Roenis Elias -- Elias turned in another good outing on Sunday, picking up the Win while allowing one run on 5 strikeouts and 2 walks in 6.2 innings. While Elias wasn't considered much of a prospect coming into the year, but his numbers are solid (7.8 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 3.76 xFIP) and I like what I see of his stuff. He throws two fastballs--a 93-mph four-seamer with good life and a 92-mph two-seamer for groundballs--and two near-plus secondary offerings. His change-up has a lot of fade, and his curveball comes in hard at 80 mph with some bite. Given this, I'm buying into the strikeout rate and into Elias himself as a medium-depth mixed league streaming option and a full-time ownable player in deeper mixed leagues.
David Price -- It was reported on Sunday that several teams have been scouting David Price's starts, most notably the Marlins, Cardinals, Dodgers, and Giants. The Braves, Angels, A's, and Indians were also listed as potential players in the mid-summer sweepstakes for one of the game's premier southpaws. This list is notable because the majority of the contenders are National League teams, which would add an elite pitcher to the player pool in NL-only leagues and significantly shift Price's value in mixed formats. Moving to the National League cuts 0.50 points off of a pitcher's ERA and adds 0.5 points to his K/9, which would obviously be a nice boost to an already great pitcher like Price. Leaving behind Jose Molina and Ryan Hanigan won't be ideal, but the move to the NL and to (potentially) a great pitchers' park like Marlins Park or AT&T Park would more than compensate.
Mike Moustakas -- After spending a week in the minors, Mike Moustakas was recalled at the start of the month to replace an ailing Danny Valencia at third base. With Valencia now coming off the DL, Royals manager Ned Yost said on Sunday that he will receive "most" of the third base at-bats against left-handed pitching. That means that Moustakas will be staying with the big league club and will be receiving roughly 75% of the starts. Moustakas hasn't been great since his return, but a .215/.282/.446 triple-slash is an improvement over what he was doing, and there is a change in the process that could lead to Moustakas being a valuable AL-only contributor. His strikeout rate has fallen from 23% in May to 13% since his return to go with four home runs. He's staying a bit quieter at the plate and seems to have improved his timing, so keep him in your lineups in deeper leagues.
Matt Shoemaker -- Shoemaker outdueled Yu Darvish on Sunday, twirling 7.2 one-run innings with 6 strikeouts and just 2 walks. Seeing as how Shoemaker came into the outing with a 9.6 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, and 2.95 xFIP in 42.1 innings pitched, there is reason for optimism here that Shoemaker could be turning into a usable mixed league pitcher. He's never shown this kind of strikeout upside in the minors, but he has shown good control, and his stuff seems good enough to sustain at least a 7.0 K/9 or so. He only has average velocity on his fastball, but it gets good movement, and he complements it with a full arsenal of pitches to attack hitters from both sides of the plate, highlighted by a split-change with good late run. He's worth streaming in medium-to-deep mixed leagues, at the very least.
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