One of the things I love most about baseball, but particularly covering prospects, is when a guy I totally missed on pops up, and exceeds expectations. Sure, I could become obsessed with my own reputation, and shoot down any suggestion that I missed on a player. But what fun is that? So, when it comes to Nick Pivetta, I’m not ashamed to say I didn’t see this coming. Hell, I wrote up 15+ Phillies prospects, and name dropped another 7-8, and didn’t even mention Pivetta. Fangraphs covered 33 Phillies prospects, and Pivetta ranked in at 27! All this to say, that the “out of nowhere” label is somewhat appropriate when it comes to the Phil’s righthander. After an outstanding outing vs the Red Sox at home a few weeks ago, the strikeouts, and numbers in general seem to be trending in the right direction. So why not check him out, and see if we in fact have a breakout bubbling. Before we begin, big shouts to Oaktown Steve, who’s been hyping up Pivetta in the comments the past few weeks like a Sabermetrics Flavor Flav. Only he turned in his giant clock (read that fast), for an abacus, which I’ve heard can get a bit bulky when worn as a necklace. Anyway, let’s get into Pivetta’s last start vs the Cardinals at home, the second time he’s faced the Redbirds in four starts. He’s going today in Arizona, so maybe we’ll see if he’s worth rolling out… Actually no rookie pitcher with a heavy fly-ball approach should be started in Arizona, but that’s just common sense. On to the profile!
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Is Carlos Gomez Back? …And The Top 100 Hitters, Week 13
June 26, 2017 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 31 Commentsby: mikeMaher
The theme of the Top 100 hitters this week is triumphant returns. Carlos Gomez is back from his latest trip to the disabled list and is mashing. Ab-so-lute-ly mash-ing. Keon Broxton, left for dead just a few weeks ago, is the hottest power-speed combo hunk in all the land. Even Cameron Maybin has returned to our ranks, though his return has been more gradual over the last few weeks since we lost our beloved Mike Trout.
I have not been overly kind to the newcomers since taking over this series. Perhaps that is my way of initiating them and making sure they belong among us Top 100ers. This week, though, my heart is filled with warmth. Perhaps it is because I am looking ahead to a mini 4th of July vacation, or maybe I am just getting soft in my old age :::pause here and smirk as you slowly look around the room:::.
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Let’s be honest…the vast majority of times someone claims in a DFS-article some super secret strategy or piece of information that will give you a massive edge, they’re entirely full of it. For once, I can actually offer you something quite useful: Chase Field (home of the Arizona Diamondbacks) is about to take a massive decrease in its offensive-friendliness. As of today, Chase Field is the 2nd best stadium in 2017 for offense, and it’s always been a top-3 hitter friendly park. The Diamondbacks announced before the season started that they would begin using a humidor similar to what is used in Coors Field, but they could not give an exact timeline as to when it would begin being used other than it wouldn’t be immediately. It appears it’s going to be very, very soon. My best guess would be it begins being used right after the All-Star Break, and I doubt it will garner a lot of attention, but there’s a very good chance the humidor will turn Chase Field into a ballpark that is offense-neutral (specifically, power-neutral).
On to the picks once Chase Field uses a humidor…
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Cheese Says Burrata, A’s Says Barreto
June 26, 2017 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 494 Commentsby: Grey
Oakland promoted Franklin Barreto this weekend, and a friend of mine who I only see when he’s mowing my lawn said, “You got to go to The Mission if you really want a Barreto.” Recalling my 1600 Yelp reviews of every Chipotle in Los Angeles county, I exclaimed, “No way, Jose!” But he replied, “Mr. Grey, my name is Julio.” Then we laughed, and, even though he laughed with jajajajaja and I laughed with hahahaha, we found a common ground. As for fantasy, Prospector Ralph said, “Barreto offers hard contact, some speed. Gets caught a lot, and who knows how much the A’s send him. He’s exciting though. Upside guy with a low floor this season. Now can I go back to bitching about Tanaka?” There ya go! Right from the prospect whore’s mouth! I tried to get Barreto in all of my leagues, but, alas, he was gone. Yesterday, he went 2-for-5, 1 run, after homering in his first game on Saturday. He’s worth a flyer in all leagues in case he sticks with Semien. Ew. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
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“Due for a bounce-back season,” is a phrase which fantasy owners can use to dig themselves cavernous holes prior to their fantasy teams even producing an inning of stats. It primes the mind for reliance on success without any statistical, or even tangible, evidence. If you were an owner who carried that mindset into the start of the 2017 season, I’m fairly confident shipping away Pirate, Andrew McCutchen, in a deal – pun intended – after a wretched month, was the move made by the majority of disgruntled owners.
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FantasyDraft: Ain’t No Party Like A McCarthy Party
June 25, 2017 | DFS, FantasyDraft | 2 Commentsby: FredWord
It’s Sunday morning and somebody must make some tough decisions at the pitcher position today. I’m not overly thrilled with the pitching matchups today and struggled to piece together my favorites. DFSBot is showing some love to sir Brandon McCarthy who has been pitching extremely well over the past few weeks. He gets a difficult matchup against the Rockies though this game is being played in LA. The Rockies home/road split confirms that the Rockies bats are not intimidating when they are away from Coors. McCarthy is nothing but a safe play to score 20+ points. He won’t get you many K’s but he’ll limit the hits and walks and should walk away with the win. McCarthy makes for the best starter in double ups today due to his consistency at home. His price is also a modest $15,000.
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Please, blog, may I have some more?Notoriously unpredictable, pitching prospects are amongst the most difficult of commodities to remain patient with. Our opinions and values, at least on a general consensus level, fluctuate frequently on pitchers, major leagues or minors, based on recent performance. So, what better way to celebrate our recency blinders than to discuss the top breakout hurlers of the first half in the minor leagues. Some of these guys have some pedigree, others came into the year a little more obscure, but all are worthy of our attention, and perhaps an add in the right format. The road to major league stardom is often not a straight line, and while I have no data behind this, it feels like a breakout by a pitcher is a little more telling of long term success. The reason I say this is, more often than not, these breakouts are derived from a tweak or change to mechanics, grips, or other small developments. No two players develop the same, and while Top 100 lists are great, they don’t do a very good job of projecting future value between Lucas Giolito and Jacob Faria. That’s not to say we don’t nail one every so often, but the majors these days are a different ball world. So sit back and enjoy it while I breakout heads, ribs, $100 bills…(3).
I wish I knew more about Street Fighter so I could come up with better Ryu puns or references. My knowledge of SF (do people abbreviate it like that?) ends at knowing it was fighting video game I had growing up that wasn’t as good as Mortal Kombat (hot take alert). And for the record, yes, I know Hyun-Jin Ryu pronounces his name differently. Give me a break, and go with it.
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Hey Batter³ Contest, Week 13: Re-Encarnacion
June 24, 2017 | Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues | 36 Commentsby: malamoney
I’m not a religious person. I just don’t have time for all of that nonsense. If you think it makes you a better person, good for you, but keep it out of my personal space. Although I would like to point out that if you need religion to make you a good person, then you most likely are not a good person. But enough about fairy tales. Let’s talk about something even less exciting. Death. Actually let’s not because I don’t want to bum any of you out. This is supposed to be a fantasy baseball blog and so far I’ve all I’ve done is shit on religion and mention dying. Let’s see if I can tie it all together somehow. In April, fantasy baseball owners could have easily left Edwin Encarnacion for dead. He barely had a pulse. He had four home runs, nine RBIs and a .200 batting average. Scooter Gennett topped that in a single game! In May, Encarnacion began to show some signs of life. He finished the month with six homers, thirteen RBIs and a .263 average. While that’s much better than April, it sounds like a weekend for Aaron Judge. At least with respect to the home runs and RBIs. However, so far in June Edwin has seven knocks, 18 ribbies and is batting .344. One might say he has been re-Encarnacion-ated! In week 11 the artist formerly known as E5, but now more commonly referred to as E3, lead all batters with 45 points. He did so by hitting four homers and driving in ten. He topped his entire April in a single week.
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Washington rookie outfielder Brian Goodwin played the unsung hero Friday night on a team with many heroes going 3-for-4 and mashing two home runs, including a game-tying solo shot in the seventh inning. If there’s one thing Brian Goodwin’s good for it’s winning. Obvious and bad pun is obvious and bad. Regardless, Brian also set the stage for the…good win, with a single in the 10th that moved a runner to third and let Bryce Harper do what he does. I’m trying to tell you this doode is clutch, and if he continues to be clutch batting second between Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, he should definitely be on your radar and in Dusty Baker’s daily lineup. Can you imagine being sandwiched between Trea and Bryce? Mmm. Oh, I’m all flustered now. I need a few minutes. Goodwin is slashing .265/.326/.578 with six homers and 15 RBI in 32 games this year, and has been stuck in a platoon for the majority of the season. With Jayson Werth hobbled, Goodwin has been given more opportunity lately to shine and he’s done that with a monster month, slashing .288/.358/.678 with three doubles, six homers and 12 RBI in June. Yes, please! That .678 SLG% is especially powerful. See what I did there? Do you want a nerdy stat–how about his .313 ISO. Does that blow your mind? Because considering the sample size it probably shouldn’t, but sure is fun to look at. The risk with Goodwin is he could be a batting average killer (he hit just .208 in May), but he certainly seems to be seeing the ball well lately hitting .289 with 5 homers in the past week. Goodwin is available everywhere, is batting second in one of the best line ups in baseball, and is one of the hottest little potatoes around. If you need an outfielder with some pop and some upside Brian could be a good add and a good win for your team.
Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:
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I think you’ll agree (because Would I Lie To You?) that it’s been an up-and-down couple of weeks for us Saturday FanDuel devotees when it comes to pitchers. But I’m pleased to report that this week, we’re swimming in them (so to speak). Yes, you could, of course, play Clayton Kershaw, but TBH I’m leery of starting anyone against the Rockies right now, and ClayKer does have his worst ERA at home (that’s 3.11, mind you, but still), and given he costs $12,300, I’m going to steer clear and look to some other, more affordable pitching options. And there are a few, as you shall see. My very favorite is Robbie Ray: yes, his start today takes place in the somewhat terrifying Chase (The Ball Across The) Field in Arizona, but it’s versus the Phillies, who hit .233 against lefties and now have the least wins in the entirety of MLB. (Sorry to remind you of that, Phillies Fans.) Let’s check out some more options after the jump.
New to FanDuel? 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 jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!
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There’s no time for small talk this week, because Ralph Lifshitz and I set out to break the record for most prospects talked about in a single podcast episode. Here are just a few of the names we discuss: Julio Urias (recorded before news broke of his season ending shoulder surgery), Patrick Weigel, Lewis Brinson, Brendan Rodgers, Rafael Devers, Gleyber Torres, Nick Senzel, Shed Long, Michael Chavis, Yordan Alvarez, Bo Bichette, Austin Hays, Ryan Mountcastle, Colton Welker, Logan Allen, Nick Neidert, Tyler Mahle, Joey Lucchesi, Jordan Humphreys, Estevan Florial, Taylor Trammell, Brett Cumberland, Tyler Wells, Randy Arrozarena, Jordan Luplow, Luis Escobar, Zack Littell, Zac Gallen, Beau Burrows, Nabil Crismatt, Jesus Sanchez, Khalil Lee, Monte Harrison, Mario Feliciano, Josh Ockimey, and many more. Also, on this week’s episode of Real Husbands of the Crab Army, El Presidente Lifshitz begins to fear a military coup is afoot. It’s the latest edition of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Prospect Podcast.
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