Brad Hand
For the second straight night, Hand closed out a Padres victory, giving him two saves on the season. However, there are a few caveats before you start jumping on Hand for your waiver wire pickup. First of all, neither save has been without its warts, as Hand allowed two hits and a walk Wednesday and a hit, walk, and a run Thursday. There's also the fact that after Wednesday's game, Padres manager Andy Green said Hand wasn't the new closer, but that he and Maurer would be used on a case-to-case basis. Finally, if you rank the Padres closer options by xFIP, Maurer has actually been better than Hand (2.60 to 3.20). Maurer has an ERA of 6.63, but a lot of that has been bad luck. All that said, there's still plenty of reason to at least have Hand on your radar. After all, Hand was used twice in a row, a good sign that he has the upper hand on Maurer right now. Maurer also gave up a run in the eighth Thursday, not exactly a good sign for him in the battle. Finally, Hand has an almost five-run lead on Maurer in terms of ERA, which, after all, is what has actually happened. He's worth a spec add, but just know all the caveats that go along with that.
Chris Owings
Owings hit his sixth home run of 2017 on Thursday, as he continued his strong campaign. Owings has been the top-rated shortstop in all of fantasy baseball this 2017 season, just edging out Corey Seager and Jonathan Villar, according to the ESPN Player Rater. Owings has done so by contributing in all five categories. His .320 batting average is bound to come back to earth a bit, as he is currently sporting a .384 BABIP, but he profiles as a player who can sport a higher BABIP - his BA shouldn't crater. His six home runs are already tied for a career high at the major league level, and should also come back to earth a bit. His HR/FB rate even before his sixth home run was nearly triple his career rate, and he isn't hitting the ball that much harder. Expecting more than a dozen home runs seems high. That being said, his RuBIn and stolen base potential is still excellent, as the Arizona lineup is stacked, and he stole 21 bases in just 119 games last season. Don't expect him to be the top-rated shortstop for the entirety of 2017, but he shouldn't fall out of the top eight or so. And top five for the entire season is within reason.
Trevor Story
Story has looked a lot better since his return from the DL (shoulder), which is great news for owners who had to be worried with his start to the season. Story went 1-for-4 with a long ball against the Phillies Thursday, and he has an extra-base hit in each of his two games back so far, with a double and two walks in Wednesday's games (he also walked once Thursday). Story was slashing .180/.289/.396 before the 13 games missed between May 9 and May 24. The contact issues were the most troubling before his DL stint, and Story does have only one strikeout in his admittedly tiny two-game sample since his return. Story will still have some work to do to win over owners again, as it wasn't just his high strikeout rate that was troubling before the DL stint. His hard hit ball percentage was down over 10 percent and his line drive rate down nearly seven percent. He was doing a good job elevating the ball, but seemed a bit too focused on elevating, with a 61.5 percent fly ball rate that trails only Joey Gallo and Ryan Schimpf and explains his low batting average. The best outcome for Story owners would be that the injury was lingering and affecting him before the DL stint and the rest has him back to the level fantasy players thought possible before the season.
Jeff Samardzija
The bad news: Samardzija broke his streak of striking out 47 straight batters without walking one and also took the loss to fall to 1-6 on the season.
The good news: everything else.
Samardzija had, once again, a strong outing, as he went seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits and a walk while striking out eight. It was Samardzija's fifth straight start with at least eight strikeouts, a streak which, again, has included just one walk. He was victimized by three solo home runs from the Cubs Thursday, accounting for all three runs he allowed and enough to hand him the loss. Samardzija has brought his ERA down to 4.50 over this recent stretch, but there are plenty of signs that his ERA might keep coming down. His FIP (3.28) and xFIP (2.91) are among the best in the league and paint the picture of a pitcher getting as unlucky as any in 2017. It's not as if he's allowing a high hard hit ball percentage, as it is basically right in line with his career rate, at 28.0 percent. He's allowing a few more line drives than he might like, but not enough to explain the absurd gap between his ERA and FIP/xFIP. You're not cutting him at this point given his recent performance, and you probably can't buy low on him if he's not on your team right now. If he is on your roster, keep putting him out there each start, even the tough matchups. He's dealing right now.
Daily Fantasy
Tyler Flowers ($15)
Flowers was out of the Braves' lineup Wednesday, but he should be in both the Braves' lineup and your daily lineup for Thursday's matchup with Matt Cain. Cain has allowed at least seven runs in two of his past four starts, and betting against another blow up is a nice strategy for Friday. Cain's xFIP (5.29) suggests those recent blowups have been anything but flukes, as he was due for a crash back to earth after an absurd start to the season. Cain is 32, but an old 32, and is allowing over 30 percent hard contact for the third straight season. Flowers, for his part, is one of the top sleeper catchers by exit velocity, and he should start leaving the yard a bit more often if he continues hitting the ball with the ferocity he has in 2017. Right now, his line drive rate (29.4 percent) is seeing the biggest boost from all those hard hits, so a few doubles and runs could be in order even if Flowers doesn't leave the yard.
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