Andrelton Simmons (SS) LAA - As SBs have become more and more scarce, a guy like Simmons that has suddenly figured out to run again is that much more valuable. It also helps that he's seemingly discovered how to hit again. Simmons is the 7th ranked SS by roto rankings right now, and 5th ranked by RC+. You may look at him and see something that's vanilla, but a solid AVG and 15/15 production from a SS are well worth an investment. The thing with Simmons is that he has always been a maddening player offensively. He has average-plus speed and power along with elite contact ability, which should have been enough for him to be a guaranteed top-10 SS every season. After some solid seasons at age 22-23, his age 24-25 years were so incredibly disappointing that he was written off by nearly everyone. Since coming to the Angels he's pulling the ball more again, running more again, and this season his hard contact rate has jumped from the mid-20's to the low-30's, by far a career-best. He is absolutely an every-league player at SS right now, and I really don't think there's much that is "fluky" in this at all....the BABIP is actually a touch low, I think.
Logan Morrison (1B) TB - Morrison hit another pair of bombs on Sunday, giving him 21 for the year and 16 since the beginning of May. There is clearly some real improvement here, particularly in the area of his control of the strike zone. His chase rate has continued to drop from his aggressive Mariner days, and when he's connecting he is hitting far more balls in the air than he ever has before. The hard contact rate is up into the low-40's, so the outcomes have been great on the changed approach as well. I'd love to think that the .245 BABIP will improve with the better hard contact, but he's generally been a low-BABIP guy in the past so I wouldn't expect too much there. He should remain a useful CI at the very least, and perhaps there is a bit of AVG upside as well.
Jacob Faria (SP) TB - Faria's first three starts for the Rays have been outstanding, with his most recent outing Sunday in Detroit looking like a carbon copy of the others (7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, lots of flyballs, lots of swinging strikes). He's shown better control in these 20 innings than he has since rookie ball, which is certainly a red flag, and the FB rate is going to result in some balls flying out of the park, particularly if the 47% hard contact rate is even close to "real". Still, the ability to miss bats is huge, and he's shown that at every level. Faria is an automatic pickup in all formats, and the "back-end SP" tag that he's been under the past few seasons looks a touch pessimistic right now. I would be running with him right now in all formats until something changes that mindset.
J.A. Happ (SP) TOR - Happ tossed his second straight quality start Sunday, holding the White Sox to 3 runs over 6 2/3 innings, with 9 strikeouts and no walks. You might think "well, it was the White Sox", but the Pale Hose have not only been hot lately (4th most R in the past week) but they post MLB's #1 OPS against LHP, and it isn't really close. Happ, in his 6 short starts this year, is offering career-bests in chase rate, swinging strike%, K/9, and GB%, some of the most important indicators for SPs. His SIERA and xFIP are both under 3.50 as well, which means that you should definitely expect better performances down the road. He makes an excellent pickup or acquisition target for the remainder of the season.
Ben Gamel (OF) SEA - Gamel had another pair of singles Sunday, extending his most recent hitting streak to 10 games, and he's had multi-hit contests in 7 of those. It's been mostly singles, as he has just 5 doubles and 2 steals to his credit over this stretch, but he's scored 11 runs and fanned only 4 times. Hitting leadoff in a solid lineup, Gamel definitely has standard-sized league value right now, even if the outsized .461 BABIP is due for some regression. My estimation of a 10/10 player with a solid AVG holds, and at just 25 there is the potential for a bit more growth as well. He's no world-beater, but he has enough value that he shouldn't be ignored.
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