Mike Baum provides a recap of yesterday’s performances and gives his take on the fantasy implications. This article is part of our series that highlights quality fantasy content. The Fake Baseball has been gracious enough to share a weekly article with our users. For additional insight, visit TheFakeBaseball.com
Hitters
- Shin-Soo Choo had a pair of solo homers, including a walk-off blast off of Craig Kimbrel, powering the Reds to a 5-4 victory over the Braves. The homers brought Choo’s total to 7 on the season.
Fantasy spin: Choo is doing it all for his fantasy owners this year, with a .333 average and a National League leading 27 runs scored. Choo is a safe bet for a 20/20 season, and playing half his games in Great American Ballpark gives him considerable power upside beyond that. He’s a top 10 OF in mixed leagues.
- Ryan Howard went 2-for-3 with a home run and a pair of walks on Tuesday night. Howard now has 6 HR and 20 RBI on the season.
Fantasy spin: Howard has three HR already in the month of May, so it looks like he’s starting to find his power stroke. Now might be a good time to buy Howard, while his season numbers are still relatively modest.
- Alex Gordon had 2 hits in 4 trips to the plate, including a 2-run homer. Gordon is batting .312 this season, and has 21 runs, 4 HR, and 22 RBI out of the leadoff spot for the Royals.
Fantasy spin: Like Choo, Gordon is filling the stat-sheet for his owners. After hitting just 14 homers last season, Gordon is on pace to hit about 20 this year, and he’s a good bet to reach 100 runs and close to that many RBI. The only gripe here is that Gordon has only attempted one stolen base all season. He’s got plenty of time to add to his totals, but the lack of attempts through 29 games is a little worrisome.
- Allen Craig stayed hot on Tuesday night, hitting his second homer of the season. Craig has 4 extra-base hits including two home runs in his last 3 games after hitting no homers in his first 27 games.
Fantasy spin: Craig has been driving in plenty of runs all season, but after hitting 22 bombs in just 119 games last season, his owners were likely hoping for 25+ in 2013. Hopefully the recent power surge is a sign of things to come.
- Will Middlebrooks collided with Red Sox catcher David Ross while chasing a pop up Tuesday Night, and both players were forced to leave the game. The Red Sox have diagnosed him with a “right side injury,” which sounds like he’s just dealing with bruising. He will undergo a precautionary X-ray to rule out broken ribs.
Fantasy spin: Middlebrooks has been a disappointment this season, hitting just .192 with a paltry .603 OPS. Hopefully his injury is not serious and he can return to the lineup soon without it hampering his play. The Red Sox would be forced to play Pedro Ciriaco at 3B if Middlebrooks should miss any time.
- Matt Kemp went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored on Tuesday, raising his average to .273. While his average is not terrible, the fact that he has just 7 doubles and 1 HR on the season is. Kemp is in t he middle of a modest 7 game hitting streak, and has 2 doubles in his last 3 games, so hopefully this is a sign that he’s starting to slowly break out of his funk.
Fantasy spin: Coming off of shoulder surgery, the concern with Kemp’s slow start is that it will turn into a down year in a hurry. His name still carries a ton of value in the fantasy community, so it’s not a terrible idea to shop him around a bit and see if anyone is willing to offer first or second round talent in return. There are certainly much safer bets for production out there.
- Matt Wieters had a pair of doubles and 3 RBI in Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the Royals.The RBI were his first in the month of May, and it was also his first multi-hit game of the month.
Fantasy spin: The Catcher position is extremely deep this season, so those who spent a mid-round pick on Wieters are probably a bit disappointed with his production so far. Still, he’s tied for 4th among all catchers with 18 RBI, and he’s historically a 2nd half player. Better days are ahead for Matt Wieters.
Pitchers
- Matt Harvey was absolutely brilliant on Tuesday night, carrying a no-hitter into the 7th inning and allowing just one hit over 9 shutout innings. He struck out 12 and didn’t walk a batter, but was stuck with a no-decision as the game went to extra-innings tied 0-0. With this effort, Harvey lowered his ERA to 1.28, and his WHIP to a truly incredible 0.69. He has 58 Ks through 49.1 innings pitched.
Fantasy spin: After his previous two starts, some doubt may have crept into the minds of fantasy leaguers about just how legit Harvey was, but this start should erase all lingering doubt and firmly cement him as a top 10 starter going forward.
- Kris Medlen was sharp on Tuesday, yielding just 4 hits and 2 runs over 7 innings against the Reds. He struck out 6, and was in line for the win until Craig Kimbrel blew the save in dramatic fashion.
Fantasy spin: While he won’t duplicate his 2012 numbers, Medlen has been very solid this year despite what his 1-4 record might indicate. He’s settling in, with an ERA in the low 3s, and his WHIP should continue to drop into the 1.20 range. He’s a fine SP2 or SP3.
- Zach McAllister cruised through 7.2 innings, allowing just 5 hits and no runs to the A’s Tuesday night. He earned the win, evening his record at 3-3, and his ERA dropped to 2.63.
Fantasy spin: McAllister continues to pitch well, and while he doesn’t rack up strikeouts, he’s proving himself to be a very respectable streamer or back-end starter in mixed leagues.
- Travis Wood turned in another strong performance on Tuesday, striking out 8 and giving up just 1 run in 6.2 innings of work. The one run he allowed came on a Allen Craig homer.
Fantasy spin: Wood is now a perfect 7-for-7 in quality starts this season, and it’s time to stop doubting him and start believing that this is can be a breakout season for the 26 year-old hurler. He’ll take on the Rockies at home next time out.
- Junichi Tazawa has been named the Red Sox closer for the time being, with Andrew Bailey and Joel Hanrahan on the DL. Tazawa was chosen over Koji Uehara, presumably because Uehara is not typically used in back-to-back games, and perhaps partially because Tazawa has better velocity.
Fantasy spin: Tazawa has earned this shot, as he was excellent in the second half of last season for Boston, and has racked up 9 holds while pitching primarily in the 7th inning this season. He should be owned in all leagues because we just don’t know how long Bailey and Hanrahan will be out, and at this point neither is a good bet to stay healthy if and when they do return.
- Brandon League came into a tied ballgame Tuesday night and promptly allowed a 2-run homer to Paul Goldschmidt. League took the loss for a second consecutive outing, and has given up runs in 5 of his last 6 appearances.
Fantasy spin: League has had very few save opportunities lately, so the Dodgers have chosen to bring him into tied games with disastrous results. Clearly League is not pitching effectively lately, but the Dodgers seem to be one of those teams who don’t feel compelled to use their best reliever in the 9th inning. We still haven’t gotten an indication from manager Don Mattingly that he’s ready to make a chance, so for now both League and Jansen are must-own players.
- JJ Putz left Tuesday night’s game with elbow stiffness after walking the only batter he faced. After the game Putz was quoted as saying he “just felt stiff in my elbow and zings down my fingers and I knew something wasn’t right.” Yikes. Heath Bell replaced Putz and recorded his second save of the season, but it’s worth noting that in both of Bell’s saves this season, primary setup man David Hernandez had already pitched previous in the game.
Fantasy spin: Putz’s injury sounds scary, so it seems safe to say we’ll have a new closer in Arizona for a while. Hernandez would seem to be first in line, as he has been the 8th inning guy and has been one of the best in baseball the last two seasons. At the same time, some managers like to keep their setup man in the 8th inning, and the Diamondbacks do have Heath Bell with a ton of closer experience who they could turn to. The dark horse is Matt Reynolds, who has a 0.00 ERA and a 0.49 WHIP in 17 appearances this season. Reynolds is left-handed though, which is less than ideal for a closer. If I was speculating for saves (and I always am) I’d grab Hernandez first, then Bell, and then Reynolds. Hopefully we’ll get some clarity from manager Kirk Gibson in the coming days.
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