Nathan Eovaldi SP - NYY - Eovaldi continues to make positive strides, holding the Rays to 1 run over 6 innings for his 6th win in his last 7 starts. He walked 2 and fanned 7 as his K rate continues to climb, and 15 more swinging strikes in 105 pitches pushes that rate (9.0) higher for the third straight season. The velocity continues to improve....he was comfortably between 97-99 the last three innings he pitched, and his control and GB rate are both improved as well. In short, he's a very credible mid-rotation option right now, as his stats finally appear to be catching up to the quality of his raw stuff. He looks more like a sub-3.50 ERA arm than not.
Brett Eibner OF - KC - All of the injuries in KC are creating playing time in unexpected places, and Brett Eibner is yet another previously untested player that is suddenly playing every day. Eibner was brought up Friday and has subsequently started three straight games, going 5-11 with a pair of doubles. Eibner is a big RH batter that hadn't displayed much outside of power offensively since being drafted from Arkansas in 2010....until last year. All of a sudden at age 26, Eibner made immense strides in contact rate, and he's maintained those gains into this season. The power is still there (19 HRs in 103 games last year at AAA, 10 in 41 this year), and now the opportunity for playing time has appeared for him. Those in deeper leagues should take a flyer here, as I could see Eibner offering some very solid power numbers if the contact rate gains hold.
Eduardo Nunez 2/S/3 - MIN - Nunez had a pair of singles and a steal (his 9th) Sunday, giving him 4 straight multi-hit games atop the Twin order. Clearly, this performance from Nunez is unsupported by the stats, but he was unfairly maligned for much of his career as a weak offensive player. He had 36 XBH as a 21 year old at AA 7 years ago, which isn't a huge number, but it's not that of a banjo-hitter either. His ISO is in the process of increasing for the 4th straight year, and his speed is obvious to all. As a 2B/SS/3B eligible bat, he should still be expected to offer value after the expected regression. That being said, if you can swing it he clearly is a sell-high candidate.
Nick Tropeano SP - LAA - Tropeano was knocked around a bit by the Astros Sunday, giving up 4 runs on 7 hits and 5 walks over 5 innings, striking out 5 in an extra-inning loss. Tropeano is missing bats, which gives him the upside that we all crave, but let's not get carried away with the gaudy (less so, now) ERA. He's probably a 4.00 guy, give or take a quarter of a run. He doesn't have dominant stuff at all, relying instead on changing speeds to get the swings and misses that he needs. That's going to result in a fairly high WHIP, and it's also going to result in days like this on occasion. I'm fine with him as a streaming option, perhaps even an SP5 in deeper leagues, but his overall upside is much less than many with similar values.
Danny Valencia 3B - OAK - Valencia has 6 hits over the last two days, and buoyed by a hard contact rate of 37% he's still showing excellent power, although much more on the road (.755 SLG) than in the cavernous O.co coliseum (.357 SLG), the 2nd worst park for hitters thus far in 2016. Valencia has shown this sort of power off and on in part-time work for 5 years now, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that he's continuing to perform well on a full-time basis. In shallow leagues I'd be inclined to sit him during homestands if I had the right bench players, but particularly on the road Valencia is a worthy option at 3B in all formats.
