Miguel Sano
Sano continues to impress, going 1-for-2 with two runs, a home run and two RBI on Sunday. Sano reached via two walks in addition to his homer, and he's now slashing .287/.398/.591. Sano's 162-game projections are pretty absurd at this point. He's only played in 49 games and has 30/13/40 R/HR/RBI, meaning he is on pace for 99 runs, 43 home runs, and 132 RBI for a full season. Of course, it's a lot easier to do what Sano is doing over 49 games than 162, but the fact remains his numbers are incredible, and doubly incredible when thinking about the fact that this cat is still just 22 years old. He is striking out at an alarming rate (if we do the "on pace" game for strikeouts, the season total is 245 strikeouts), but he's also drawing a ton of walks and he seems very comfortable as the King of the Three True Outcomes. By the way, the list of players to have at least 200 plate appearances in their first season with an OPS+ of 165 (where Sano is at) is mighty short: Jose Abreu, Willie McCovey, Frank Thomas, and Bill Skowron - pretty awesome company. Lock this dude down in keeper leagues.
Jackie Bradley Jr.
Despite not getting the start, Bradley still managed to have a productive day, knocking in a run, stealing a base, and coming around to score in his lone at bat. JBJ has been hot of late, hitting .329 for the month of August after basically doing nothing the first four months of the season. Not only is Bradley hitting for a high average, but he's also flashing some of the power/speed combo that made him such a big prospect. He has hit five home runs in the month of August, with three steals. That pace would make him a 30/15 HR/SB guy over a full season - an obvious top-level commodity, especially when paired with the high batting average. So can he maintain it? The best sign for JBJ believers is that he is sporting a fancy 38.5 percent hard hit ball percentage in August (not including his lone pinch-hit Sunday), a figure that would place him among the top 15 of qualified hitters this year, right next to Andrew McCutchen and Joey Votto. Here's the not-as-good news, however: Even when JBJ was struggling, it wasn't because of a low hard hit ball rate. In his miserable 2014, he had a hard hit ball rate of 35 percent. The big thing with JBJ seems to be his high strikeout rate, and he's still doing that a lot. With a K rate of 27.6 percent in August, Bradley has clearly not cut that part out of his game yet. However, given his pedigree, and the fact that he seemed to be getting a bit unlucky in his rough season last year, Bradley is worth a pick up while he stays hot. He's best used in a platoon still as the crowded Sox outfield means he won't get the start every night.
Josh Tomlin
Tomlin helped his case to stay in the rotation on Sunday, tossing seven innings of two-run, six-hit ball. The most impressive part by far, however, was his control, sporting a sparkling 8:0 strikeout to walk rate for the game, improving his K:BB rate to 26:2 in his four starts since coming off the DL. At this point, Cleveland would be crazy to bump Tomlin from the rotation, as he has three straight wins in addition to the far more telling impressive strikeout to walk rate. The other peripherals are a little hit-or-miss for Tomlin, which makes sense given the small four-start sample. In terms of FIP, he's at 4.83 - not so hot. However, in terms of xFIP he's at 3.07 - pretty solid. His opponent BABIP has been an unsustainable .175, but he's also giving up an unusually high number of home runs (2.39 HR/9). Overall, the strikeout to walk ratio, and the burden of proof being on the "con" side given his recent success, would say go with Tomlin for his next start (likely in Detroit), but don't be afraid to cut bait after a bad start.
Chase Headley
Headley helped to spearhead the Yankees offensive outburst on Sunday, going 3-for-3 with three runs, a home run, and four RBI on the day. Not too many owners have Headley on their team to benefit from the big day, but Headley does offer a low-risk option at the third base position. Headley's numbers for the year: .277 batting average, 66 runs, 10 home runs, 57 RBI and zero steals are far from exemplary, but they are also more deserving than his 21 percent ownership in ESPN. Part of Headley's low ownership is that he is about as unsexy a pick up as one can find out there, with a very capped ceiling to boot. However, he is hitting .366 with some decent pop in his last dozen games, and even if we stretch the arbitrary cut off date all the way back to July 1, he is hitting .331 in a solid Yankee lineup. Over that 48-game stretch he has 28 runs and 29 RBI, but just two home runs. If you are in need of a solid average with decent RuBIn production and don't need home runs or steals, Headley is a solid option right now.
Daily Fantasy Leagues
Delino DeShields Jr.
DeShields looks for his fifth straight multi-hit game when he faces Tyson Ross and the Padres on Monday. DeShields has been swinging a nice stick lately with ten hits in his last six games, with five runs, three RBI, a home run and a steal sprinkled in there. If "being due" for a steal can be a thing, then DeShields is due, as the speedster hasn't stolen a base in any of his four multi-hit games since Thursday, a rarity for the Ranger speedster. Monday may just be the remedy to the lack of steals for DeShields as he gets to face Tyson Ross, who has given up the second-most steals to his opposition of any pitcher in Major League Baseball this season. Only Jon Lester has allowed more steals than Ross' 33 swipes allowed, and Lester's inability to throw to first base has become a national story. The combination of a hot bat, and a perfect match up for DeShields' speed make the $3,600 price tag an absolute steal... No pun intended... I'll see myself out.
DraftKings: $3,600
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