Is it time to become a believer? Its difficult not to believe with the kind of pitching performances Braden Looper has been putting up. Another quality start last night makes Looper 7-for-8 in QS's and brings his ERA to 2.29 and WHIP to 1.14. He struck out a season-high 7 on his way to his 5th win of the season. His K/9 is low at just 5.8, but his K/BB is 2.2 and he has managed to keep the ball in the park, giving up just 2 HR for a HR/9 of 0.35. There's nothing wrong with being a skeptic here, given his history. A look at some of the popular fantasy leagues on the web shows that he's still available in about 25% of all leagues. If that's the case, you should grab him until the wheels come off this train. At this rate, it looks like he's here to stay for a little while.
How can you not like this kid? With another HR yesterday (his 3rd in four games), JJ Hardy raises his OPS to 1.020 and his HR total to 11 for the season. He's averaging a homerun for every 13.4 AB and is posting an FPI of 0.85. He has easily been one of the best (if not THE best) fantasy SS to date. As a reference, Derek Jeter's FPI is 0.81 and he's have a great season too, hitting .376 with a .911 OPS. The Brewers are showing the world they are the real-thing this year and JJ Hardy is showing off some of his skills as well.
Kaz Matsui's back is almost fully healed and he should be back in the lineup by Memorial Day. Even so, Matsui is considered an NL-only league guy at best. As we all know, the highly-touted Japanese second basemen has been a huge disappointment since coming to the U.S. However, after being traded from the Mets to the Rockies last season, Kaz hit .345 with a 0.88 FPI, .903 OPS, and 8 stolen bases. Compare that to his 2006 time with the Mets that yielded a .200 average with a sub-.30 FPI, and an OPS barely worth mentioning at .505. Even in just 9 games this season before his back injury, Matsui was hitting .361 with an .867 OPS and 5 stolen bases. He might have some fantasy value after-all, but let's see how well he can return from this lingering back injury.
Ryan Zimmerman finally flexed some muscle with a walkoff grand slam against Jorge Julio and the Nationals. He has gone from hitting a dinger in every 30.7 AB last year (20 total on the year) to one every 74.0 AB this season. His FPI has dropped off the charts going from 0.65 last season to 0.48 this year. Consider Zimmerman having some 3B upside, but unless you're an NL only guy, probably should keep him reserved until he starts figuring it all out again. Last night's homerun could be a good sign of that turnaround.
Chris Young suffered from some bad luck on Saturday, giving up 5 runs but only 1 earned run in his 3rd loss of the season. He only lasted 5.1 IP, so it didn't even qualify for a quality start. The big, quiet righty has yet to string together a bunch of quality starts in a row. But he has managed to maintain a solid ERA at 3.11, WHIP at 1.29, and K/9 of 7.4, indicating he may not be far away from going on a hot stretch.
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