Nate Karns (SP-KC) - Karns has teased us with his potential before, and perhaps he did it again on Monday in Tampa Bay. Karns fanned 10 over 6.1 innings of two-run ball, allowing six hits and walking two in lowering his ERA to 4.58. That gives Karns a solid 36:12 K:BB. In 35.1 innings and leaves him with a 2-2 mark on the year. That's now back-to-back wins for Karns in which he's lowered his ERA from 6.26 while posting a 17:3 K:BB in 12.1 innings. For his career, Karns now has 296 K's in 294.1 innings, so we know he misses bats, but a 1.3 HR/9 and 3.7 BB/9 have held him back. Karns has improved his GB/FB significantly so far this year, with a 2.5 mark versus rates in the 1.27 and 1.36 range the last couple seasons. I think there's some breakout potential here.
Yoan Moncada (2B/3B-CHW) - We haven't talked about Moncada much lately, but he's clearly the best minor league prospect who is most ready to make a quick impact a la Cody Bellinger. In 108 at-bats for Triple-A Charlotte, Moncada is batting .352/.427/.565 with six homers and seven stolen bases. The steals give him 101 minor league steals in 214 games, so the fantasy appeal here is pretty obvious. The big caveat here is a 26.6% K%, but he's also walked 12.1% of the time, so while the strikeouts will impact his batting average, this is still an elite talent. At this point we have no idea when Moncada will get called up, but they appear ready to keep him down until Super-two arbitration status is no longer an issue, and that may keep him down until sometime in June or even July given he also accrued service time last year. That said, the White Sox are surprisingly competitive (at least so far) and their current second baseman, Tyler Saladino is carrying an anemic .584 OPS. We'll see, but he's hitting .457 with just six strikeouts in his last 10 games.
Jose Leclerc (RP-TEX) - Matt Bush has done a pretty good job as the Texas closer with a 1.69 ERA and 1.03 WHIP, though the Rangers have given him just one save opportunity since Bush took over for Sam Dyson back on April 17. That said, Bush has allowed six baserunners in his last three innings, so maybe the job opens up again at some point. If it does, look for Leclerc to be next man up. Leclerc was placed on the DL Monday with a bruised finger, but assuming he's back quickly, he could get a look at some point. Leclerc has a 2.31 ERA and 0.94 WHIP and he's leveraged a 96 mph average fastball to an elite 13.9 K/9. His uncharacteristic three walks last time out pushed his BB/9 to 3.9, and that's a little high obviously. Leclerc struggled with his control in the minors as well and posted a 7.8 BB/9 in 15 innings for the Rangers last year, but save for his last outing, he seems to have improved in that part of his game.
Justin Wilson (RP-DET) - Francisco Rodriguez is on thin ice considering his back-to-back blown saves/losses over the weekend. K-Rod has an 8.49 ERA and 2.40 WHIP with four blown saves and four losses. He may be toast. Next guy up isn't quite clear. Wilson though is clearly the team's best reliever with a 1.32 ERA, 0.59 WHIP, 14.5 K/9, and 2.6 BB/9 while averaging 96.4 mph with this fastball, up from 95.1 mph last year. He's been great. That said, Brad Ausmus just isn't a great manager, leaving this situation with plenty of uncertainty. Ausmus may prefer the flexibility of using Wilson in the seventh and eighth innings, leaving a guy like Alex Wilson as another potential option. I'd grab Justin in all formats and Alex in deeper leagues as a speculative pickup. K-Rod can probably be dropped, though until we get official word (may come before this is published), I'd probably just bench him.
Yonder Alonso (1B-OAK-DraftKings: $2,800) - Alonso has amazingly tied his career-high in home runs with nine. He's also Exhibit A as to why spring training numbers DO matter and that you should NOT ignore reports of guys who have an improved approach at the plate. Alonso is using the whole field now and it's paid off to the tune of .311/.386/.667 with a 10.9 BB%. Alonso has sacrificed some contact for the power, as his 21.8% K% is well above his 14.7% career mark, but no one is complaining about the start he's off to. For a guy who, pre-2017, homered once every 54 at-bats to now have nine in 90 at-bats this year, it's easy to be skeptical, but we've never seen anything remotely like this from Alonso, so while he's not hitting 40 home runs, 25 looks to be a real possibility. Tuesday he gets the Angels' Alex Meyer, making an A's stack a solid strategy, though perhaps a bit chalky.
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