(David Robertson CL-NYY)
David Robertson had to follow the legendary Mario Rivera and has been successful this year in a way that would make the Sandman proud. Robertson picked up his 23rd save today striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faced in the 9th. Sporting a terrific 16.26 K/9 inning rate and inducing ground balls at a 52% clip, Robertson's 1.19 xFIP points to even a stronger 2nd half. Certainly his 2.76 ERA will regress in a positive direction. While his 93 mph fastball has late life, it is his strong curveball that has been the bellwether of his arsenal. Even more troubling for hitters, Robertson has mixed in a change that has been a great out pitch that he should throw even more often. With Betances as an ultra elite setup man, the injury riddled Yankee team at least has a one-two punch out of the bullpen reminiscent of the glory days of John Wetteland and Mariano Rivera.
George Springer (OF-Houston)
George Springer returned to the lineup today and went 0 for 3 after missing Friday's contest with some soreness in his right knee. Hopefully the dynamic young outfielder will not experience this problem off and on all season. Coming into the contest today, he has appeared in 74 games and has a 238/.342/.475 triple slash line with 19 homers, 50 RBI, five stolen bases. He has flashed enormous power potential with a .238 ISO but his 33% K rate has resulted in a 109 strikeouts. Springer's 40% Fly ball rate will provide him with plentiful opportunity to maintain a strong HR pace. On the flip side a 70.4% contact rate and a 16% LD rate will keep his average low and his K% high. At 24 years old we know he has great power but can he develop into more than a slugger who kills your batting average. While some of his numbers are alarming, Springer seems to have the ability to make the most of the times that he does hit the ball which is just another way to say that he has great bat speed and bat control when he does not overreact to pitches. Currently he swings at 26.5% of pitches outside the zone so as he continues to improve in that area and I see some upward mobility in his contact rates and overall plate coverage. If he does succeed in this as we all hope, pitchers will be regularly pivoting on the mound to watch the ball float into the stands.
Adam Eaton (OF-CWS)
Adam Easton has some nagging injuries so he could be rested through the remaining pre-All Star schedule. He has posted .270/.340/.372 triple slash line with one homer, 25 RBI and eight stolen bases while playing in 74 games on the season. His value is his speed and near elite contact rate. Clearly he is not going to hit many HR's as he is primarily a ground ball hitter at almost a 60% rate. Eaton uses his speed well and has converted almost 12% of those ground balls into hits. With a .340 OBP fueled by an increasing walk rate, Eaton should continue to contribute in the stolen base category. He is a good 5th outfielder for your fantasy squad especially the ones that reward OBP and steals. He would become even more valuable if he could improve his stolen base success rate which is weak as he has been caught on 6 of his 14 attempts. This is a young player who stole as many as 38 bases in the minors so he has the ability to do even more for your team.
Jason Castro (C-Houston)
Jason Castro went 1-for-5 with a double and a strikeout in his return to the lineup on Friday and followed that up with a 2 for 4 game today with a triple and HR and two RBI's. Castro did not play all week due to pain in the area of his left armpit that finally responded to treatment. Despite today's heroics, this has not been as productive a year as his 2013 breakout season. We have seen a his plate discipline regress as his K% is at an all time high at 29% and he is walking at a 3% lower rate than last year. Castro is hitting only .231 after a .276 season in 2013 that honestly was helped by a .351 BABIP. His contact rate is where it was last year at a below average 72% but his LD rate of 22% suggests that his batting average has some positive regression. He might settle in at .250 with mid to upper teens HR's and good RBI numbers hitting in a good spot in the order. This would make him a usable catcher in most formats just not the breakout candidate that we saw last year.
Alexei Ramirez (SS-CWS)
Ramirez suffered an injury to his leg in the bottom of the third inning on a hit-and-run trying to field a single to his right. He was 0-for-2 prior to leaving the game with a walk. Moises Sierra was brought in to replace him as a pinch-runner. This year has been a productive one for Ramirez with 17 doubles, 8 HR's 41 runs batted in and 15 SB while batting .282. The rebound in power numbers is encouraging for his owners who saw him slide to only 8 all last year. His value has also pointed further upward as he is also keeping up last year's pace in SB's when he set a career high of 30. This year he is hitting more groundballs then at any time in his career but he has also seen 11.1% of them result in hits. His good contact rate remains within his normal career range at 83.6% and he has even been a little more selective at swinging at pitches outside the zone. Hopefully, today's injury is minor because overall he has a chance to have one of the best all around years of his career.
@stevietheshu
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