In this business, we call this an In Appreciation of Ronald Acuña Jr. post. Yesterday, he went 3-for-5, 3 runs, 2 RBIs with a double slam (38, 39) and legs (67). He’s on the doorsteps of a 40/70 season. A 40/70 season is absurd. Can remember Jose Canseco going 40/40, and people were rightfully floored. It was the most unheard of statline. Even when people tried to match it, they mostly fell short. A few achieved it, but all of them were just barely able to make it (none of them made the HOF either, oddly enough). Acuña is not just flying through 40/40, but 40/70! For fantasy, this is the best season ever. After we just had a best season ever! See the Historical Player Rater for more. This Acuña year is basically if Aaron Judge stole 70 bags. Acuña has 138 runs, 100 RBIs and is hitting .338. Honestly, I thought after Judge’s previous season, we would never see anything comparable. Now, I’m thinking Acuña goes 50/80 in 2024, and Julio Rodriguez goes 60/60 and Betts goes 70/70 and Corbin Carroll goes 100/100 and Robbie Grossman goes 120/120! What a time to be alive! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Psyche! If you or anyone you know has breathed in a coal oven, you might be eligible for compensation–Wait, that’s not right. Oh, right: Fantasy Hockey kicked off! Viz needs some more writers, so if you or anyone you know has any interest, ping him in the comments over there. Anyway II, the roundup:
Spencer Strider – 7 IP, 3 ER, 4 hits, zero walks, 11 Ks, ERA at 3.73. In 176 IP, he has 270 strikeouts. He’s still listed some places as being a 45-grade prospect. Ha!
Bryce Harper – 1-for-4, 3 RBIs and his 19th homer. Will be attempting to draft Bryce in every league next year.
Eduardo Rodriguez – Unlikely to pitch again this year, as he felt some tightness in the back of his shoulder. In related news, every pitcher has problems.
Spencer Torkelson – 1-for-4 and his 29th homer. Torkin’, the act of hitting solo homers on a terrible team.
J.D. Martinez – 2-for-2 and his 29th homer, and 3rd homer in two games. Damn that Dong just Just Dongs.
Carlos Correa – Undergoing an MRI on his foot, which is so wild. He’s been hurt since last year. He’s just now getting an MRI? Why does it feel like Carlos Correa and Anthony Rendon occupy a similar circle in a Venn diagram?
Royce Lewis – Left the game after running gingerly. Ugh. The only one who should ever do anything gingerly is Justin Turner.
Kenta Maeda – 5 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 1 walk, 8 Ks, ERA at 4.28. Don’t feel like doing the math, but May through now for Maeda has been excellent.
Willi Castro – 2-for-5, 2 RBIs and his 8th homer. Got some weird feelings bubbling up with how much I like a few Twins hitters.
Alejandro Kirk – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 7th homer, hitting .251. Now has 39 RBIs. Wow, he was worth a 100th overall pick!
Bo Bichette – 2-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 19th homer, hitting .304. Suck it up, Boba-cup!
George Springer – 2-for-4, 2 runs and his 20th homer. Think he will officially be forgotten in next year’s drafts. Though, a few will draft him around 175 and be like, “Hitting leadoff and 20 homers, don’t mind if I do!” Then Springer will be even worse next year, because he’ll be a year older, and burn people further.
Clarke Schmidt – 5 IP, 4 ER, 6 baserunners, 1 K, ERA at 4.65. Streamonator for this year, and, looking at his season-long numbers, matchup better be excellent, because Schmidt looks like shizz.
Luis Robert Jr. – 3-for-4, 2 runs and his 37th homer, and 2nd homer in as many games, hitting .265. Finishing hot to put the nail in my “Lou Bob can’t finish strong” coffin.
Heston Kjerstad – 1-for-4 and his 2nd homer, and that’s in four games. The power is real, but the at-bats might not be.
Austin Hays – 2-for-5, 4 RBIs and his 15th and 16th homer, hitting .283. Not through neglect, but the RCL team of mine that’s in 1st in the ‘perts league has Hays, and I didn’t even realize it. Subconscious Grey sure plays a mean fantasy baseball!
Ryan O’Hearn – 2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 14th homer, hitting .311. Incredibly, he’s hitting third in a stacked O’s lineup and that makes sense. Talk about a sentence that would freak out someone in March. Now tell them the O’s were beating the Astros at home, and had a way better record.
Hunter Brown – 5 1/3 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 4.87. Hard to remember what Hunter Brown with a non-dead arm looked like.
Yainer Diaz – 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 23rd homer. Quick, bench him for Maldonado!
Kyle Tucker – 1-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 28th homer. Mr. H2H coming through during your playoffs!
Shane Bieber – Could return from his elbow injury this Thursday. From Bibee to Bieber, the story of an Israel PM and pop icon on a trip to The Cleveland Starting Pitcher Factory that masquerades as an Old Spaghetti Factory. And, no, I wouldn’t trust Bieber.
Bo Naylor – 1-for-2, 2 runs and his 9th homer. Hitting near-.325 in September with two homers and it sounded better in my head before I spelled it out.
Collin Snider – 1 IP, 0 ER, ERA at 4.24, and his 1st save as the Royals continue to make up players in the 9th inning.
Javier Assad – 5 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.04. Assad on fire and Syria hitting bombs–Wait, that’s Seiya.
Seiya Suzuki – 3-for-4 and his 19th homer. I’m intrigued because of his 2nd half, but Seiya really needs to wow me to get on my teams next year. Yes, wow me!
Alexander Canario – 2-for-4, 5 RBIs and his 1st career homer, which feels very significant if it wasn’t September 19th and I was looking to stream one of the Palacios brothers.
Ke’Bryan Hayes – 2-for-4 and his 14th homer, hitting .272. Get the sneaking suspicion that most are out on Ke’Bryan, but, daddy, I am in. Woo boy, am I in!
Blake Snell – 7 IP, 0 ER, 0 hits, 4 walks, 10 Ks, ERA at 2.33. Snell out here like, “The NL Cy Young is up for grabs? Snell my ass it’s up for grabs!
Richie Palacios – 1-for-2 and his 5th homer, and 4th homer since last Tuesday. Hot schmotato alert!
Alec Burleson – Fractured his left thumb. That’s going to end his season, and ruin his Fonzie Halloween costume.
William Contreras – 1-for-4, 2 runs and a slam (17) and legs (5), hitting .283. Holy crap, William Contreras is the top catcher on the Player Rater. When did that happen? Wow, catchers are terrible and that William C. is the top is shocking.
J.P. Crawford – 2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 16th homer. Just Peachy had a great August (with the rest of the Mariners), and has been frigid since.
Triston Casas – Mojo Dojo Casas is unlikely to return this year, which I thought was a foregone conclusion, but maybe I was reading a spoiler alert previously.
Adolis Garcia – 1-for-3, 2 runs and his 35th homer, as he returned from the IL and hit sixth. Sixth?! Has Bochy been sticking his ginormous head into fantasy convos about how Adolis isn’t that great? He was gone a few weeks and you drop him to sixth? Dubya tee eff?
Nathan Eovaldi – 5 IP, 3 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.05. Should be against the Geneva Conventions how they’re abusing this guy’s arm. Actually: The Geneovaldi Conventions, Rule #1, when a pitcher loses four miles on their fastball, they can’t throw anymore.
Alex Cobb – 2 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 3.87. Some days you get Cobb, some days you get Cobb’d.
Joc Pederson – 1-for-3 and his 14th homer. Been a pretty miserable year for Joc, but he is the type to get hot after he hits one.
Matt Moore – Claimed off waivers by the Marlins. Maybe they’re getting him to harvest his UCL for Alcantara.
Tanner Scott – 1 IP, 2 ER, ERA at 2.44. Was awesome for me, because I need vulture wins (which he got) but, if I were the Marlins, I’d try Nardi or someone else (Moore?), because Scott’s limping to the finish line.
Braxton Garrett – 6 IP, 0 ER, 5 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 3.53. Watched this game, so I know he wasn’t kicking the ball towards the plate, due to an inability to lift his arm because of overuse, but I was surprised to see actually pitching, and not like he was on the pitch.
Joey Lucchesi – 5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 2.88. Not sure what his next matchup is, and the Streamonator might not like it, but I would start Lucchesi of the Calzone Crime Family against anyone.
Randy Arozarena – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 23rd homer. Every year he seems to be ranked around the 8th to 12th outfielder off the board, and every year, that’s how much value he gives. No more, no less.
Taj Bradley – 5 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 5.36. Taj Bradley sounds like a scandal in New Jersey when Bill Bradley was Senator. By the way, I just googled Bill Bradley, and, holy crap, he’s not only alive, he’s not even that old! I mean, relatively, considering I thought he was dead.
Logan O’Hoppe – 1-for-4 and his 11th homer. Wanna know when you have a problem? When you’re picturing drafting Campusano and Logan O’Hoppe late in a two-catcher league, six months from now!
Shohei Ohtani – Underwent elbow surgery, which is fantastic news. This means he should be ready to go on Opening Day as a hitter, and hopefully only about a month of getting into the groove, before he starts launching them. Hope we see Shohei Ohtani’s two-way magic again in 2025, and it was magic. Magic like Siegfried and Roy. Magic like David Blaine. I was in awe of his magic like Michael Jackson watching David Blaine.
