Kevin Pillar was 2-for-5 yesterday for the Blue Jays, and he now has a whopping 131 wRC+ for the season. He's made a large improvement to his eye, as he's swinging at just 30.6% of pitches outside the zone vs. 38.7% for his career. That's not a magnificent number, but it's enough to improve his contact enough for a meaningful difference at the plate. He entered the year batting 8th or 9th, and has now led off for the Blue Jays for nearly two weeks, which will be a huge improvement for his run totals. If he's on the waiver wire and you're desperate for runs, I'd take a shot on him to see if he can maintain this performance from the leadoff spot.
Hisashi Iwakuma pitched 5.2 innings of hitless ball, to everyone but Tyler Collins - who unfortunately had 3 hits. Iwakuma allowed 1 run (unearned) with 3 strikeouts and a walk. Iwakuma turned 36 this year and hasn't been fantasy relevant since 2015; I don't expect that to change this year either. Before yesterday, his velocity was down to just 85.9 MPH on his fastball vs. a career average of 89.2. He's living dangerously and there will be a number of poor starts going forward. His xFIP is just under 6 for a reason.
Tyler Collins has hit out of the #2 hole the last few games, which is interesting considering he sports just a 76 wRC+ for the season. Regardless, it was a great decision yesterday as he tallied 3 hits, including two doubles. Collins carries a strong LD% of 25.6%, but he's striking out far too much (25.5% K%) to maintain an average above .275. Given that there's not much power here, Collins is best left on the waiver wire. I'm not sure how much longer he'll be hitting at the top of the lineup, but who knows.
It's been a rough start for Kyle Seager, but he's fortunately come through with runners on base as he collected his 13th RBI in 20 games yesterday. He's batting .158 with the bases empty, and .357 with men in scoring position (entering yesterday). That's about the only positive sign thus far for Seager as he's been just league average (101 wRC+) and he's yet to hit a single home run. I would imagine that will change going forward, so take a look at him as a buy-low candidate. His HR numbers the last three years were 25, 26, and 30; he shouldn't stay at 0 for much longer.
Justin Verlander impressed yesterday against the Mariners, going 7 strong innings giving up just 1 ER with 8 strikeouts. He threw 119 pitches on the day, which I feel iffy about. Verlander is known as an absolute horse with a different pitch limit than normal humans, but at age 34, I wonder how long he can continue to carry that moniker. He lowered his ERA to 4.91 in the start. Verlander has surprised me before - and maybe he will the remainder of 2017 - but I'm hesitant to see a repeat of last year. He's only had one really poor start (9 ER against the Indians), though even against Detroit last week he walked 6 in five innings. Keep a close eye on Verlander and a quick trigger if you can deal him for solid value.
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