Eduardo Rodriguez (+38.9%) was the most added player in fantasy baseball this past week, and it’s not hard to see why. For those of you who Googled the words fantasy, hard, and rod and ended up here, perhaps you’d like to stick around and check out this fantasy baseball thing. Or you could just scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Rated R GIFs of Sexy Celebs ad. Your choice! As far as Mr. Rodriguez goes, his big league debut against the Rangers last week couldn’t have gone much better for the 22-year-old. The young lefty threw 7 2/3 shutout innings while registering 7 strikeouts during the outing. Perhaps most impressively, his average fastball velocity of 95.0 mph (according to the Brooks Baseball PITCHf/x game report) would place him 10th among all qualified MLB starting pitchers and 1st among lefties. Of course, it’s just one start, and his minor league numbers show that he can be prone to occasional bouts of wildness, but E-Rod looked pretty impressive on this day. If he’s available in your league, grab him while you still can. No guarantees here, but loads of fantasy upside. And I’m not talking to you, Googlers. Gross! Here were a couple of other big adds and drops in fantasy baseball from this past week:
Preston Tucker – 13.3% owned (+10.1%)
While Tucker barely made the cut as the 24th most added player on the add/drop list, his talent and situation warrant a closer look. The Astros are a team filled with solid right-handed hitting options – Jose Altuve, George Springer, Evan Gattis, and Chris Carter chief among them – but lacking in reliable hitters from the left side. Luis Valbuena has hit for power (10 HR), but is also currently sporting an average below the Mendoza line (.188) and a poor on-base percentage (.250). Jed Lowrie is hurt and isn’t expected to return to action anytime soon. Jason Castro is a strikeout-prone catcher coming off of a down season. Colby Rasmus is, well, Colby Rasmus.
That’s where Tucker comes in. Entering Monday, he’s produced a .306/.377/.516 triple slash line through 69 PA, with BB and K rates slightly better than ’15 MLB averages to date. While those numbers are impressive, that’s a relatively small sample size to work with. Let’s take a look at some key minor league statistics that I stumbled across while researching Tucker:
• vs LHP – 363 PA, .321/.377/.512, .889 OPS, .191 ISO, 6.9% BB%, 16.5% K%
• vs RHP – 1131 PA, .287/.362/.503, .865 OPS, .216 ISO, 10.2% BB%, 16.4% K%
Tucker has been moved into the 3-hole recently, and based on his early results there, as well as his history of plus power, solid plate discipline, and lack of LHP/RHP splits, he might have a decent chance to hold that spot. There’s OF3 potential here. TREASURE.
Jose Quintana – 54.9% owned (-9.1%)
Seems to be a classic case of mass rosterbation going on here. Quintana hit a speed bump during his May 24th start at home versus the Twins (6 ER), but otherwise, he’s been quite serviceable this season. The 8.2 K/9 and 9.7% Swstr% would represent career highs for him, and the 46.9% GB% would be his highest total since his rookie season in 2012. Let’s take a look at his performance during the month of May:
• 6 GS, 38.1 IP, 34 H, 1 HR, 14 BB, 39 K, 1.25 WHIP, 3.05 ERA, 2.65 FIP, 3.31 xFIP
Of those 6 games that Quintana started in May, he went 6+ innings in 5 of them, and allowed more than 2 ER just once. The Ks are there, he’s keeping the ball in the ballpark and on the ground, and his velocity and pitch selection are virtually identical to last season. Looks like the SP4 that he was considered to be coming into the season. TREASURE.
