Melvin Upton Jr. (OF, SD): Upton finished Sunday's tilt with the Dodgers 3-7 with a triple, a run scored, an RBI and his ninth stolen base of the season. He's had a pretty crazy resurgent season with the Padres at the tender age of 31. He's got the K's back under control, relatively speaking for his skill set anyway, at 25.7%. He's always featured good patience at the plate, and his 10.3% walk rate has fueled his .266/.341/.442 slash so far. As shocking as it is to say, Melvin Upton needs to be owned even in shallow mixed leagues while he's hot. A cool down should be expected, however. His 13.7% swinging strike rate and 71.2% contact rates indicate that his overall K% could very well increase as the season wears on, draining his batting average with it. He's also got a near career-high 18.2% HR/FB rate, meaning the home runs will slow down as well. He's always been a reliable source for speed though, and is 9-12 in stolen base attempts already this season. Ride him until he cools off in shallower mixed leagues, hold him in deeper mixed leagues for the stolen bases. Just know that he's going to turn back into a pumpkin eventually.
Kyle Hendricks (SP, ChC): Hendricks and the Cubs pen gave up only one total run to the Giants Sunday night, but that was enough to net Hendricks the loss. His final line was 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K. He's performed essentially as expected so far this year. He's maintained a similar walk rate to last year (2.33 BB/9 currently) and his strikeouts have fallen from 8.35/9 last year to 7.38/9 this year. If you looked at his swinging strike rate of 8.1% from a year ago, it serves as no surprise to see his K's down, as such a mediocre swinging strike rate doesn't warrant a higher than league average K%. He underperformed last year compared to his FIP (3.95 ERA, 3.36 FIP) and this year has been more of the same, albeit to a higher degree (3.30 ERA, 2.89 FIP). He's also managed to get even more ground balls this season, up to 58.1% from his 51.3% mark from a year ago. Averaging only 87 MPH on the fastball this season, he needs to be pinpoint with his control, and so far he's proven that he can do so. The K's won't be great, but he's become a dependable mixed league starter. He's only 2-4 to start the year, but with the Cubs rolling the way they are, more wins should come. He'll be a strong option in his next start, which is currently penciled in for Saturday at home against the Phillies.
Anthony Rendon (2B/3B, Was): Rendon showed signs of life against Adam Conley and the Marlins on Sunday, going 2-4 with a double, a triple, a walk, a run scored, and three RBI from the six hole. Rendon has been one of the biggest buy-low candidates of the first month and a half of baseball, but that buying window looks to be slamming shut. It was only a matter of time before his BABIP caught up to his 38.5% hard contact rate, and with his BABIP up to .307 now, his slash line has obviously followed, climbing to .259/.351/.365. The slugging is still very low, but his HR/FB% is a paltry 4.2% and screams positive regression. The 13 RBI are also insanely low, and that's a pure fluke which should normalize moving forward. He's also 5-7 in stolen base attempts and is pacing towards his first 20 steal season ever. It's only a matter of time before the power shows up, so if you can still buy low on Rendon, do it now.
Adam Conley (SP, Mia): Conley struggled mightily against the Nationals Sunday afternoon, giving up six runs on seven hits and a whopping seven walks with two strikeouts in five and one-third innings. He was tagged with his third loss of the season, and his ERA rose to 4.15. He's struggled with his control at times this season, with a pair of four walk outings to his credit before this outings' wildness. He's still maintaining a good first pitch strike rate and getting plenty of swinging strikes, so this is nothing more than a bump in the road. In fact, the Nationals are currently the toughest draw in the league against left-handed pitching according to OPS, leading the league with an .839 mark against southpaws. He'll have a much easier matchup in his next turn on the bump, traveling to Atlanta to take on the Braves. Hang onto Conley, there will be better games coming.
Michael Conforto (OF, NYM): Conforto went 1-4 with a walk and a solo home run against the Brewers on Sunday. The bomb was his eighth of the season, and Conforto is looking right at home hitting third in the order for the Mets. A 22% K%, 9% BB% and .270 ISO are absolutely terrific numbers for a 23 year old, and he's been smoking the ball for a 46.2% hard contact rate which is third best in all of baseball behind only David Ortiz and (more surprisingly) David Wright. His .330 BABIP seems high ordinarily, but when you're making such consistently hard contact, you're going to be able to maintain an above-average BABIP. He's got a good shot to finish the year as one of the biggest returns on your draft day investment.
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