaka – 5 inn 1 hit 5 Ks.
Blake Snell – 3 inn 2 BB 5 Ks. You’d think he would be stretched out to 5-6 innings by now, no?
Tommy Milone – 6 inn 3 hits 3 Ks. ERA at 3.21. How’s that for surprises? You know the regression fairies are coming hard for him.
Renato Nunez – 2-4, BB, 2 runs, 3-run HR(5). That’s right 5 HRs, a sneaky late-round Corner Infielder pick for power is coming through. And literally every other Baltimore starter had a field day (or batter’s day?).
Julio Urias – 4 inn 5 baserunners 1 ER 2 Ks (78 pitches). If he can’t get a bit more efficient with his pitches it’s going to hard to get much value from him this season. The same applies to Snell above. If your starters aren’t going 5-6 innings by now you are probably losing the wins and Ks categories and have inflated ratios.
Corey Seager – 0-1, left the game in 3rd inning with lower back discomfort. You get the feeling he’s aging fast? Didn’t realize it was Bob Seger playing in his place. I guess he shouldn’t have been running against the wind.
Mookie Betts – 2-4, HR(3) and Max Muncy 1-4, HR(4) powered up tonight after a somewhat lackluster week, good to see Mookie’s wrist not slowing him down. I don’t think he could afford it to give out on him.
Will Smith – 2-4, 2 run-HR(2), Gettin jiggy wit it.
Wilmer Flores – 2-4, HR. And that’s about it for the Giants offense. Oh and Chadwick Tromp 2-4 with a couple hits. They were the best hits, never been greater hits than those. There have been some pretty good hits, but those were clearly the best.
Zach Davies – 5.2 inn 3 hits 6 Ks. ERA at 2.87. Let’s talk about Davies. He has been pitching masterfully and is protected by a solid defense and pitches in a home park that is neutral at worst because it’s never above 80 in downtown San Diego. You could do a lot worse than for your 5th or 6th SP.
Kirby Yates – 1 inn 0 ER 1 K, SV. Phew, a clean save to make us feel safe.
Fernando Tatis Jr. – 1-4, HR(5) producing like a first-round pick indeed. FTJ!
Griffin Canning – 3.2 inn 3 hits 1 ER 6 BBs 4 Ks (86 pitches). He did not have his stuff Friday night in much the same way that Chatwood did not have it on Thursday. However, Canning was missing out of the zone and walked a lot of batters, yet somehow avoided damage. Whereas, Chatty was hanging a lot of breakers and missing toward the middle which he got torched for.
Mike Trout – 2-5, 2-run HR(5) and narrowly missed a 2nd, hitting .317. Remember when people were fading him hard when they thought he was going to take a long time off (still could I guess), those were fun times. If you are one of the lucky ones that got trout at a discount this season, congratulations! You might be primed already to win the championship.
David Fletcher – 1-4, BB, 1 run. He just keeps getting on base… in front of Trout. Yep.
Jordan Lyles – 5.1 inn 8 baserunners 3 ER 5 Ks, and Rafael Montero 1 inn 0 ER, SV. Oh boy, another mouth to feed.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa – 2-4, SB. This catcher/inf now has 4 steals. Someone is efforting hard out here. Its going to be funny with the league leaders in steals are Robert and a catcher. hilarious! *bangs head on table*
Trevor Bauer – 6 inn, 3 hits, 1 BB, 1 ER, 12 Ks. ERA is at 0.93. In case you were wondering, yes. Bauer should have been the first pitcher you drafted. Not everyone else above him dumping on your ratios. The Tinkerer has made some adjustments, and he will the focus of my next deep dive.
Nick Castellanos – 2-5, 2 runs, HR(7), 3 RBIs. Greek God of Hard Contact is really playing for that opt-out clause.
Matt Davidson – 2-5, 1 run, HR(1), 3 RBIs. Good to see him back at it. He had a 26 HR season back in 2017, so there’s that.
Christian Yelich – 1-4, 2-run HR(3), and 2nd in 2 days. I think we have a pulse over here nurse!
Dylan Cease – 5 inn, 2 hits, 5 BBs, 4 Ks. Still pitching like Ricky Vauhn, but nice to see good starts back to back. Maybe progress?
Luis Robert – 1-3, 1 run, BB. Hitting .327/.393/.491 like a boss. Is he good? I remember we were wondering if the swing and miss would be a big deal this first season. 30% K-rate is certainly high and a high BABIP is cushioning his average. But that being normalized to his profile would still put him in the .270+ range. That’s still great.
Aaron Civale – 7 inn, 5 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 Ks. I was joking with Grey that we all should have just drafted the CLE starting rotation and we’d all be coasting the pitchers’ stats. It’s not wrong.
