Matt Wisler, Atlanta Braves - Wisler was absolutely dominant Tuesday tossing eight shutout innings while notching his first win of the season. This marked the second time in his past three starts that Wisler has gone at least six innings while give up no earned runs, but the last time he earned a no decision as the Braves were shut down by Clayton Kershaw. Wisler's upside is limited though in fantasy thanks to his pedestrian K/9 of 6.21 as he struck out just four batters in this last start. Hitters are making contact on 92% of his pitches in the zone and right now he's relying on a 24% soft contact rate to help him get out. He's a streaming option for certain as in the right spots he can turn in performances like this one.
Matt Harvey, New York Mets - Matt Harvey continues to have a strange season giving up three runs to the Braves in his fourth loss of the season. His strikeout rate continues to be the biggest issue for him as he punched out just four in 5.2 innings Tuesday and has a mediocre 6.62 K/9 on the season. He's down over two strikeouts per nine compared to last season and his velocity is down across the board. His swinging strike rate is down 2% this season as well, which we can partially attribute to the velocity drop. According to Brooks Baseball, Harvey has also lost over an inch of vertical drop on his slider and his whiff rate on the pitch is 10% less than it was in the fall of last season. If I'm a Harvey owner I'm still not ready to bail yet because of the investment you put into him, but I can understand if owners are running out of patience.
Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves - It seems like it was not long ago there was a lot of doubt hanging around Freddie Freeman and his sub .100 average, but now after this recent hot stretch he's up to .286 on the season with a 106 wRC+. Now his counting stats are still (relatively) a mess with just seven RBI a month into the season, but luckily Ender Inciarte is likely due back this weekend from his hamstring injury. With he and Nick Markakis at the top of the lineup and Mallex Smith hitting in the 9th spot, Freddie may actually have some baserunners on for him to drive in runs. A note to watch is that Freddie is hitting the ball the other way at the highest clip of his career, which could be pitchers working away on him as he's the best hitter in the Braves lineup.
Javy Baez, Chicago Cubs - Maddon is using Baez's skills all over the field as he got his fourth start at third base Tuesday, but turned in an 0-for-5 game with a lone RBI. Going into that game he had been on a four game hit streak that has him hitting .305 very early on in the season. While it's a small sample this year, it's nice to see Baez's strikeout rate continue to drop from 41.5% in 2014, 30% in 2015, and 27.3% in 2016 thus far with his walk rate remaining consistent. The strikeouts are the main thing holding Baez back because when he does make contact he does serious damage and is one of few middle infield players that has legitimate 30 homer power.
Addison Russell, Chicago Cubs - Russell has gotten off to a slow start this season, but there are some positive signs of progress while looking at his stat line. His walk rate has nearly doubled up to 15.2% while he's shaved his strikeout rate down to under 20% after being near 30% last season. If he can continue this progress at the plate, he could make or an interesting buy low candidate from owners that are tired of his .210 average. His hard hit rate is up to 29.5% this season but he's got a low BABIP of .246 compared to the .325 BABIP he posted last season. If he can start getting a few more hits to drop, he could start to live up to the upside he was drafted with this season.
"This is just a small sample our our daily analysis, join our member area for over 80 player updates daily: http://www.fantistics.com/join/join.php3"
Follow me on Twitter @Josh__Sperry
