Hitters
- Will Middlebrooks delivered a clutch 2-out bases clearing double in the top of the 9th to put the Red Sox ahead for good on Thursday night. Middlebrooks has shown some signs of life recently, with 7 doubles and a homer in his last 7 games after a stretch of 9 games without a single extra-base hit.
Fantasy spin: Middlebrooks still strikes out too much which will prevent him from hitting for a great average, but the young 3B has a respectable 7 HR and 17 RBI on the season. Those numbers make him a back-end starter in deep leagues.
- Jay Bruce went 2-for-4 with a double and 3 runs driven in, powering the Reds to a 5-3 victory over the Marlins. Bruce is making his owners forget about his slow April, posting a .308/.333/.596 line in the month of May with 7 doubles, 2 homers, and 13 RBI.
Fantasy spin: His overall power numbers are still below expectations, but it’s encouraging that he is racking up doubles and driving in runs. A home run binge is likely right around the corner for Bruce, who is looking to make it three straight seasons with 30+ homers.
- Wilin Rosario went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer in the Rockies 8-6 loss to the Giants on Thursday night. The blast was Rosario’s first since April 29th, and the young backstop has seen his average drop from .350 to .274 so far in the month of May.
Fantasy spin: Rosario was never a good bet to hit for a high average to begin with, so owners shouldn’t panic that he’s dropped down to the .270s. He hit .270 last year, and also hit 28 homers, a pace he is slightly ahead of this year. Rosario is one of the top 5 catchers in all of fantasy.
- Brandon Crawford continued his surprisingly solid offensive production on Thursday night by going 2-for-4 with a double, 2 runs scored, and 3 runs driven in. Crawford raised his average to .277 with the effort, and he has 22 runs and 20 RBI on the season.
Fantasy spin: Crawford bats primarily from the 8 spot in front of the pitcher, but he’s still producing at a nice clip. Crawford had shown very little offensively prior to this year, but he’s just 26 years old, an age when many ballplayers start to break out. If you scooped him up to fill in at SS or MI, keep riding him until he stops hitting.
- Jacoby Ellsbury went 0-for-5 on Thursday night and is now batting just .188 (12-for-64) in the month of May.
Fantasy spin: Worst of all for fantasy owners, he has just 1 stolen base this month after swiping 11 in April. It’s tough to bench a guy like Ellsbury because he’s a threat to steal any time he gets on base, but he’s certainly in a major funk right now. If you need stolen base help, consider floating a buy low offer to Ellsbury’s owner.
- Albert Pujols hit a 2-run homer on Thursday night, his 7th of the year, but the Angels fell to the White Sox 5-4. Pujols has now hit safely in 8 of his last 9 games, but he has just 3 multi-hit games and has only driven in 6 runs in that stretch.
Fantasy spin: The Angels are really struggling this season, and Pujols deserves a chunk of the blame. They currently sit 12 games out of first place, and 11 games below .500. The Angels and fantasy owners need Pujols to wake up and start raking soon. It’s worth noting that last year at this time Pujols had just 3 HR and was batting .214, and he still ended up with 30 homers and a .285 average, so there’s plenty of time for him to turn his season around. If you can buy low enough, he’s a worthwhile gamble.
Pitchers
- Jon Niese rebounded from two terrible outings to pitch 7.1 innings of 2 run ball against the Cardinals on Thursday. Niese allowed 6 hits, walked two batters, and struck out 3 en route to his 3rd win of the season.
Fantasy spin: Before this start, Niese declared that he had fixed some mechanical issues that were largely to blame for his poor performances, and based on the results it looks like he did. Niese’s K rate is still well below last year’s, and he has an ugly 24:24 K:BB ratio in 48.1 innings pitched, but he’s worth stashing if he was dropped to see if he can continue to turn his season around. He did register a 3.40 ERA and 1.17 WHIP with 155 Ks last season, so he has the potential to be a nice 4th starter.
- Mat Latos turned in a strong performance on Thursday night, holding the Marlins to 2 runs on 4 hits in 8.1 innings pitched. Latos was 2 outs away from the complete game when he gave up a triple to Adeiny Hechavarria. Aroldis Chapman was brought in to protect the 2-1 lead, but after striking out Placido Polanco, he gave up a triple of his own to Marcell Ozuna, costing Latos a win and tagging him with another earned run.
Fantasy spin: Latos owners should be frustrated that he wasn’t able to come away with the win in this one, but overall he’s been as good as could be expected this season and is proving himself to be an excellent SP2, if not an SP1.
- Justin Verlander turned in arguably the worst start of his brilliant career on Thursday, allowing 8 runs on 6 hits and a pair of walks and failing to get out of the third inning. The outing blew his ERA from 1.93 to 3.17 on the season.
Fantasy spin: There’s really no reason to panic here, as Verlander’s velocity is trending up and he’s shown no signs of injury. Look for him to come out and completely dominate in his next start, which should be next Wednesday in Cleveland.
- Francisco Liriano moved to 2-0 on Thursday, limiting the Brewers to 1 run on 6 hits in 5.2 innings pitched. Liriano struck out 7, but also walked 3 batters.
Fantasy spin: If you need the Ks, Liriano is a worthy investment, especially now that he’s pitching in the National League – he has 16 Ks in 11 innings pitched through his first two starts. Just be aware of the fact that he will struggle to get deep into games, and he’s going to walk a fair amount of batters, leading to an inflated WHIP (1.55 so far this season).
- Andy Pettitte failed to record win number 250 in his career, and he was forced to leave Thursday night’s game with a tight left trapezius muscle. The Yankees didn’t sound too concerned about the injury after the game, but it wouldn’t be a major surprise if they played it safe with their 40-year old starter and gave him a few extra days of rest.
Fantasy spin: After a strong start to the season, Pettitte has fizzled out a bit recently, recording just 1 quality start in his last 4 turns, and getting past the 5th inning just once. He can probably be let go in shallow leagues, but I’d hold for now in deeper leagues.
- Fernando Rodney blew his 3rd save of the season on Thursday, and he did so in pathetic fashion. Called on to protect a 3-1 lead, Rodney walked Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, and Daniel Nava to load the bases before Will Middlebrooks cleared the bases with a double to the left-centerfield gap. Rodney stayed in the game to face Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and he walked him as well before finally getting the hook. In all Rodney threw 35 pitches, just 16 for strikes.
Fantasy spin: The roller coaster season continues for Rodney, who had settled down and recorded 4 straight scoreless innings before last night’s implosion. Rodney is still throwing in the upper 90s with his fastball, but he simply couldn’t locate it last night. Rodney now has 15 walks this season in 15.1 innings pitched, the same total he had last year in 74.2 innings pitched. He’s clearly not the same guy, and the Rays are probably looking at the rest of their bullpen to see what their options are. Joel Peralta remains the take the job if a change is made.
- Junichi Tazawa was made a winner when the Red Sox came from behind in the 9th. Tazawa pitched a perfect 8th and then stayed in the game to pitch the 9th, working around a pair of singles to shut the door.
Fantasy spin: Tazawa still hasn’t had a save opportunity since being named the Red Sox interim closer, but fantasy owners will take the W and the pair of Ks. With Andrew Bailey set to return as early as Monday, Tazawa will go back to being a setup man for Boston, but it might be wise to keep him stashed on your roster considering Andrew Bailey’s extensive injury history. Even if he’s not closing games he should provide good ratios and more than a K per inning, as well as a few more rogue wins.