The NKOTB (New Kids on the Block), Rafael Devers (31.5% owned – increase of 25.9%) and Nick Williams (29.3% owned – increase of 25.5%), were the two most added players last week. If you don’t know what NKOTB is, please click here. Now, you no longer live a blessed existence. As for Devers, the Supreme Leader (Grey) and Prospect Jesus (Ralph) of Razzball went over him here, here, and here. If you don’t believe in Prospect Jesus, I present you with physical evidence. Remember the guy/girl with the mic before/after Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech? Exactly. So, I’ll focus on Williams. For some reason, I always think of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys when I see the name Nick Williams. I know. I know. It’s blasphemous to put NKOTB and the Backstreet Boys in the same post. That’s on some Biggie vs Tupac-level shit. I apologize to the five female readers. Back to Williams. Since making his MLB debut on June 30th, he’s batting .303/.345/.592 with four home runs, 10 runs scored, and 18 RBI. The ISO is .289 and wOBA .383. The hard hit rate is a robust 44.8%. He’s primarily been hitting third in the batting order and never lower than sixth. He’s been a DFS monster, as his salary has been super-cheap. Now for the bad. He’s hitting a crap of ground balls, 51.7% in fact. The HR/FB rate is 28.6%. He’s chasing 43.1% of balls outside the strikezone and has a 17.8% swinging strike rate. His overall contact rate is 69%. Granted, this is all in a small sample size of 84 plate appearances, but that makes me want to fade him even more. The adjustments are coming and many of the peripherals portend to a quick and sudden decline. If those words aren’t doing it for you…
Yeah, I’m not too high on Williams going forward. TRASH
Ian Happ (45% owned – decrease of 11%)
This one makes me a little sad, as I was high on Happ earlier in the season. Alas, one cannot be a stubborn mule. My wife just looked over my shoulder while I was typing that and literally fell to the ground and started rolling around like a dog laughing. When new information comes to light, one must reassess the situation. Since July 1st, Happ has a .266/.347/.484 slash line with three home runs, nine runs scored, 11 RBI, and four stolen bases. The walk rate is 9.7% while he’s striking out 22.2% of the time. Not too shabby. Chase rate is 27.1% and swinging strike rate is 12.7%. The ISO is .219 and wOBA .354. The problem is playing time, as the Cubs’ outfield is crowded now. In addition, while Happ was batting high in the order earlier in the season, he is now batting fifth or sixth. Playing time always sorts itself out over time. If you produce, you play. I don’t see anything that would indicate Happ is being overmatched. He’s hitting for power and stealing some bases. TREASURE
Scott Schebler (45.5% owned – decrease of 10.3%)
Unlike Happ, Schebler has been dreadful since July 1st. He’s batting .157/.234/.300 with two home runs, eight runs scored, four RBI, and one stolen base. If you’re rostering Schebler, you want power, so a .143 ISO and .230 wOBA are not good numbers to see. I don’t think you can expect that level of production, or lack of production to continue. If you are lacking in power, I can’t think of too many better options than Schebler. It also doesn’t hurt that he plays in a great hitters park. TRAILER TREASURE
Jose Peraza (37.7% owned – decrease of 9.1%)
If you’re rostering Peraza, you want speed. The problem is that the guy can’t hit. What’s worse is that he refuses to understand that you can’t steal first base. Well, if you can’t hit and you can’t steal first base, the logical thing would be to try and induce a walk. 1.9% walk rate. Wow. He is the only player under 2% this season. Just for shits and giggles, I thought for sure that would be one of the worst of all-time. Deacon White in 1873 had a 0% walk rate with a 0.6% strikeout rate in 310 plate appearances. His triple-slash line? .390/.390/.477. WTF?! TRASH (Not Deacon White)
