Well if your first name was Joe and you are an MLB manager it was not a good week for ya unfortunately as you now have time to take all those lovely summer vacations to exotic islands the wife has always wanted to go to. The vibe from the teams looks like they both needed a new maybe dare I say more edgy voice with some passion. It seems both managers lost a little bit of fire and it was time to move on from the team’s perspective. The Angels and Phillies have the talent to be playoff teams (let’s hope Trout isn’t badly hurt) and missing breakout Taylor Ward hasn’t helped either. Both are fun teams to watch so let’s see what happens here. I hope you had a great week. We are going to highlight a few third basemen here that are moving up the ranks and falling as well. Let’s get to it.
BULL MARKET THIRD BASEMAN
Drury has been sizzling hot in June riding a 7 game hitting streak in June and batting .444 with 3 HR in his last 4 games. I also like that he is seeing the ball well only striking out 4 times during the month of June. Another impressive stat is 5 out of the last 7 games he has had multiple hits. Now full disclosure he was hitting against Washington National and Arizona Diamondback pitching and was at home so def an advantage however looking back in late May there were signs Drury was on the rise as he had hits in 7 out of the last 9 games in May against the Guardians Giants and Cubs so better pitching and still was hitting the baseball well. If you remember Drury was a high level prospect back in Arizona several years ago and although it didn’t work out as planned, he did have solid numbers for two seasons and started the majority of time in 2016/2017 for the Dbacks. I think injuries have derailed his career for the last several years but had a solid 2021 for the Mets in limited at-bats and has come to a really good situation here in Cincy where there is no pressure and a great hitting ballpark to accumulate stats. I think he’s worth a look if you have a struggling 3B as he is going to play every day and bat at the top of the Reds lineup. There is no denying he can hit the ball as teams would not constantly be willing to take a shot on him if they didn’t see anything in him they like so this looks to me like a great spot for Drury and maybe a trade deadline piece in a couple of months as well.
I mentioned him before but I think it’s important to do it again. He is still flying under the radar and hasn’t stopped his hot start to his career. I believe it will last all season. Now it’s mainly a batting average and run play here as Donovan does not have much power but some of your teams might have a need for those two categories and there are not many players out there on the waiver wire that are going to hit over .300 like Donovan likely will. He does not strikeout, has more walks than K’s, and plays for a team that will score runs. It’s important to get those players that will get you those 5 PA’s a game and Donovan does that. Not a flashy power hitter but productive and every team needs a player like that.
Is it just me or is it a matter of days before the Blue Jays just explode for like 15 runs every game. It seems that’s a ticking time bomb over there and why not grab a player that will be right in the thick of the lineup and will produce numbers for you like Espinal can. Espinal continues the trend here as a player that doesn’t strike out has a 92% of xBA hits 6th in a run-producing lineup and is on fire at the moment hitting .464 in June with 3 HR and 9 RBI’s. Espinal hit .311 last season so he has done it before and looks to have found his power stroke as well as he already has 5 HR on the season and 27 RBI’s. Grab him if you still can, it won’t be long until someone else does in your league.
BEAR MARKET THIRD BASEMAN
Continuing his trend downward as each month of the season he has hit worse. He is not making solid contact and is pulling the ball solely right now and lifting the ball which is contributing to his flyball rate. The ball is just not carrying like 3 years ago when he had his Trout-like season so all those flyballs that he might not have been barreling but still the ball was flying over the fence are just not happening this year. He would be better served with a better line drive rate and start to make harder contact and get on base but just doesn’t seem to be doing that now. I think a bench spot on your team is where Bregman needs to be until he adjusts to what the ball is doing this year and starts to get on base more frequently.
I know he had a great game on Monday with a 4 hit 6 RBI performance against the Padres and hit for the cycle but he also had a 4 hit game in May against the Giants and still finished the month of May with a .212 avg. Still strikes out way too much and doesn’t make hard contact consistently for me to want to roster him. He will get the occasional great game but too many 0’fers for me. If you do want to take the chance on him he would be a spot play for me against underwhelming left-handed pitchers as his splits against lefties are considerably better.
I haven’t seen anything that’s going positive in McMahon’s direction still. He has continued his downfall in June batting only .208 this month so far and doesn’t look comfortable at the plate striking out at a high clip. Few and far between are the games where you actually get production from McMahon so I can’t have someone on my team where I’m constantly hoping for a hit that game. I’d rather have one of the Bull 3B above and take the more consistent approach with average and runs personally.
That’s it for today. Hope all is well with you out there and look forward to next week to talk more First Baseman.
