In the ’80s and ’90s, Mystery Science Theatre 3000 was a staple of my childhood. The show starred Joel Hodgson as Joel Robinson, a janitor stuck on a ship forced to watch B-Movies with his handcrafted robot companions. The show was pretty much just Hodgson and his robotic friends riffing on the terrible movies from a silhouetted view for about 2 hours. Time Magazine named it one of the 100 Best TV-Shows Award and even received Emmy consideration. I would love to put together a fantasy baseball show of Gray playing the role of Joel with his robotic companions. They would just sit back, watch glorious highlights of Giancarlo Stanton, Mark Reynolds, and other Razzball heroes. The riffing would of course come as well. Fantasy Baseball is a fickle beast.
Wait, where was I? I got teleported back to the early ’90s as I reminisced about my youth, thinking about drinking an Ecto-Cooler, having some Dunkaroos, and playing clairvoyant to how we all will lose our minds watching a player slide into home on a never-ending loop. So let’s get back to the Man with Two First Names. Joel once said to never trust a man with two first names, especially if one of them is a girls’ name. Well, it’s 2021, people are named after anything they want, and it is acceptable to have two first names, as in the case with Connor Joe. But before I ruin the anticipation, let’s get to the players who will help you win your Week 19 H2H matchup
Runs/SB
Josh Rojas, 2B/SS/OF, ARI-30% rostered in Yahoo- Rojas returns from the IL after a dislocated pinkie. They must have relocated it, as well as his power, evidenced by his 3-homer rehab outing. Rojas returns to the leadoff role and gets a weekend series in Colorado.
Robbie Grossman, OF, DET-50% rostered in Yahoo- Grossman has been frequent on this series, and he makes another return. This time it is directly tied to the stolen base upside this week. He faces the Angels, who have allowed the 6th most SB’s and 83% of runners to reach. Fast forward to the weekend series and the Baby Jays who have allowed 78%. Let’s not forget the .481 OBP in August.
HR/RBI
Connor Joe, 1B/OF, COL-5% rostered in Yahoo- Trust this man with 2-first names! He has been hitting leadoff against both righties and lefties. In the month of August, all Connor, or should I say, Joe, has done is hit 3 HR, drive in 8, and hit .333. Add in the obvious Coors’ factor and a handful of lefties, and I see a huge week!
CJ Cron, 1B, COL-53% rostered in Yahoo- If Cron is still available in your league, this may be one of the better weeks to grab and start him. He has been extremely hot in August, hitting 4 HRs and a robust .417. He, as with ole Joe above makes for a unique Coors stack on the week. That John Denver was not full of shit. Rocky Mountain High this week!
Anthony Santander, OF, BAL-27% rostered in Yahoo- Since returning from the IL on 7/30, he has hit .333 with 3 HRs. If he was dropped, and with the 27% rostered percentage, he most likely was, go and scoop him up. The power has always been there, and the Orioles have 7 games this week.
Andrew Vaughn, 1B/OF, CWS– 39% rostered in Yahoo- Vaughn has just continued to improve as a hitter, despite only being a rookie. His k% has dropped in half since the end of June, from 28% down to 14%! Vaughn has absolutely crushed FB’s, and he is set up to face a few this week with >40% FB usage. (Irvin, McClanahan, Kaprielien)
Wins
Vladimir Gutierrez, SP, CIN-26% rostered in Yahoo- Gutierrez has been nothing short of dominant over his past 35 innings, dating back to July 5th. He has turned in 5 starts in the past 6 with allowing 2 or fewer runs. The K% might not be anything to get overly excited about (15%), but his 3.31 and 2-starts vs. the Cubs and Marlins could provide multiple wins.
Jake Odorizzi, SP, HOU-30% rostered in Yahoo- Odorizzi hasn’t exactly been the model of consistency, but his matchups this week are both streamable. I
Huascar Ynoa, SP, ATL-37% rostered in Yahoo- Set to return from the IL after he lost his 1st professional boxing match vs the Braves dugout bench. He looks for redemption against the bench, as well as the Marlins and Orioles in what lines up to be a 2-start week. I would monitor this over the weekend, but it appears all things go for the early week start. Before the TKO, he was dominant; 4-2/3.02/3.17 xFIP. In his most recent rehab start, Ynoa peppered the strike zone (67% strikes)
Speculation and Saves
Alex Colome, RP, MIN-46% rostered in Yahoo- League leader in saves over the past 2 weeks (5) with Rogers on the mend and the “trust” from Rocco Baldelli.
Kyle Finnegan, RP, WSH-49% rostered in Yahoo- Has the 9th inning locked up in Washington. Over the past 2 weeks, he has 3 saves and zero runs allowed.
Dylan Floro, RP, MIA-24% rostered in Yahoo- As with the other names to the North, he has the 9th inning and SAGNOF.
