So, our dreams of a World Cup championship came to an end in the US. I was super invested for three games. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Belgium putting on such a show that you wouldn’t know their day started with them losing their unis and having to wear the Marlins city connect jerseys. Back in the world of the other sweet science, Cam Schlittler did a number on the Rays. Call him HUD, because he housed them! He went 8 IP, 1 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 8 Ks, ERA at 2.01. As I’ve been saying about currently writing the top 100 for the 2nd half (available on Patreon this week; on site next week), Schlittler was a guy I was looking at today, and I realized something. There’s ten great pitchers and maybe 20 solid pitchers, and 50 to 75 other guys. The Other Guys, underrated movie; The Other Other Guys in fantasy, not underrated, though The Other Other Guys can move in and out of “solid.” Schlittler is one of the ten great pitchers. This is a different level than I think anyone expected with him. Not necessarily on the strikeouts, but his command is at 1.7 BB/9, and it was 3.8 BB/9 last year. That’s an improvement so good it makes me feel like a 90-year-old when someone says, “I have a surprise for you,” and the old-timer gets super worried, and you have to add, “It’s a good surprise.” This is a good surprise from Cam, but it still has me a little warier than maybe I would be if he always had great command, and I find myself looking around to make sure no one laced my jello. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Giancarlo Stanton – Hasn’t resumed running. If I were him, I wouldn’t put running on my resume either.
Jose Caballero – 2-for-3, 4 RBIs and his 9th and 10th homer, hitting .249. Maybe Caballero can come to the park early tomorrow and put on a batting exhibition to remind Bellinger how to hit.
Ben Rice – 1-for-4 and his 25th homer. Rice-a-HRoni!
Griffin Jax – 5 IP, 3 ER, 1 hit, 2 walks, 10 Ks, ERA at 3.60. Talk about deserving better. A one-hit, ten-strikeout gem and beat by the jack. Jax hates the singular! His peripherals rounded into form. Not just deep leagues, or Streamonator. He’s an all-league starter.
Owen Murphy – 1 IP, 1 ER, as he was called up. Itch said last offseason, “I was happy to snag Braves RHP Owen Murphy (21, A+) in a 20-team dynasty league this week. A first-round pick out of high school in 2022, he had a 0.73 WHIP through 41 innings across seven starts as a 20-year-old in High-A when his elbow went caput and he had Tommy John surgery. We’re about 15 months beyond that now, and Murphy just threw five hitless innings in a High-A start against Boston’s affiliate in hitter friendly Greenville. He’s yet to allow a run in 11.1 innings this season, and while that’s a miniscule sample of three starts, it’s impressive to see him hit the ground running. Command tends to come last on the comeback trail, and Murphy did hit a guy and throw a wild pitch in that Greenville outing, but he’s mostly hitting his spots and dominating. Get him where you can fit him. I think he’ll crack the major league rotation sometime next summer, and maybe run Grey off the road if you see him.” I’m sorry, what? Murphy will work in middle relief, but worth a monocle because nothing is set in the Braves’ rotation. Could see preemptively grabbing him in NL-Only.
Matt Olson – 2-for-5, 3 RBIs and his 23rd and 24th homer. 11 more to go! Bro is gonna cake walk to 35 homers. Wish Cake Batter would stop cake walking in the middle of the night and get going.
Reynaldo Lopez – 5 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.18. vs. Freddy Peralta – 4 2/3 IP, 1 ER, ERA at 4.68. This is actually an instructive matchup because FreddyKBB was drafted around 60 overall and Reynaldo wasn’t drafted at all, and that’s the guy who I want. Not FreddyKBB.
Juan Soto – 1-for-2, 3 RBIs and a slam (19) and legs (7). Just putting it out in the universe: I’d like to see Sexy Dr. Pepper have a 20/20 2nd half. Don’t scoff, you scoffer!
Carson Benge – 2-for-4, 2 runs and his 11th homer, 2nd homer in a week. When your dog’s got mange, and it has brown hair, it’s Benge. Just a bit of a trivia buff.
Dustin May – 4 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.55. Cards said in the pre-game May was going to be limited to 65 pitches, then he threw 81 pitches because May is scary looking and Marmol had to work up courage to remove him.
Shane Drohan – 6 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 2.97. Break up the Brewers’ pitching coaches!
Mike Burrows – 4 1/3 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 5.99. Can we encourage Burrows to stay in his hole?
Jose Altuve – 1-for-5, 3 RBIs and his 9th homer, hitting .235. Welp, he finally reached his end-run. It was more than anyone ever expected for a garden gnome. (Yes, I’m trying to reverse jinx him because I have him in leagues where I can’t drop him.)
Yainer Diaz – 2-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 5th homer, and 2nd homer in two games. Hot schmotato alert!
Curtis Mead – 3-for-5, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his 15th homer, hitting .240, as he hits third in a great lineup. Ya know what I see a lot of, “Grey, handsome face, but can I drop Mead? Kinda over him.” No one wants him.
CJ Abrams – 3-for-5, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and a slam (19) and legs (15), hitting .274. BDon asked this week if I think it’s Elly or Corange Juice as the 2nd shortstop off the board, and the answer might not surprise you because I’m telling you in Abrams’s blurb.
James Wood – 1-for-2, 3 runs, 4 RBIs and a slam (24) and legs (14), hitting .268. a97w289mpins–Sorry, I was going to say I had my fingers crossed that Wood will continue this in the 2nd half, and not crash and burn like he did last year.
Max Kepler – 2-for-4, 4 RBIs and his 1st homer. Just thought of something. If you have someone else take a urine test for you and you were seen eating asparagus, does the person giving you the pee need to eat some stalks too? Is that an extra charge?
Geraldo Perdomo – 2-for-4, 2 runs and a slam (6) and legs (14). Don’t really think much of him, but his price couldn’t be any lower for a potential buy low. Though, that is usually a bit harder after a guy has a good game, because people think they suddenly have the guy they drafted.
Nolan Arenado – 1-for-4 and his 10th homer, hitting .240. Hey, I just bought at auction the napkin Minnie Driver wrote her number on in Good Will Hunting for the “How’s dem apples” scene. Wanna see it? I haphazardly have it over by this open window–NOOOOO!!! Torenado!
Brandon Pfaadt – 5 IP, 0 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 6 Ks, ERA at 4.84. Seven. Not innings, but starts. That’s the number of consecutive decent starts I’d need to see before I went anywhere near him.
Landen Roupp – 8 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 4.27. As I keep saying, Streamonator at home is fine. On the road, no thanks.
Kevin Gausman – 5 1/3 IP, 4 ER, 10 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 4.32. Sad that he became doody this year. Ya know, not sad for him, sad for me for drafting him.
Heliot Ramos – 3-for-5, 3 runs, 5 RBIs and his 7th and 8th homer, hitting .274, and out of the leadoff spot. He could be a top 15 outfielder for the 2nd half.
Kazuma Okamoto – 1-for-4 and his 20th homer. Speaking of Japanese imports who have 20 homers, Munetaka is starting his rehab stint. Please return fast, I need you!
Shohei Ohtani – 3-for-4, 4 RBIs and his 19th homer. Wow, Okamoto and Murakami both have more homers than Ohtani. Bust?
Eric Lauer – 6 IP, 3 ER, 8 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 4.81. I just had a thought, maybe the Dodgers could trade for Gausman. He’d become “CC Sabathia traded to the Brewers” level of good.
Tanner Scott – 1 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 2.70. What’s the latest on Edwin Diaz anyway? Is he rehabbing? Fighting chickens? Anyone know?
Noah Cameron – 5 IP, 1 ER, 11 baserunners, 7 Ks, ERA at 4.77. Royals jumped out to a huge lead and Cameron cruised out to the Ivictory Coast for a free night at the W.
Salvador Perez – 3-for-4 and his 11th homer. Believe I said this on the podcast a week or two again, but not sure I said in on the site. Excuse me if I repeat myself, it happens when you say 14,000 words a week about baseball. Sal Perez was being touted as a future Hall of Famer a few years ago when he was having that huge year, but now I don’t hear anything. When a guy is going awful, that’s when you need to beat his drum, otherwise you were bandwagoning. Now, in the cold harsh light, he is clearly not a HOFer.
Luke Maile – 1-for-4, 2 runs, 3 RBIs and his 1st homer. Not bad for Maile since he’s famous for My Dinner With Andre, being married to Candice Bergen and dying 31 years ago.
Lane Thomas – 2-for-3 and his 6th homer. Elias Sports Bureau said the Royals are the first team to score 15 runs and have zero of their players rostered in fantasy leagues.
Tyler Tolbert – 5-for-5, 3 runs, 2 RBIs and his 1st homer. Fun fact! His rap name is Tyler the Tolbert. Another fun fact is 5-for-5 with a home run and he was rostered in .000000000000000001% of leagues. If you put your ear to the ground, you can hear his one fantasy owner in Jejune, South Korea.
Cristopher Sanchez – 3 1/3 IP, 9 ER, ERA at 2.62. Who in their right mind makes a wish, “Give me the best May ever?” The genie, “Okay, you know the season is six months long, right?” Sanchez, “Yeah, but I don’t want to overextend your wishing-giving abilities. I feel bad making you work.” Genie, “Um, wishes are sorta my job, it’s no big deal.” Sanchez, “No, it’s okay, I wish for the best May ever, then that can trail off in June so no one thinks anything weird about it, then I can be dog crap in July. It’s all good!” Genie, “Um…okay, your wish ‘be great then mediocre then awful’ is my command.”
