Protests in Baltimore postponed the Orioles contest against the White Sox Monday

The biggest story of the night in baseball was the suspension of the Orioles-White Sox game due to the riots in Baltimore. The 7:05 game was suspended due to riots directly outside of Orioles Park at Camden Yards, and the teams will try to play on Tuesday. There were other major stories in baseball yesterday, but all pale in comparision to the plotline in Baltimore. This is the daily update for April 28, 2015.

Recap

Corey Kluber drops another decision for the Indians
Kluber has allowed 10 or more hits in back-to-back starts, and has a 4.24 ERA in 34 innings to open the 2015 season. Kluber allowed 10 hits and four earned runs against the Royals on Monday night. He does have 36 strikeouts and seven walks to open the season, but also has a .277 opponent’s batting average. Fantasy owners must look at two statistics though. His batting average on balls in play has risen from .316 in 2014 to .362 in 2015, and his strand rate has dropped from 78.6% to 64% from 2014 to 2015. Kluber has seen his strikeouts per nine and walks per nine drop a bit from 2014 to 2015, and his FIP for 2015 is in line with his ERA from 2014. Hold Kluber, as the wins will come and the batting average will normalize.

Devon Travis looks like the early-season Blue Jays’ MVP
Travis was acquired in the offseason for Anthony Gose, and made the MLB roster on the last day of Spring Training as the starting second baseman. He hit a home run on Opening Day, and has not cooled off a bit, hitting his sixth home run on Monday night. Travis also has 18 RBI, tied for second in the MLB behind Nelson Cruz, and a 1.140 OPS. He does only have four walks this season, a 5.9% walk rate, but his .368 batting average ranks eighth in MLB. Travis can easily finish as a top-10 2B this season in a powerful Jays’ lineup, and has fringe top-five abilities. The diminutive Travis had a .323 batting average in 257 minor league games, and averaged 58 extra-base hits and 26 stolen bases per 162 games.

Cole Hamels earns his first win of the season
Hamels had a rough start to the 2015 season, but has had back-to-back solid appearances, winning on Monday night against the Cardinals. He pitched seven innings, allowing four hits, one run, and struck out nine batters. He did have four walks and has walked 16 batters in 32 innings this season, and his 12.5% walk percentage is ninth in the MLB. His high walk rate has his K%-BB% ranked only 55th, even with a top-25 K%. Hamels has only walked 5.9% of batters over the past four seasons, so this is an alarming early-season trend, as Hamels has had multiple walks in each start of the 2015 season. Hamels is still a top-20 pitcher, but if his walk rate continues to climb, added to the fact that he has allowed seven home runs thus far, he may be a target for a huge regression in 2015.

Late-game spurt leads balanced Astros offense to eighth win in 10 games
Jose Altuve had his fifth-straight multi-hit game, George Springer stole three bases, Colby Rasmus had three RBI, and Jed Lowrie was 2-for-3 with a home run to lead the Astros to a 9-4 win over the Padres. The Astros have a dynamic roster where three players already have five or more steals, four players have an OPS over .800, and nine players that have scored five runs or more in the early 2015 season. The one issue with the Astros is strikeouts. Four players have struck out 20 or more times, and Rasmus and Evan Gattis have each struck out 20 times or more with five or fewer walks.

Jason Hammel shuts down Pirates
Hammel pitched eight shutout innings, supported by two RBI each by Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, as the Cubs shutout the Pirates in a 4-0 victory. Hammel only allowed four hits and struck out seven batters without a walk. In fact, Hammel has 23 strikeouts and only one walk through 25 1/3 innings in 2015. His 23.0 K:BB ratio is tied with Bartolo Colon for the major league lead, and he has a 5.29 K:BB over the past two seasons with the Cubs. Hammel has a K/9 of 6.56, and a K:BB of 2.12  in 1057 career innings excluding his tenure with the Cubs. He has a 8.53 K/9 and 5.29 K:BB in 134 innings with the Cubs. Although the sample size is small for his tenure with Chicago, Hammel looks very comfortable in Chicago and should be seen as an SP3 for the 2015 season.

What to watch for

The headline matchup of the evening is Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw facing off in Los Angeles, one week after their matchup in San Francisco. Each earned a no decision in San Fran, pitching six innings and allowing two runs. Each has allowed five runs in a game this season, have seen their WHIP and ERA raise considerably over their career marks, and need to get on the right page. Two more young pitchers that have had outstanding starts to the season, Trevor Bauer and Jake Odorizzi, will also pitch for the Indians and Rays.

Chris Zolli is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Chris, check out his archive and follow him @thezman2010.