Chad Green, SP, NYY
Green was excellent for the Yankees on Monday, striking out 11 Rays in 6 shutout innings, while allowing just 2 hits and no walks in his 2nd win of the season. Green's K/9 is up to a phenomenal 10.80 on the season, and ironically that mark is even higher as a starter (12.00 K/9 in four starts). The high strikeout totals are a bit surprising considering he's never whiffed batters at this rate through the minors, but he had a high 12.2% SwStr% coming into Monday's game, so it doesn't look like a total fluke. His ERA still sits at 4.05 but most of the damage has come via his 8 HR's allowed. With a GB% of 50% and a 34.8% HR/FB, we should see regression in that area soon. Right now things are looking promising for the Yankees' young right-hander.
Kevin Kiermaier, OF, TB
Kiermaier extended his hitting streak to six games on Monday, going 3-4 with a HR, 3 RBI and 2 SB's against the Padres. After hitting only .152 with a mere 4 XBH's in his first 21 games since returning from the DL on July 15, Kiermaier's bat has awakened as he is hitting .385 with 4 XBH's during his current 6-game stretch. With his decent K% of 17.7%, he should continue to improve upon his current .228 BA to somewhere closer to the .263 mark he finished with each of the past two seasons. In fact, with a career high Hard% of 33.3%, maybe we should expect an even slightly higher average going forward. Kiermaier doesn't really excel in any one category (other than defense) but he can help moderately in all areas.
Nomar Mazara, OF, TEX
After an exciting first two months of the season that saw Mazara hit .302 with 9 HR's by the end of May, things haven't been quite as exciting the past few months as the rookie has hit .263 with just 4 HR's since June 1. Since Shin Soo Choo returned from the DL on Aug 4, Mazara has been a bit squeezed for playing time, as he has only started 6 of the Rangers past 12 games. With Choo breaking his forearm in Monday's game and likely being done for the year, it's reasonable to think that Mazara will see an uptick in playing time again, although this probably will depend on how well he plays as the Rangers have other options for increased playing time. Despite his success earlier in the season, Mazara's low FB% and low Hard% this season don't indicate that another power surge is immediately pending.
Josh Tomlin, SP, CLE
Tomlin was at his homerun serving ways once again on Monday, allowing two HR's to the Red Sox to give him a major leading 29 long balls allowed on the season. He somehow managed to avoid too much damage earlier in the season despite the HR's, but that luck was bound to run out eventually. He had a ten start stretch from May 13-July 1 in which he allowed 15 dingers, yet only gave up 22 ER's total during that time thanks to a .243 BABIP and 86.5% LOB%. Over his next 6 starts, Tomlin was not as fortunate, as he allowed another eight homeruns, this time in addition to a .327 BABIP and 55.3% LOB% which contributed to a 6.88 ERA over that stretch. On Monday, all three runs against Tomlin came via the two long balls, but as we have seen, this is not a trend we can expect to continue on a long term basis. Tomlin's elite walk-rate allows him to produce a decent WHIP, but I wouldn't rely on him to help you in the ERA category.
Mitch Moreland, 1B, TEX
Moreland has been hot recently, hitting .329 with 9 HR's in 26 games since the all-star break, and has been excellent at home this year with a .942 OPS. He'll have a great matchup on Tuesday against RHP Andrew Triggs who has scuffled on the road thus far with a 7.11 ERA. Value Play DraftKings $4,600.
This is just a small sample of our daily analysis, join our member area for over 80 player updates daily: http://www.fantistics.com/
