Luis Severino (+29.7%) was the most added player in fantasy baseball this past week. You know that the MLB youth movement is officially underway when even the Yankees refuse to part with their top prospects at the trade deadline in order to acquire a veteran rental for the stretch run. “I just traded Severino and Aaron Judge to the Mariners for Hisashi Iwakuma. Suckers! We just found our Hiroki Kuroda replacement, and it only took a couple of unproven kids to get him. You’re welcome, New York!” That’s pre-2015 Brian Cashman gloating about a potential deadline deal that might’ve been made in seasons past. Fortunately for Yankees fans, Severino was off-limits in trade talks and was promoted to the big league club just under a week ago instead. The 21-year-old phenom flashed his impressive arsenal (mid-90s fastball, slider, changeup) against the Red Sox in his debut and more than held his own, allowing just 2 hits and 2 runs (1 earned) over 5 innings of work while walking none and striking out 7 batters. Severino has excelled at limiting the long ball, allowing only 8 homers in 320+ minor league innings throughout his career. He’s exhibited impressive control in the minors (2.3 BB/9) while striking out just over a batter per inning (9.1 K/9) during that time period as well. However, as is the case with most young pitchers these days, Severino’s workload is likely to be closely monitored in the coming weeks. He’s already thrown over 100 combined innings this season, and he seems to be in store for roughly 35-40 more (or 6 more starts) if the Yankees follow the old +30 rule for young pitchers. He looks like the real deal, but is likely to be skipped/shut down by mid-September, limiting his fantasy value for the rest of this season. Until then – giddy up!
Here are a couple of other significant adds and drops in fantasy baseball over the past week:
Chris Bassitt – 17.3% owned (+13.8%)
Between their pitcher-friendly home ballpark and organizational emphasis on coaching and player development at each level, the A’s really seem to have a knack for churning out solid pitchers year after year. Bassitt might be the latest player to benefit from this environment. Since being acquired in the Jeff Samardzija deal during the offseason, Bassitt has been solid in his first season with the A’s, and he’s really thrived since joining the starting rotation on June 30th. Take a look at what he’s done since then:
• 7 GS, 43.2 IP, 36 H, 11 ER, 2 HR, 7 BB, 36 K, .98 WHIP, 2.27 ERA
Much like Severino, Bassitt has shown terrific control as well as the ability to keep the ball in the park. As a starting pitcher, his 5.14 K/BB the 14th best mark in MLB (between Carlos Carrasco and Zack Greinke) and his 0.41 HR/9 is the 7th lowest mark when compared to qualified starting pitchers. Bassitt’s next start in Baltimore might be one to avoid, but his scheduled starts that follow (vs TB, @ Sea, vs LAA, vs Hou) appear to be less intimidating. He could be a sneaky addition to the back-end of your fantasy rotation for the stretch run. TREASURE.
Matt Cain – 36.7% owned (-10.9%)
As usual, the majority of the most dropped players this week are injured and recently demoted players, but Cain doesn’t currently fall into either one of those categories. He’s more of the old, declining variety, but even those players can be useful under the right circumstances. Is Cain one of those players? Well, he barely cracks 90 mph on the radar gun these days (90.7 FBv), and his current 6.32 K/9 would be his lowest since his rookie year in 2005. His 1.46 HR/9 and 5.10 FIP indicate that his current 5.59 ERA hasn’t been all that unlucky either. It’s probably a good idea to stay away from this potential ratio killer. TRASH.
