Imai Need Tatsuya Do That Again

The Japanese takeover of Texas continues! Houston Astros starting pitcher slash import slash heartthrob Tatsuya Imai turned in his best start of the year Friday night, going six innings, allowing just three earned runs and striking out eleven for his fourth win of the year. Imai let you finish, Kanye, Imai also tell you I almost made Cam Schlittler the lede, but what Tatsuya did must be examined. Imai opinion? He’s finally finding his footing a bit with a career high 20 whiffs Friday, 36% CSW with 17 of them on that ,nasty slider which works as his primary pitch. If you haven’t seen the backdoor slider in action this thing is pure evil. His velocity was also up almost 1.5 mph (97 mph), and he didn’t walk anyone, which is a huge step forward from his average 15.3% walk rate. The eleven strikeouts was a season high for any Astros pitcher. There was a moment in the third where Tats, can I call him Tats?, surrendered the home run to Hoskins and it looked like things were gonna go off the rails as they often have in his starts, but he stepped up, regained his composure, and dominated the next three innings. He retired the final eleven batters he faced. Did he unlock something? Imai stop you there. We should probably slow our role just a bit, the 13.3% K-BB% and his 6.15 ERA suggest Tats season could be the roller coaster ride we’ve seen so far. After the no-hitter he seemed to me to lack another pitch, and I still feel that way, but when the slider is working it clearly doesn’t matter. This was against a JoRam-less Cleveland offense mind you, but he’s certainly piqued my interest, gets the Jays next week and should probably be owned in most leagues despite his obvious volatility. Imai let him have this one, but Imai also need you to do it again next week.

Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:

Kevin Gausman – 2.0 IP, 7 hits, 7 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 5th L. Ugh. More like Kevin Goshman. Like gosh maaan, you’re really killing me with outings like this one! Wrigley in the summer is a fickle beast, but Kev is usually good at managing even the scariest lineups. His ERA jumps almost a full run from 3.13 to 4.04, and the 11 base runners (ELEVEN), oof, don’t remind me. Stranger things, after not walking more than three in a start all year, he walks four in the first inning on Friday. Be better, Gausy!

Ben Brown – 6.0 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 4 K, 4th win. Speaking of better, the breakout is on for Ben Brown, who continues to get it done with his three pitch mix. Brown’s been so good his ERA actually went up after allowing the one run, and the home run was the first bomb he’d surrendered since March, all the way back on opening day! That’s 66 innings without a homer! Need I remind you the Cubs’ pitching staff had given up more home runs any other team? And here comes Ben Brown Chicago’s savior sent from God. No, not Pope Leo. It’s Ben Brown! That’s what Brown can do for you.

George Springer – 2-for-4, HR (8), 2 RBI. When Springer becomes Summer-er! He’s hitting .348 with 2 homers and 3 steals in the past week and who knew it even got that hot in Canada!

Pete Crow-Armstrong – 3-for-3, run, RBI, 2 SB (18). Did you say hot? Because there’s the sun, which is about 27 million°F (15 million Celsius, because World Cup friends are here), there’s the Thermageddon hot sauce from hot ones which is 2 million Scoville heat units (SHU), and then there’s Pete Crow-Armstrong who’s slashing .433/.473/.910 in June with 13 runs, 8 home runs, 12 RBI and 6 steals! He’s rocking a 1.383 OPS! Sweet sassy molassy! That’s Bond-ian, folks! In addition to reaching base all five times he was up on Friday, in the past week alone he’s hitting close to .600 with four PCAHRs and 3 steals! There is simply no hotter human as his blue hair is turning red hot his WAR is encroaching a 10. It’s now completely clear the Cubs offense starts and stops with Pete.

Carson Kelly – 2-for-4, 3 runs, HR (4), 6 RBI. Cubs scored 16 runs with 18 hits, including three from Seiya Suzuki and this grand salami from Kelly. You can see Carson knows this is coming and Gausman can only watch it sail over the ivy, surrendering his sixth RBI to Kelly in the inning! Are the Cubs a wagon again, y’all!? Last time I said that they lost 10 in a row. *Dodges tomato pie*

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 0-for-3, left the game. That’s a big uh-oh. Bigger uh-oh than the hole he’ll leave in my lineup? He appeared to have tweaked his back on a swing and Mr. Manager says it was just precautionary but Mr. Managers be lying sometimes. At least maybe you don’t have to start him anymore.

Rhys Hoskins – 1-for-4, HR (7). I remember when you signed with Milwaukee and I thought I was so smart drafting you to lead my offense. Well, now you have another chance not with my team, but go Guards!

Tanner Bibee – 5.1 IP, 4 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 8th L. Bibee’s string of good luck ran out and he was back to his loser ways on Friday. A throwing error led to the first unearned run but can’t blame Khalil Wilson for surrendering the home run. Or I mean, you can try but not great for the clubhouse vibes.

Jose Altuve – 2-for-4, HR (8), 4 RBI. Oh, this one’s really small. How adorable! Can easily just fold him up and stuff him in the compactor and–wait, Altuve moved! He’s alive! Jose actually has three bombs over the past week as he attempts his major comeback back from obscurity.

Jeremy Pena – 3-for-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI. Imagine being Jose Altuve, watching your replacement absolutely rake while you go through the hardest slump of your career. Meanwhile Pena is batting .320 with 3 homers and 6 RBI over the past week. Watch this one soar, it went to the same spot as Altuve’s just a lot farther. Couldn’t you let him have this one Jeremy? Anyway he’s slashing .289/.351/.461 since his return from the IL and it’s crazy how we’re all writing the Stros off in a terrible AL where they have all the pieces to climb back in this thing.

Tarik Skubal – 5.2 IP, 7 hits, 3 ER, BB, 8 K. Gave up a solo shot to Randal Grichuk which seems to make him mad and he locked in at least until the fifth when he surrendered another. Skubal’s return is nothing short of miraculous and proves there’s no better motivator to get healthy than a big fat contract.

Randal Grichuk – 2-for-3, HR (7). Hey, that’s two mentions for Grichuk. Don’t get used to it. Also, just thank goodness he isn’t still with New York giving Mr. Manager Boone another reason to block Jasson Dominguez.

Dillon Dingler – 3-for-4, 2 runs. I must admit I very reluctantly added Dillon “Ding Dong” Dingler to my lineup but he’s not just a top 5 catcher in every offensive category, ranking top 3 in OPS, RBI and HRs among catcher, he’s literally a top 25 player on the year and he’s become one of my best offensive bats! How even!

Junior Perez – 2-for-3, HR (1). Have a day rook! His first career hit was nice but his second was a go-ahead home run off the reigning Cy Young! Even better! Someone get the boy that baseball. He also gunned down Anthony Volpe at third. Also, where are all these White Sox rookies coming from? Junior hit 26 bombs with AAA Vegas last year (on the moon, yes that’s the one) so this isn’t completely out of nowhere.

Owen Caissie – 3-for-3, HR (8), 3 RBI. Owen has now homered in back-to-back games including this beaut on Friday. Not a nugget! Is it because he’s a Canadian ginger in Miami? Is it those three times flame emoji CityConnects? The official X account of the Marlins (Get Hooked!) is telling me to vote for him to be an All Star. Kid is slashing .222/.277/.417, can we calm down?

Landen Roupp – 6.0 IP, 7 hits, 2 ER, BB, 7 K. I don’t care if you write Bible verses, or Satanic verses or Drake verses on your hat but you should do it every game, and not only on select days where you writing it means something different. Then you’re just doing it for attention, right? And there’s nothing gayer than that.

Rafael Devers – 2-for-3, HR (11). He’s hitting close to .471 over the past week and somehow still batting .200 for the month of June.

Griffin Jax – 5.0 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 5 K, 2nd win. The whiff % and chase rate are all elite and he might have the best raw stuff of any Rays starting pitcher. Pitching deep into games still a concern but outside of the Detroit start he’s been one of the more reliable arms for Tampa, giving up more than 2 ER only once in 10 starts. He gets the Royals next week and he’s one excellent start away from being owned everywhere. Why not add him before the breakout?

Jonathan Aranda – 1-for-4, HR (12). Jonny DeLuca also homered (3). If I read you your Aranda rights, you wouldn’t realize all the things I’m letting you get away with right now. Also, Jonathan has 51 RBI, wow!

Luis Garcia Jr. – 2-for-3, HR (10). Hitting .318 with two homers this week. I want to own any player with any proximity to James’s Wood.

CJ Abrams – 1-for-4, HR (15). Someone told me he’s related to Gracie Abrams, and someone also told me she’s related to JJ Abrams, which means CJ is related to JJ Abrams which means CJ is responsible for LOST. Does anyone remember LOST? Where was I? I think I’m LOST in this blurb. Also, those Star Trek movies weren’t bad!

Jacob Misiorowski – 6.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, BB, 7 K, 3rd loss, ERA up to 1.45 ERA. Pfft. Whata bum. If I wanted to watch amateur hour I’d go to a York Revolution game. So I guess the Mis is human, which is kind of a bummer, but sort of relieved I don’t have to write another lede about him.

Martin Perez – 6.0 IP, 6 hits, ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 6th win. Out-dueled the Mis! This is like the time Patrick Corbin out-dueled Skenes. “These kids with their triple-digits and tiktok dances and their ubereats, in our day we didn’t throw a single pitch harder than 92 mph, and because of that we were able to spot the corners and work the strike zone. That was real pitching! None of that whiff rate. The only whiff rate we knew was when we farted.” That’s Martin Perez talking to his grandkids. He’s 35 btw. He’s also got a 2.78 ERA and is working on a magical renaissance in the ATL. He gets the Padres next and I could see considering the prospect of maybe thinking about mulling over the possibility of contemplating whether or not I should review the option of potentially picking him up. I still don’t know for sure, though!

Wyatt Langford – 3-for-5, HR (5), 2 RBI. An absolute Bangford! Is that a thing? It is now! He’s slashing .255/.314/.489 which seems low, I thought he was doing much better since returning from the IL. He does have four homers in the past two weeks. Wyatt doesn’t just have a name ripped straight from Dutton Ranch, he is one of a few players who could morph into one of the best hitters in baseball over the next few weeks. The league-winning potential is there he just might get hurt before he gets there, which is probably why Grey told you to SELL. It’s not because he’s a thief of joy, he cares about your fake baseball team.

Ty France – 3-for-4, 2 HR (8), 5 RBI. I see London, I see France…I see Brazil, Morocco, Argentina, Scotland. It’s the World Cup on FOX! I will say the Scots and Norwegians bring a contagious energy to this thing that makes it real hard to ignore. I guess I’m good at soccer now everybody? How can I fantasy this?

Samad Taylor – 3-for-5, run. Hey, he was a BUY, you best get Samad of this before it’s all gone!

Gavin Sheets – 2-for-4, HR (12), 2 RBI, SB (4). The slam & legs in Tejas is served with a beef rib so large you feel like Fred Flintstone, and smoked to perfection just like this home run.

Jacob deGrom – 6.0 IP, 6 hits, 6 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, 6th win, ERA at 3.59. Birthday boy! To get the win after surrendering 6 ER is a real gift, and something that never would have happened if he were still a Met.

Randy Vasquez – 3.1 IP, 8 hits, 6 ER, 3 BB, K, 5th L. To be fair to me, I was never really in on Randy Vasquez being a thing.

Jac Caglianone – 2-for-4, HR (10), 2 RBI. If you think the Royals were going to lie down after losing their number 1 paisan Vinnie P., you don’t know Jac. The Jac jack with oppo taco! In Italian households, that’s just a meatball sub. Just like Leonardo, What a renaissance, not for nothing, people were dropping him a few weeks ago, and over the past two weeks he’s hitting .370 with 4 homers and 10 RBI! Hotter than Nonna’s gravy!

Seth Lugo – 6.0 IP, 5 hits, ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 3rd win. How does one even complete six innings without striking anyone out in today’s game? Ask Seth Lugo.

Alex Lange – 0.1 IP, 1 hit, SV (5). He might be the shakiest closer in the entire MLB right now (Kirby Yates would like a word), but he certainly looks like he’s the closer alright and that’s why he was a BUY. SAGNOF!

Blaze Jordan – 1-for-4, 2 RBI. He was a BUY! And there’s two Just Blaze’s on waivers right now who have been hot and it can be a little confusing but Jordan is the one you want.

TJ Rumfield – 2-for-4, HR (11). This was complete clobbering of a baseball. They are finishing up gathering interviews to complete the HBO Max documentary detailing the murder of said baseball. TJ has three homers in the past week batting .300. I was wrong to say you should sell Rumfield, he’s slashing .278/.355/.475 and is at Coors for the next week. Yes please!

Kyle Freeland – 7.1 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 8 K. At Coors too! Freeland at last! He lowered his ERA to 7.36 with this start.

Bubba Chandler – 6.0 IP, 6 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, K. If you had the rocky mountain oysters to start Bubba at Coors you were rewarded for your bravery with one measly, stinking, strikeout. How do you feel?

Antonio Senzatela – 1.0 IP, 1 hit, BB, K, 7th win. Seven wins for this reliever! That’s more wins than Skenes!

Ranger Suarez – 6.2 IP, 1 hit, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 3rd win. He had a no-no going through six innings, and was able to stop the Red Sox 4-game skid. I said last week, or I thought it in my mind, Mr. General Manager’s offseason moves for Boston weren’t terrible it’s the young kids that have not answered the call. Roman Anthony still missing. Marcelo Mayer was 2-for-4 with 3 RBI Friday and seems to get a pass for some reaosn but he’s been as bad as any of them.

Bryce Miller – 5.0 IP, 3 hits, ER, 7 K. He’s rocking a 1.58 ERA, 43/5 K/BB but was removed from the game at 66 pitches so that Luis Castillo (4.0 IP, 7 hits, 4 ER, 4 K.) could come in and blow the win to the worst offense in the MLB. How is the piggy-backing a better solution than a six man rotation? Or send Hancock to the pen, seniority rules, deal with it. I just don’t understand how this is the solution. It’s just so stupid.

Caleb Durbin – 3-for-4, HR (5). Home run Derby Durbin as he’s now affectionately called. That’s now back-to-back games with bombs and four in the past week and before we call our that Caleb has some of the worst advanced metrics in the entire sport, he still has more home runs than Vlad Guerrero.

Julio Rodriguez – 1-for-4, HR (14), 2 RBI. Clearly inspired by catching Trinity Rodman’s first pitch.

Michael Soroka – 1.0 IP, 2 hits. Left the game in the second with glute discomfort. Hope it’s just gas!

Corbin Carroll – 2-for-4, run, 4 RBI. A home run from the cycle but he did hit his ninth triple and set the DBags record for triples with 52! He could hit 20 triples, folks. In triples fantasy leagues that’s huge! Are you in a triples fantasy league? Cool sounds really dumb!

Jordan Lawlar – 2-for-4. Also, left the game and will get an MRI on Saturday. Despite my screaming at the void all week, I guess now I understand why they only start him every other day.

Royce Lewis – 1-for-4, HR (7). Josh Bell also homered. Both were a BUYs but Royce was starting to look like the pre-demotion Royce in that Texas series (1-for-13, 7 Ks) so this home run went a real long way in me not rage dropping him immeditely.

Roki Sasaki – 5.2 IP, 4 hits, 3 ER, BB, 6 K. So he’s not the Ace we saw during that stretch run of favorable matchups maybe but the O’s have been hot and he seems more like a solid 3-4 fantasy starter, especially on the Dodgers. They make Eric Lauer rosterable. Even the Dodgers barely want to roster him.

Gunnar Henderson – 1-for-4, HR (16), 2 RBI. He sacrificed all his contact for big boy tanks like this. Can’t say I’m mad, but alternating moonshots and 0-for-4 days is literally going to be the death of me.

Pete Alonso – 1-for-4, HR (17). You know how the Polar Bear gets when summer comes rolling around! He’s got a .955 OPS in June. Speaking of death of me, watching this O’s team go from 0 to 100 must be brutal.

Mookie Betts – 3-for-5, HR (8). Mookie Best! Oh, how the mighty have fallen, but I knew you still had it in ya somewhere. We’ll always  have 2018, bestie.

Ryan Helsley – 0.2 IP, 2 hits, 2 ER. 2 BB, BS (1). That’s now two straight disaster outings for Helsley and you sure you’re healthy, bro?

Rhett Lowder – 5.1 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 4th L. I like Rhett. It’s not just his look and his name, but his secondary pitches can be super effective when he can command them which he didn’t really Friday, and the walks led to base runners and of course you’re in the Bronx so there’s gonna be bombs. I’d be more apt to give Rhett another go outside of Yankee Stadium.

Ben Rice – 2-for-4, HR (21), 3 RBI. Rice Bowl’ed! I like mine with fajita veggies and half steak half barbacoa. The trick is to ask for half and half and you really get double meat, not half. These are fast food pro stratz, you are welcome. Bronx Benny is literally on pace for 50 home runs and 120 RBIs and sat against lefties for the first few weeks of the year.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. – 1-for-3, 2 runs, HR (11), SB (21). Only 39 more to go!

Cam Schlittler – 6.0 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, 13 K, 8th win. Cam Recording a Career High Greatest Whiffs! He should have been your lede but Yankee bias. Sorry not that sorry. Probably the most dominant we’ve seen Schlitty , which is saying something for a guy with a 1.71 ERA. He only allowed one runner past second and notched his 10th quality start of the year. He recorded 18 whiffs and a 36% CSW en route to the 13 strikeouts, and he does it without a legit off-speed pitch, instead just variations of one of the filthiest fastballs in the entire league: the heater, the gas and of course the cheese. We talk about the Mis being one of the values in fantasy, what about Cam? He went just around the same ADP! And while Jacob trumps him (barely) in just about every category, Cam is pitching in an arguably tougher conference and division which Schlittler leads in ERA and FIP by almost a full run. Both are your clear Cy front runners and if we’re lucky we’ll be watching them duel in the All Star game next month.

Jose Soriano – 5.0 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K. Remember when he had a 0.84 ERA ERA in April and the Angels were a wagon and we thought Trout was back back? Me neither!

Jeffrey Springs – 3.2 IP, 4 hits, 6 ER. 4 BB, 4 K. Summers is here, and nobody got any patience for Springs anymore. That’s 21 runs in four starts and he’s about the only thing not going well for this A’s squad right now.

Elvis Alvarado – 2.0 IP, 1 hit, 2 K, 3rd win. He was a BUY and looks to be running away with the A’s high-leverage gig. No time for Suspicious Minds, it’s time to grab Elvis, It’s Now or Never!

Lawrence Butler – 2-for-4, 4 runs, HR (5), SB (5), slashing .193/.274/.305. The Butler did it! Served! Ahh yes, so this is the reason I held him for two months. Maybe more like this and I can pick you back up no harm, no foul, nobody’s feelings are hurt!

Jacob Wilson – 2-for-5, HR (4), 3 RBI. Max Muncy (4) and Jonah Heim (6) also homered. It’s a Bing Bong summer, folks, Just like it was predicted ages ago in the scrolls. There were nine home runs hit in this game, and I had to double check that they weren’t still in Vegas.

Logan O’Hoppe – 3-for-4, 2 runs, HR (4), 3 RBI. Hard to have a lot of faith in the Angels right now but they do have O’Hoppe!

Zach Neto – 1-for-4, HR (16). Jose Siri (4), Nolan Schanuel (5) and Denzel Guzman (1) also homered. That’s like the entire lineup homering, no? The Angels hit five homers and held an 11-4 lead going into the sixth inning and managed to lose the game somehow. On a walk! A walk-off walk! In case you thought your team was sad, Kirby Yates has a beer that needs holding while he enters a high leverage situation in the ninth. If it offers any kind of condolence, no one takes the base on balls better than Nick Kurtz right now. He’s the BB King! At least, you got walked-off by the best walker in the business.

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!