Cameron Maybin
If you're reading this, it's too late. Too late to pick up Maybin most likely, as the man is a human torch right now, hitting .647 in his first five games of 2016, flashing some power, with a homer highlighting a 3-for-4 day with two runs. Maybin stole a base in each of his first four games, and is running every chance he gets. The ex-mega prospect is going to be the hottest pick up in all of baseball Sunday and with good reason. The long-term prognostication is tough right now because of the tiny sample size, but if he's still available somehow, go grab him and ride this hot streak out. Once he drops below a .500 batting average maybe we can talk again.
Evan Longoria
Longoria had one hit on Saturday, but it was the one fantasy players want to see in the box score, as Longoria tallied his eighth home run of the 2016 season in a 1-for-4 day. Longoria has had a nice bounceback in terms of his power this season, reversing the trend of his slugging percentage slipping in the past four seasons. Longoria feels like he has been in the league forever, but he is still just 30 years old, and putting together a nice season. His .258 batting average isn't great, but his BABIP suggest it won't slip any further, and you can live with .260ish if he's hitting home runs at this rate. It's not too surprising to see Longoria's home run rate up, as he has also reversed the trend of his hard hit ball rate trending downwards each of the past three seasons. He's pulling the ball at the rate he was in his prime, and appears to be healthy for now. (Knock on wood.) The only slightly disturbing trend is his walk rate is down for the fifth straight season and his strikeout rate is near career-high. Longoria is indeed swinging at more pitches outside of the zone this season, and his swinging strike rate is by far a career high. I'm not going to worry too much because of how hard he's hitting it when he makes contact, but it's something to keep an eye on, if pitchers just start giving him way less in the zone, especially in a not-too-stacked Rays lineup, his value could drop.
Michael Fulmer
The Tigers top prospect coming into 2016 had his best start of his young career on Saturday, going seven innings, and allowing just one run in his third win of the season. Most impressively, Fulmer struck out 11 Rays against just one walk, and made his case for staying in the Tiger rotation. Fulmer was mixing his pitches with aplomb, getting multiple whiffs with all four of his pitches. According to Brooks Baseball, Fulmer threw 29 two-seamers, 30 four-seamers, 29 changeups and 18 sliders - that's a nice mix. The changeup was particularly elite, getting nine (!) whiffs on 18 swings. The changeup came in for a strike over 75 percent of the time, and wasn't hit successfully the entire day. That was by far the most Fulmer has used the changeup this season, and it will be interesting to see how he uses the pitch on Friday against the A's. Fulmer is a must-start versus the A's but I'm not sure you'll be able to wait until Thursday night to pick him up. A big prospect with a start like that is liable to be picked up sooner than later, so if you want to buy into Saturday's performance, pull the trigger soon. Based on pedigree and his 3.16 xFIP, it's fair to put your faith in 23-year-old righty.
Eduardo Nunez
The Twins short stop continued his hot stretch, going yard for the third time this season, and bringing his slash line to .331/.367/.492 to go along with his eight steals this season. The 28-year-old has had a renaissance this season, finding his way into the lineup when Eduardo Escobar (a solid shortstop option in his own right) went on the DL. There are certainly many warning signs with Nunez, as many might imagine, given the fact that he has been a bit of a journeyman/utility player the past six seasons. He hasn't seen any improvement in his walk or strikeout rates, and the improvement in areas like line drive rate and hard hit ball rate are not significant enough to explain the jump in production. The .387 BABIP screams regression, but there are a couple pieces of good news. Nunez got a vote of confidence from his manager Thursday, as Paul Molitor said Nunez would still get at bats when Escobar returns from the DL. The other good news is that Nunez has seen his infield fly ball rate continue to trend down this season. Nunez was once such an infield pop up "master" that Ben Lindbergh wrote an entire piece for Grantland joking about how often he popped up in the infield. The last five years of infield fly ball rate, though: 25.8 (!), 19.8, 17.0, 14.3 and 9.7 this season. Eliminating those free outs will certainly improve one's BABIP and be extremely helpful to any hitter. Nunez won't be anything outside of an AL-Only option once Escobar returns, but there may be some reason to believe the improved play has some legitimate founding to it.
Daily Fantasy Leagues
Michael Pineda
Pineda currently sports a 6.60 ERA, but there are a lot of signs that he could make a good play on Sunday. For one, Pineda has been burned early and often by his home run-friendly home stadium this season, as nine of his ten home runs allowed on the season have come at home, and his 3.60 xFIP suggests a far better pitcher when fly balls are leaving the stadium at an expected rate. Pineda is also striking out hitters at an elite rate this season, coming in at 10.31 hitters per nine. Strikeouts are obviously essential in any format in fantasy, and although the A's don't strike out as often as some teams in the league, their limited offensive firepower - especially with Josh Reddick now out - makes for a good match up Sunday. Pineda's profile looks very similar to his solid results in 2015, just without the ERA yet. Look for Pineda to turn it around in the long-term, and Sunday is a good day to start that revival. If you're a bit scared, pick up Danny Valencia as a handicap, as he is the Athletic most likely to take Pineda deep on Sunday.
"This is just a small sample our our daily analysis, join our member area for over 80 player updates daily: http://www.fantistics.com/
DraftKings:$7,700
