Afterthoughts on draft day, or sleepers that only the select few stick with for SAGNOF? The realm of SAGNOF rotates around the perplexity for steals and the hotness of said player when garnering the stat. Leonys Martin is one of those guys this week that I’ll be focusing on. Draft season, he was an afterthought… or was he a deep sleeper? Being drafted in the 400’s overall and basically being drafted around Lonnie Chisenhall. Which if we are all paying attention, is good for you, but bad in terms of name value to stat value ratio currently. Over the last 13 games, Martin has been unleashed, scoring 12 runs, swiping 4 and slashing a very unusual Martin line of .294/.379/.647. For someone who’s career slash line is a fraction of said mark, the small sample size for the mini-fortnight breakout is welcoming. He was a stolen base darling… four years ago and now that he has been given a chance to shine at the top of the Tigers lineup in front of quality hitters like Castellanos and the like, is this a growing SAGNOF trend that we can buy into? I am saying yes on the short term, long term? We know what Leonys is. He is a .250 hitter with questionable on-base potential that has two feet and can run effectively given time and consistency. If he is lying around in your league on the waiver wire, give him a shot as the Tigers do score some runs and the lineup behind him has shown some decent skills at moving runners over and doing all the things needed for Martin to be successful in the short term. More SAGNOF-dom charts and tidbits after the jump!
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It’s that day again: Monday. That means a couple things. First, time to start another work week, blech. And second, we’ve got another short slate of games, though fortunately not as bad as last week, yay. But don’t let that get you down, because today Madison Bumgarner takes the mound against the Marlins. The Fish are not exactly a powerhouse, so you should feel confident in the match-up. Forget about MadBum’s last start; it was his first of the season. Surely there was a little rust to shake off, and I think he’ll be nice and shiny this time out. He may not be quite back to the vintage Bum that we all know and love, but he should have plenty against Miami for your lineup on Draft today. But don’t take my word for it—Streamonator (SON) loves this start as well. Now if only he could take the field on a dirt bike…
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Morton’s Steakhouse In Houston Now Serving Wild Game
June 11, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 519 Commentsby: Grey
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”254222″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Buy Sell Hold Week 11″]
On Saturday, Charlie Morton went 3 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 1 Hit (!), 6 BBs (Oy), 4 Ks, ERA at 2.82 vs. the never-seen-nothing-that-was-too-terrible-to-swing-at Rangers, no less. I can think of another word that rhymes with Chazz to call Morton. It sounds a bit like the spa we operated back in 2010. Don’t you remember Spazzball? The retreat for prematurely balding men who had to check in with their moms once a day. You don’t remember the Ballpark Water in the lobby that we floated hot dogs in? It was poorly conceived, for sure. Like this start by Morton, where he said, “I think over the course of the past couple weeks my delivery’s just kind of gotten a little out of whack and timing has gotten a little out of whack. And today was just really bad. It has to do with my front side. I’m just flying open.” Well, at least he feels bad and seems to know the issue, right? You don’t have a category for empathy in your league? Can you check with your commish about adding it? For unstints, if a player yawns after another player yawns, then they get an empathy point. No? Okay. Hopefully, Morton can right the ship, but I can’t say I’m not concerned. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
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Top 100 Hitters, Week 11: Stick That In Your Craw
June 10, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 53 Commentsby: Kerry Klug
I can’t deny Brandon Crawford a spot on this list any longer. After a putrid April that saw the month end with his average under .200 — Crawford has turned it on more than any other player in the league. From May 1 to June 28 — a span of 34 games, 127 ABs — Crawford is hitting .425. Say whaaaatt?! Sure, 20 runs, 5 HRs, 25 RBI and 2 SBs as well — but .425 in over 30 games? That easily ranks #1 among qualified hitters over that span. The difference between Crawford and the player with the 3rd ranked average over that period (Jean Segura) is the same difference between Segura and Buster Posey — the hitter with the 20th ranked average. Included in this streak are 18 multi-hit games. Crawford is getting punches in bunches and needs to be owned in more than 65% of leagues.
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All it took was a few homers in a week for us all to realize that Joc Pederson (FAAB: 8-10%) is pretty, pretty, PRETTY good this year. Now on his third year of plate discipline improvements, the Los Angeles outfielder has cut the K% under 20% for the first time in his career. Not only is it below 20%, but it falls to a ridiculously low 14.5% to go along with higher contact%, lower SwStr%, and overall better pitch recognition. He is making more contact than ever on breaking and off-speed offerings. The specific contact Pederson is making this year shows more fly balls with a career-high FB% and Under%. (Baseball Savant) It is inspiring to see this 26-year-old finally make the jump, stop swinging and missing, and improve as a baseball player. Joc Pederson carries excellent power (Career ISO: .218) and a plus-approach (Career OBP: .345) that is improving in 2018 with a .255 ISO and .347 OBP, but the real marker of elevated batters-eye exists in the 14.5% K%. Below is an image of exactly how Joc battled to advance his pitch recognition into the realm of his power. It took a little while to get going, but these changes stem from last season which seemed like a down year for Pederson. At the end of 2017, he had his first ISO below-.200, first OBP below-.345, and his worst AVG. However, he also had his best K%, SwStr%, and Chase%. Joc Pederson continues to develop all of these statistics in his game which is why I’m buying this year, and I’m not afraid to pay up. Hopefully, he can find space in a healthy Dodgers lineup that includes a red-hot Max Muncy (also one of my favorite pickups for the past few weeks.)
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There’s a common refrain heard all across New York these days. Come on, you know it well….All Rise. Now that’s reserved for a certain gargantuan pinstriped outfielder, but today Yankees fans will be jumping up to cheer Luis Severino. Sevy, as he is lovingly known, has spent the year carving up the league, including the powerful Astros. Today he gets the Mets, who in the best of times hit him to a Mendoza-like .162 average and .581 OPS. It is the worst of times for the Mets, so expecting any resistance to a Severino fastball is just plain foolish. It may be tempting to take Max Scherzer with an early pick, but it is expected to rain and rain some more in Washington today. Kluber is also on the docket, but the Tigers hit a sneaky .791 OPS against him. Instead, grab Luis Severino and get a jump on the competition. Now let’s look at a few more early-, middle- and late-round picks for your Draft…drafts!
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When visiting another place, I want to taste the cuisine and visit the places that give the locals pride. Now that I think about it, the places that make the locals want to puke as well. Yes, I’m a rubbernecker. I have never once inquired about a pillar of the community. They are reliable, respected, and provide essential support yet…..boooorrring. Same goes for fantasy baseball. There are players we get excited about and others that are…..boooorrring. Kevin Pillar (65.8% owned – decrease of 11.1%) is one of those players. His ADP was 212.7 in ESPN leagues. Currently, he has a triple slash of .260/.302/.435 with 5 home runs and 9 stolen bases. The projection systems have him ending the season with 13 home runs and 20 stolen bases in 635 plate appearances. There were 14 players in all of baseball that ended with at least 10 home runs and 20 stolen bases last season. Now, he doesn’t walk much (5.4%) and chases a ton of pitches outside the strike zone (40.2%). With that said, he doesn’t strike out often (17.8%), will provide an ISO around .145, and have a batting average around .265. He’s batting fifth in the Blue Jays lineup and will sometimes get slotted into the two-hole. Digging into the 2018 numbers for Pillar, I noticed that he’s been experiencing some drastic splits. Against lefties, he’s batting .192 with a .200 BABIP. For his career, he’s a .282 batter against lefties with a .319 BABIP. I’d expect some positive regression. TREASURE
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You’ve got to be realistic about these things: Stephen Strasburg isn’t the man we all dreamt he’d become. Absolutely, he’s become a very valuable pitcher and member of the invariably underachieving Washington Nationals, but alas, we expected career eliteness, Nicolas Cage in the 90’s level Eliteness. (Capital E for Emphasis.) Instead, we were given 2000’s Cage; Yes, Lord of War and Kick Ass were solid, but the rank stench of Bangkok Dangerous and Ghost Rider shall endure throughout the eternity of human existence. [Jay’s Note: But his hair sure achieved a lot in those two.]
We all recall Strasburg’s seven inning, 14 K performance in what was the most hyped debut in MLB history. Anything less than a first-ballot hall of fame career would be a massive disappointment after the mound mastery we saw displayed June 8th, of 2010. A little while later, as we all know, the dreaded Tommy John surgery was required and he just never became the man I desired him to be. Of course neither did I, but that’s a conversation for my therapist and I to have, but I suppose a botched penile enlargement surgery and Tommy John surgery have similar consequences (Jay, please look that up). [Jay’s Note: Risky Google of the day…] Every season, I would predict Strasburg to have his breakout season, and joining or surpassing the Clayton Kershaw’s and Justin Verlander’s of the world, only to be shamed by my colleagues, family and friends alike. It just never happened. The guy has TWO complete games in his CAREER. TWO COMPLETE GAMES!!!!!?!?!? How is that even possible?. I want to know how many times baby nuts has gone more than seven innings in his career since his debut. It’s one of the more insane stats I could ever imagine, and that’s without me even having a clue what the number is. I just know it’s extremely, mind numbingly low. So I suppose that is having a clue, but I’m not a detective, I’m Beddict the Elder and want JUSTICE!!!!! I could go on, but I’ll spare you the pain and self-loathing Strasburg has bestowed upon me over the last decade.
Last night, the former golden boy was taken to the woodshed and bent over a barrel and shown all 50 states by a lineup that features Pablo Sandoval, as he went a whopping two innings, and gave up three, before leaving with shoulder tightness. Here’s what I else I’ve found interesting around the MLB along with your Two Start Pitchers for the coming week!
Take Heed!
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Last week I went over some hitters that may be on the waiver wire that can help you out in certain categories that you’re struggling in. At this point in the season, most of the diamonds in the rough have been mined off the waiver wire. You won’t likely find many guys out there right now that can help you in every category, otherwise they wouldn’t be available. However, the waiver wire still remains the go-to place when looking to improve your roster, and there are plenty of guys that can help you out in certain categories. This week I’m exploring the standard pitching categories, and going through some guys that might be able to help you out.
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The schedule in MLB seems totally bonkers. It’s because of this that I’m going to focus on the early slate for this Saturday of action. There are four games on the late slate, which is acceptable, but doesn’t provide a ton of content (or prime time viewing), especially when there’s a Coors games mixed in as part of the fun. For those that don’t know, you’re either staking Coors and hoping it hits like gangbusters, or fading it and hoping it’s a dud. That choice is yours. Charlie Morton is your top pitcher on the evening and pairing him up with someone is no easy feat. Alex Wood is at home, but facing the Braves. I’d probably pair him with Domingo German and hope he tames the Mets. So, focusing on the early start times, we have Blake Snell ($23,200) at home vs. the Mariners. Snell has been a dreamboat of late, totalling two earned runs in his last four starts while striking out 35 in 24.3 IP. That my friends, is the smell of victory. Snell just shut out Seattle, in Seattle over 6 IP and struck out 12. Somehow he got a No Decision from that gem, but hopefully with home field today he can earn that “W”. Either way, you want to lock him in for cash games and consider him as an anchor to GPP lineups as well.
New to FantasyDraft? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care!
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And another one! After hitting two home runs on Thursday, Joc Pederson homered in his second straight game Friday night going 1-for-4, with his seventh bomb. That’s six homers in the past week while hitting .450 with nine runs, and driving in eight. Whoa, get off my Joc! Seriously, he’s mine! But he could be yours too, he was a BUY and Grey just gave you his Joc Pederson fantasy. To be fair, my Pederson fantasy involves a lot more heavy breathing, Mookie Betts and scented oils. I usually don’t like to cover a player who was just, just featured in another post, but the amount of times you see a player featured in posts in a single week directly reflects the urgency in which you need to pick him up. Joc is available in over three quarters of fantasy leagues (that’s more than half, folks!) right now and could be a 30+ home run hitter. That’s 20 home runs for your fantasy team from now until you ultimately win your league in September. Joc has historically been a good power source but typically streaky and a huge drain on batting average (career .227 hitter). Not the case this year as he’s slashing .272/.345/.523. According to Grey, “Some of my hotter buys…while wearing a thong… Joc is pretty sexy…” And that’s me completely misquoting portions of Grey out of context! You get the idea! Joc is hitting all the home runs. This is Rock’n Joc baseball at it’s finest! Somebody call Dan Cortese!
Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:
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The majors leagues and minor leagues are in full swing. We have larger samples sizes to digest and discuss. College baseball’s tournament is just getting interesting, and the MLB draft was Monday. What an exciting time in the baseball calendar. This all shines through in this week’s show. Lance and I roll through some quick news, jump into our 5×5 highlighted by Khalil Lee, and Brent Rooker. Then dive into some draft post-mortem, using some superlatives to navigate the top few rounds. As always, big shouts to our sponsor Rotowear! You can order the Rotowear Classic shirts I spoke about on the show by heading over to RotoWear.com and entering promo code “SAGNOF” for 20% off the highest quality t-shirts in the fantasy sports game. It’s the latest edition of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Prospect Podcast:
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