Zack Godley (SP) ARI - Godley has been outstanding in his 6 starts with the Diamondbacks this year, the last 5 of which have been Quality Starts (including Wednesday's 6 IP, 3 ER outing against PIT). Every single indicator outside of the control-based ones is trending positively for him, highlighted by a swinging strike% that is up from 11.8% to 13.3%. There's been a velocity spike of almost 2 mph, and the GB rate is fantastic at over 66%. Even the control has been solid over his past three outings, with just one walk apiece in a total of 19 innings. The only thing to nitpick here is the schedule: he's faced 3 bottom-5 offenses plus the Tigers without JD Martinez. Still, there's easily enough here to justify a rotation slot in all formats right now, as the GB/K profile is very impressive.
Justin Bour (1B) MIA - Bour blasted two homers Wednesday to finish May with 11 HR and 21 RBI, and he's pushed his AVG all the way up to .288 as well, firmly entrenching himself as a top-15 option at 1B. Bour is doing this on the strength of his hard contact rate, which now sits at 47.3% and has helped him to the 12th spot on the Statcast leaderboard for average exit veolcity. He isn't hitting a ton of flyballs though, it's just the 30% HR/FB rate that's keeping the raw total up. He's hitting much better at home than on the road, which is certainly atypical for a Marlin. My illustrious colleague Lou Blasi noted that he's pulling the ball 15% more frequently at home than he is on the road, and it certainly seems to be working for him, as he's hitting .320 with an ISO over .300 in Miami. Bour is a very solid player in the middle of his prime (age 29), but I can't help thinking that this might be as high as his value will ever be. I wouldn't blame you for shopping him, as I think he tops out in the 8-12 range in the 1B rankings, but he should remain a top-15 guy at the position for at least a few more years so he's an acceptable hold as well.
Luis Perdomo (SP) SD - Don't look now, but Perdomo has quality starts in 6 of his last 7 games, 3 of which were on the road. The 24 year old has a whole passel of indicators in his favor, including a velocity bump (93.6 to 94.2) and concurrent swinging strike% improvement (8.6 to 10.4), an improved avoidance of hard contact (34.0 to 29.5), and a stellar GB% of 66. You might be tempted to promptly toss Perdomo into your lineups at will, but one word of caution: LHB are hitting 370/439/562 against him, which isn't all that surprising since he's almost exclusively a sinker/slider guy. Those numbers are obviously coming down after his 7 IP, 3 H performance against the Cubs Wednesday, but the fact remains that he is still fairly pedestrian against lefties, so he might be best deployed primarily against RH-heavy lineups. Still, he is clearly worth a pickup in all formats at this point, whether it be as a back-end starter in deeper leagues or as part of a streaming group in standard-sized formats.
Jose Peraza (2B) CIN - Peraza has had back-to-back 2-hit games after having a 13-game hitting streak snapped on Monday, and after an abysmal April he managed a tidy 292/327/406 slash line in May, chipping in 7 SB and 14 R for the month. He's back into the top 12 at 2B on the season despite a BABIP that is still probably 30 points light, and the 23 year old should be expected to remain a major contributor in AVG and SB. The R total will likely be a bit less than expected this year because of the demotion to the #8 spot in the order combined with Zack Cozart's rise, but Billy Hamilton isn't exactly written in stone atop the order, so there's some possibility for upward movement here as well.
Michael Taylor (OF) WAS - Taylor has looked rather capable filling in for Adam Eaton thus far, finishing May with a 280/323/495 line for the month with 4 HR and 3 SB. The AVG is a bit suspect with a BABIP over .380, but the borderline 20/20 potential is there, and he's going to play unless the AVG craters. Despite being owned in a mere 4% of ESPN leagues, I view Taylor as a borderline OF5, and he should be owned in leagues deeper than 12 teams for sure.
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