Ben Zobrist (OF - CHC) - At 35 years young, Ben Zobrist continues to produce: yesterday he was 2-for-3 with 2 walks. He has by far the highest BB% of his career in 2016, clearly with the mentality that if he gets on base, someone will hit him in. Yesterday saw him in the leadoff spot for the second time all year, which is warranted given his .396 wOBA. The numbers look like Zobrist is back in his prime - and it surprises me because I more or less wrote him off as a fantasy asset a few years ago when he flirted with only 10 home runs. Boy was I wrong. He's somehow managed to improve his contact rate to 90.5% -- a career high - while he only swings and misses at 3.4% of pitches. He should continue to be an on-base and run scoring machine for the remainder of 2016.
Brandon Moss (1B - STL) - Moss doesn't have particularly fruitful splits to take advantage of; however, all 7 of his HR in 2016 have come against righties. In a nice matchup as an away team in an AL park tomorrow against Weaver, I'm using Moss in GPP matchups given his typical low ownership. Moss has been striking out at an awful clip this year, but that's not something I'm overly concerned about with Weaver on the mound. I'm buying Moss and his $3,500 price tag.
Max Scherzer (SP - WAS) - Nine innings, 2 ER, 6 hits... 20 strikeouts. Scherzer tied the MLB record with K's in 9 innings last night in an absolutely dominant performance. His xFIP was -0.14 last night. Needless to say, it was a great start. Prior to last night, we had seen deterioration in Scherzer's peripherals - his FIP stood at 4.79 with a 3.65 SIERA, and his K rate was down to "just" 9.63. Last night puts that on the backburner as Scherzer showed what he's capable of. There are only a few humans on the planet capable of punching out that many batters in a solid offense. The rest of 2016, Scherzer remains among the top pitchers in the game.
Freddie Freeman (1B - ATL) - Freeman connected with his sixth HR of the year last night, and his third in four games. On 4/27, I pleaded with in this space for Freeman to show some power - and that's exactly what he's done in the two weeks since then, and it shows how much can change in just 11 games. Freeman is now putting up similar peripherals to last year's productive season, but there's some potential for additional upside as he's hitting flyballs at a 42% clip, well above the 35% for his career. This could result in a career high in home runs for Freeman; stay tuned.
Drew Pomeranz (SP - SD) - Pomeranz had 10 less strikeouts than Max Scherzer last night, but that shouldn't take away from his 6 innings, 10 K, 0 ER performance against the Cubs last night in Game 2 of the doubleheader. Pomeranz looks fantastic right now for the Padres and should be added in all formats if he hasn't been already. He has a K rate over 11 per 9 innings and, coming into last night, an excellent FIP of 2.86 with a respectable 3.58 SIERA. His GB rate is solid at 45%, though not quite elite. There's quite a bit to like here. He'll regress a bit from his current ERA, and the big concern would be his eventual innings cap (just 86 innings last year), but ride the great performance while you can. As a former #5 overall pick, Pomeranz could be the real deal.
