Greg Holland
Holland picked up his 20th save of the season already, and he is still yet to blow a save. Holland has been one of the best values of the 2017 season, as he was a late-round closer who has been arguably the most valuable pitcher in all of fantasy baseball this season. Holland was a stud in his prime with Kansas City, but he had seemingly lost a bit of his velocity in recent years and struggled to adjust in 2016. This season, Holland has an ERA of 1.31 with a FIP of 1.88 and xFIP of 2.58. His velocity isn't much higher than 2016, but his slider has been absolutely beastly and the fastball has been mighty solid on its own. With the Rockies a surprise contender and Holland looking sharp as ever, don't expect too much of a decline from the veteran closer.
Hernan Perez
The last three games against the Mets have done wonders for Perez who had hit a bit of a bump in the road in what has been another productive season for the 26-year-old Brewer. Perez played three of the four games in the Milwaukee-New York series, collecting six hits in those games, scoring a run and knocking in three - maybe he's who Mr. Met was flipping off. Perez has seen some regression since his fast start, but his current slash line .277/.313/.464 looks like just about what to expect for the rest of the season. His BABIP has settled just over .300 (.306), which nearly mirrors his career rate (.307). His HR/FB rate in 2017 (11.4 percent) is now nearly identical to his 2016 season (11.5 percent), and he's making up for the fact that he's hitting a few less fly balls by hitting them a little bit harder. All that adds up to a 100 wRC+, which seems right around where he should be the rest of the season. That gives him value in even slightly-deeper leagues, especially given that his stolen base totals could improve from here on out (only two steals through 47 games after 34 steals in 123 games last season).
Chase Anderson
Anderson followed up his 114-pitch no-hit bid in his last outing with yet another outstanding performance. Anderson went seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits and a walk, while striking out seven. The Milwaukee bullpen was able to lock down the win for Anderson, who is now 4-1 on the season. He is sporting a 3.30/3.39/4.30 ERA/FIP/xFIP slash line right now and is going to start getting a lot more looks even in shallow leagues now. His ownership sits below 30 percent on ESPN as of writing this, but expect that figure to shoot up by the time you look, and by the time his next start comes around (home against lowly San Francisco), he should be one of the most popular streaming options. The improved strikeout rate is nice, and it is indeed paired with a two-percent jump in swinging strike rate, but don't expect him to keep avoiding home runs as well as he has so far, especially given his home stadium. Anderson has not been limiting hard contact any better than last season, and he is far more likely to settle into the high-3.00/low-4.00 ERA tier of pitchers that are solid streaming options but likely to post a few duds along the way. In deeper leagues, he's a definite buy though, as there are some true improvements to his game, especially in generating whiffs.
Zack Wheeler
Wheeler had his fourth quality starts in his last five outings, but ended up taking the loss in Thursday's matchup with Milwaukee. Wheeler tallied six and a third innings, allowing two runs on 10 hits and a walk, while striking out six. Given the 11 base runners, Wheeler was a bit fortunate to give up just the two runs, as his ERA is now down to 3.72 on the season. Wheeler began the year with several tough-luck outings, but he has had all his regression over the past month, and is now a reliable high-3.00s ERA pitcher. That may not sound great on the surface, but he is quite reliable (hasn't given up more than four runs in a start since his 2017 debut) and is a solid source for strikeouts. His strikeout rate and run prevention skills come in just above average in terms of the league-wide rates, and he is a solid option in 12-team leagues and deeper. He gets an extra boost from pitching being extra hard to find this season, and his steady starts of late.
Daily Fantasy
German Marquez ($40)
Friday is a beastly slate for pitchers, as Clayton Kershaw, Stephen Strasburg, Yu Darvish, and Dallas Keuchel are all on the docket. You could also play it safe with a Gerrit Cole, Jason Vargas type of spin the wheel with a Michael Pineda or Rick Porcello outing. One pitcher who might slip through the cracks (especially in tournament play) is Marquez. The 22-year-old is riding is four-game win streak in which he has given up four runs combined over 24 and two-thirds innings. He is striking out nearly a batter an inning over that stretch (8.03 K/9 to be exact), and his FIP has been nearly as strong, coming in at 3.28. The one way in which Marquez has been getting a bit lucky is with his home runs. His xFIP for his last four games sits at 4.18 and his season xFIP is about 0.70 higher than both his ERA and FIP. That's the beauty of Friday's matchup, though. Marquez gets to do his work in Petco Park against the Padres, a team that ranks tenth in the NL in home runs. They also rank first in the NL in strikeouts and have been providing some massive game scores for pitchers in the past few weeks. There's a bit of volatility involved whenever you take a 22-year-old, but the upside is worth it with Marquez on Friday.
This is just a small sample our our daily analysis, join our member area for over 80 player updates daily. Click here for details:http://www.insiderbaseball.
