Troy Tulowitzki (COL - SS) - The Rockies shortstop launched his NL-leading 13th homerun on Sunday, but finished the game just 1-for-5. On the year, Tulowitzki has had at least one hit in each of Colorado's home games except for one, where he still managed to get on base by walking twice. The home/away splits are pretty drastic, with his home batting average just a touch below .600 and his away batting average sitting around .250. From a wOBA perspective, which is particularly useful in the daily game, Tulo doesn't look quite as bad on the road, putting up an excellent .387 mark (his home wOBA was a remarkable .716 going into Sunday's game). Health is the only question mark standing in the way of Tulowitzki and an MVP-caliber season.
Trevor Rosenthal (STL - RP) - Trevor Rosenthal blew his second save of the season against the Atlanta Braves. Rosenthal gave up a lead-off hit to Freddie Freeman and eventually gave up a two-out double to Ryan Doumit, before facing Evan Gattis with an open first base. Mike Matheny made the decision to walk Gattis to load the bases for the struggling Jordan Schafer (hitless in his last 15 ABs). Unfortunately for Rosenthal, he was on the bad side of a questionable ball/strike call, which walked in the tying run. Carlos Martinez replaced Rosenthal but allowed the go-ahead run to score on a wild pitch before re-loading the bases and eventually getting an inning-ending ground out. Rosenthal was pitching for the fourth consecutive day, so he probably should have never even received the call to close out the game in the first place. The velocity is there for the Cardinals closer but his control has been erratic for most of the year and he isn't showing the same confidence on the mound as he showed last year. Jason Motte returns from the DL on Tuesday and could make a push to re-claim his closing job if he can pitch effectively.
Dee Gordon (LAD - SS) - "Flash Jr" went hitless in 5 ABs for the second time this week and has seen his batting drop by nearly 30 points after hitting just 5-for-32 in the last 7 days. Gordon has been one of the most pleasant surprises for fantasy owners in the early going, hitting over .300 with 25 SBs through a quarter of the baseball season. Gordon's mini-slump would generally not be much of a concern, but 2B prospect Alex Guerrero is knocking on the door for a call-up after hitting .333/.386/.619 with 7HRs through his first 30 games at Triple-A. The Dodgers aren't paying him $7M a year to play in the minor leagues, so a timeshare is a possibility for Gordon once Guerrero gets the call. Even in a part-time role, Gordon will still be useful in most fantasy leagues since he's a constant threat to steal multiple bases in a game. With that said, now would be an excellent time to shop Gordon around to see what you can get.
Justin Morneau (COL - 1B) - After seeing Everth Cabrera tie up the game with a 2-run homerun in the 9th inning, Morneau hit one of his own in the bottom of the 10th inning to win the game for the Rockies. Morneau has significantly cut down on his strikeouts this year despite an elevated chase rate near 42%, which is about 12% higher than league average. Morneau has been able to maintain this statistical abnormality by making contact with pitches out of the zone about 75% of the time, roughly 11% more than league average. His .326 BABIP is about right where it should be considering his 19% line drive rate and while is 20% HR/FB ratio is probably a little high, his move to Coors Field was expected to help him improve on the 13% rate that he put up in the pitcher friendly Target Field. I'm buying into this breakout for Morneau.
Seth Smith (SD - OF) - Smith has continued his dominance over right-handed pitching to begin the season, slugging his fifth homerun off Juan Nicasio in the first inning at Coors Field on Sunday. Smith is a must-play whenever he faces a RHP right now. He seems to be seeing the ball better this year because his strikeout rate down and his walk rate is up. Of his 40 hits to begin the year, 20 have of been for extra bases, which has helped him post the 4th best wOBA versus RHP in the league, behind only Troy Tulowitzki, Yasiel Puig, and Chase Utley . The Padres outfield became a little crowded the past two weeks with the returns of Cameron Maybin and Carlos Quentin, so for now he won't play every day. However, if your league has daily lineup changes, he's a must grab because of the elite production he will put up when he's in the lineup.
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