Most smart fantasy baseball managers understand not to overreact to the first week of the season.

“It’s been two starts, dude. It’s been 25 at-bats, my guy, chill.”

Still, there is undeniably a small percentage of managers out there who think the first week matters. People who want to overanalyze everything and try to convince you it’s time to sell your fifth-round draft pick or to buy low on someone else now.

That’s me. I’m the small percentage. Pay attention; I bounce all over the place.

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• Weekly Fantasy Baseball Content
• MLB Prop Bet Cheat Sheet

Fantasy Baseball by the Numbers

Players With > 12 At-Bats & > 50% Strikeout Percentage:

• Kris Bryant (OF – COL)
• Jeimer Candelario (3B – WAS)
• Mike Trout (OF – WAS)
• LaMonte Wade Jr. (OF – SF)
• Nolan Gorman (OF – STL)
• Kevin Kiermair (OF – TOR)

Players With > 12 At-Bats Who Have Not Yet Struck Out This Year:

• Kerry Carpenter (3B – DET)
• Pete Alonso (1B – NYM)
• Adley Rutschman (3B – BAL)
• Charlie Blackmon (OF – COL)
• Corbin Carroll (OF – ARI)
• Andres Gimenez (OF – CLE)
• Ozzie Albies (2B – ATL)

Pete Alonso stood out to me, but as of publication, he had also not taken a walk this year. So that is probably good and bad in a way.

Speaking of Pete Alonso,

Who Would You Rather Have:

• Player 1: 1.512 OPS, 0% K Rate, .764 OBA

Or

• Player 2: .381 OPS, 31% K Rate, .256 WOBA

Neither one is Pete Alonso, but I made you consider him.

Nick Martini (OF – CIN) is player No. 1 and Aaron Judge (OF – NYY) is player No. 2, proving that:

1. Cherry-picking stats is easy
2. Do not stress if you lost week 1 of your fantasy season

And be real, we always see these writers cherry-picking stats, withholding context to supply outrage content.

Which I will do happily below:

BABIP Leaders:

• Bobby Witt Jr. (SS – KC): .833
• LaMonte Wade Jr. (OF – SF): .833

So Lamonte Wade is one of six players with a strikeout percentage over 50% but also leads the league in BABIP?

• Bobby Witt Jr. Hard Hit %: 72%
• LaMonte Wade Jr. Hard Hit %: .50%

Sorry, Lamonte, that BABIP does not seem sustainable. Although I admire the commitment to swinging hard every pitch.

Starters Who Give Up Give Up Hard Hit Percentage:

• Josiah Gray (SP – WAS): 71.5%
• Jake Irvin (SP – WAS): 66.7%
• Bryce Miller (SP – SEA): 64.3%
• Cole Ragans (SP – KC): 64.3%

Across all games, the two hardest-hit pitchers in all of Major League Baseball were both on the Washington Nationals, and neither was named Patrick Corbin (SP – WAS). Truly impressive.

Somewhat related to Corbin, a stat that I do think matters:

Average Spin Rate (RPM) Among Starters:

• Corbin Burnes (SP – BAL): 2,813 RPM
• Clarke Schmidt (SP – NYY): 2,779 RPM
• Dylan Cease (SP – SD): 2,648 RPM
• Joe Musgrove (SP – SD): 2,645 RPM

Is Clark Schmidt sticking out to anyone else? Something to monitor.

Next, guess the team missing from this list

Highest Scoring MLB Teams

• Dodgers 47
• Padres 47
• ????? 39
• Braves 34

I’ll give you a hint: They are based in Pittsburgh and named after people who attack and rob boats.

It’s only been one week, so there is much more to come next week and every week moving forward!

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