Memorial Day is quickly approaching, which means it’s time to start taking a closer look at your league’s standings. Are you trailing in certain categories? Are the injuries piling up? It’s getting to the point where we can’t keep falling back on “it’s early” so don’t be afraid to start mixing things up if you feel your team(s) require some moves. Hopefully the below list can begin to help point you in the right direction.
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1. More no-hitters
The conversation surrounding no-hitters and the state of baseball has suddenly becoming pretty polarizing. I’m not here to provide my take on the topic but instead I’ll provide some context for fantasy purposes. The increase in no-hitters is tied closely to some thoughts I shared last week about the current surplus of mid-tier starting pitchers. Conversely, there just isn’t as much offense to go around right now. Offense in general has been up a tick in May, but I’m still trying to trade as many mid-tier SPs for “proven 2021 bats” as I can. Jared Walsh and Jesse Winker remain buy-highs for me. Yuli Gurriel is another hitter to buy at the moment, too.
2. Two Start Madness
I’m not going to list them all out here but by my count there are 18-must start SPs who all have two starts in Week 8. This doesn’t even include streamers. So what does this mean? Well, it means that if you don’t have at least 1-2 of these aces and you’re in a H2H league, there’s a good chance your opponent does. It’s a classic case of Keeping Up With The Jones’. Be prepared to stream the two recommendations below if you need to play catch up.
3. Rich Hill‘s continued opportunity
We covered the 41-year-old southpaw as a streamer last week and he produced! Hooray! Hill earned both a win and a quality start on Thursday against Baltimore, tossing six innings of one-run ball. Now he’s lined up for two starts against the Blue Jays and Phillies. These aren’t the best matchups, but remember that the priority when streamer is focusing on the actual pitcher. Matchups are secondary. Over his past 27 2/3 innings Hill has allowed just three earned runs to go along with 31 strikeouts.
4. Spencer Turnbull‘s encore
Again, let’s keep our no-hitter thoughts to ourselves! But it’s worth mentioning that Detroit’s right-hander was actually pitching pretty well prior to no-hitting the Mariners this past week. For the season Turnbull has a 2.88 ERA and a 3.01 xERA. All of his expected stats are career-bests and rate within the 77th percentile or better. The lack of strikeouts creates some risk in his profile, but matchups against the Indians and surprisingly vulnerable Yankees make him worth considering.
5. Bryan Reynolds and the Pirates
Pittsburgh has some plus hitter matchups for Week 8, headlined by six games against the Cubs and Rockies. Adam Frazier is in play as a pickup, but I want to highlight Reynolds for a moment. The 26-year-old enters Saturday hitting .292 with four homers and an .852 OPS. He’s also tied for the league-lead in doubles. Not all fantasy formats rewards two-baggers, but the reason to highlight his production in this area is that he isn’t “empty batting average” the way David Fletcher or Nick Madrigal might be. At least right now Reynolds isn’t. This isn’t the most glowing recommendation, but he stands out as a widely-available option entering the final week of May.
6. Buster Posey‘s top-5 status
Hand up, I had written off the former MVP and 3x World Series Champion. Like many, I figured Posey could help in batting average with little power. After all, he opted out of 2020 and hit a combined 12 homers in 2018-19. Entering late-May he already has eight round-trippers on the year, though. Additionally, Posey is batting and absurd .359 with a 1.067 OPS. All the expected stats are very strong. The Giants are being careful not to overwork him, and it’s helping. As I mentioned above Memorial Day is approaching. It’s getting too late into the season to hold onto our predraft notions for much longer. Posey is a top-five option at catcher the rest of the way.
Happy Friday! Time for…
WHO’S THAT HITTER?
⚾️ Absurd .374 BA
⚾️ Career-highs in xBA, xSLG, xwOBA
⚾️ 96th percentile xwOBA
⚾️ Top-5 at his position ROS pic.twitter.com/em4go5ZmfD— Brendan Tuma (@toomuchtuma) May 21, 2021
7. Brendan Rodgers stock watch
The 24-year-old former top prospect returned from the 10-day IL on Friday before going 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts. That isn’t anything new for Rodgers, who has struggled badly in his brief time in the majors. Rodgers has also dealt with a lot of injuries so it’s understandable why fantasy players aren’t tripping over themselves to add him off waivers. Still, he’s a talented hitter who plays half his games in Coors Field. Colorado is on the road all of next week, so now isn’t the time to add him. But in Week 9? The team has a long home stand. I’ll be monitoring his stats and playing time in anticipation of then.
8. The return of Alex Kirilloff
Gamers in daily lineup leagues have already started reaping the rewards of this young slugger’s production. The 23-year-old went 2-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored in Friday’s win over Cleveland. He had hit four homers in four games before his wrist injury, so the lefty-swinging outfielder is picking up right where he left off. I’ve been surprised at how many questions I received on Twitter about Kirilloff this week. To be clear, he’s must-have and must-start in all formats. The Twins draw the Orioles and Royals in Week 8.
9 – 11 More hitters to stream
Miguel Sano (1B – MIN)
Speaking of the Twins and their plus matchups next week, let’s not overlook Sano right now. The beefy first baseman has mostly been terrible in 2021, but we know he’s a volatile player who can heat up in a hurry. And it appears as if he’s doing just that. Sano had the big three-homer game earlier this week. Then he crushed a grand slam on Thursday before doubling twice on Friday. There’s no rhyme or reason to predicting when Sano’s hot streaks will start and end, but now seems like a good time to ride the wave.
Ian Happ (OF – CHC)
Another volatile hitter, Happ is on a roll since returning from his bruised ribs. He’s currently riding a six-game hitting streak with multiple hits in three of those contests. Plus he has four homers during this span. Another player to pick up now and ride the wave for however long it lasts, Happ should be on your radar for Week 8. The Cubs draw the Pirates and Reds next week.
Gavin Lux (2B – LAD)
We covered him last week, but he’s apparently an interesting fantasy option as I continue to receive a lot of Twitter questions about him. He had a big grand slam this week, plus he’s notched multiple hits in three-of-five games entering Saturday. My concern is that the Statcast numbers aren’t kind to him, in addition to the idea that there might not be much power to be had. Still, he’s working out as a streamer this week and the Dodgers continue to have opportunities for him to play everyday. We may as well keep riding him against the Astros and Giants next week and see where this goes.
12. Five-game weeks
For those who chase volume in weekly lineup leagues, you might want to bench your fringe options from the Braves, Red Sox, and Astros. Each team plays only five games in Week 8.
13. Alek Manoah watch
I am hoping that by the time you read this we will have already gotten news surrounding Manoah’s promotion to the majors. The 23-year-old is off to a blistering start in Triple-A, totaling 18 innings of one-run ball to go along with 27 strikeouts. It’s insane that we’re even talking about Manoah as a big league option for Week 8 of the 2021 season, because he now has just nine professional appearances to his name. Nine! But he just looks ready. And the “it” factor is there. Manoah was actually upsetting players on the Worcester Red Sox in his most recent start due to the way he was strutting around the mound.
The Blue Jays recently lined up Manoah’s starts to coincide with Ross Stripling, who continues to get shelled in the majors. Toronto is competing this season and I anticipate Manoah getting an opportunity sooner rather than later, even if it doesn’t come this Monday against the Rays. We’ve been a tad “burnt” by Daniel Lynch and Logan Gilbert so far, but this one feels different.
The 83 mph slider CHEWS UP JETER DOWNS pic.twitter.com/AjYmLrbMgL
— Geoff Pontes (@ProspectJesus) May 19, 2021
14. The Rays’ infield
Baseball Twitter (myself included) nearly lost their minds when news broke that Tampa Bay was trading Willy Adames to the Milwaukee Brewers. The immediate assumption was that this opened an everyday spot in the majors for Wander Franco, but he isn’t on the 40-man roster. My next thought was that this meant Vidal Brujan is coming, but that wasn’t the case either. Never afraid to make the unpopular decision, the Rays instead chose to recall Taylor Walls. Despite Walls not being a top prospect, this is a move that made sense baseball-wise. He’s arguably the top defensive infielder in their organization and has been off to a hot start in Triple-A. Eager fantasy players are left salivating at the thought of when Franco and Brujan are coming. The Adames trade removed a big obstacle, though. Stay patient in redraft formats.
I’d like to congratulate Taylor Walls on being called up by the #Rays. You deserve this. Stay HOT! You’re bound for greatness. At the same time, I’d like to thank @willya02 for being a gentleman and so special to me. See you soon. I’ll miss you A LOT. 👏🏽 👏🏽 👏🏽 👏🏽 for TW! ##RaysUp
— Vidal Brujan (@vidalbrujan) May 21, 2021
15. No Closer Chaos?
Whereas the first few weeks of the 2021 season felt like we were experiencing an unparalleled amount of closer turnover, things have felt abnormally quiet as of late. It has actually been really hard to find saves off waivers during May, but my top recommendation for those looking to speculate is Hansel Robles of the Twins. No, he isn’t a dominant reliever by any means, but he recorded the save on Thursday with Taylor Rogers getting a hold. There’s no guarantee that Robles gets 100% of the Minnesota save opportunities by any means, but he could be in line for the majority of chances in the near future.
16. Jacob deGrom‘s injury
The best pitcher on our planet was recently in Low-A St. Lucie for a rehab assignment. It went as you would expect, with deGrom downright dominating these unlucky teenagers. He’s slated to return on Tuesday against the Rockies, which is just a fantastic matchup. We always want to attack the Rockies on the road. Put deGrom back into lineups with extreme confidence.
17. Austin Riley‘s ascension
We discussed Riley as a streaming option last week, but now he’s become an every-week starter for me. Riley had another big game on Friday, hitting two homers while adding a double. He’s now batting .310 with seven homers and a .913 OPS. The strikeout rate has been on the rise a bit as of late, but his 27.2% mark isn’t close to the dreadful 36.4% he put up as a rookie. This might wind up being the best version of Riley. He’s worth starting in all formats despite the aforementioned five-game week.
18. Luis Castillo / Blake Snell
I contributed to a buy low / sell high FeaturedPros article on Friday where some thoughts were shared on Luis Castillo and Blake Snell. You can read the full piece here.
19. Jarred Kelenic‘s plus matchups
The 21-year-old top prospect had a huge evening last Friday night, but it has otherwise been a quiet start to his big league career. Just in case anyone was thinking about sitting him, I wanted to point out that the Mariners play seven games in Week 8, with strong matchups against the A’s and Rangers. Additionally, he has hit leadoff in every game since being called up.
20. Strikeout surges
We’ll close with this week’s Statcast portion of the program. The below names are some of the fantasy relevant hitters who have seen the biggest year-to-year change in strikeout rate, which isn’t a good thing.
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Brendan Tuma is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Brendan, check out his archive and follow him @toomuchtuma.
