Yoenis Cespedes (OF, NYM) - Cespedes hit his 15th home run of the year, his third home run in as many games as his bat has finally roared back to life here in August. He has five home runs in the month already, and he's now hitting .276/.326/.521 over his 282 plate appearances in what has been an injury shortened season. His .245 ISO is creeping up on the .251 mark he has posted each of the last two seasons, and his 43% hard contact rate is actually 3% better than what it was last year. The power could continue to tick up (and his average down) with a 51% fly ball rate that is up a whopping 10% from last year and 8% from his career average. His contact rate is actually up 3% from 2016 to 81%, so he's not just selling out for power. Cespedes should be a very good source of power down the stretch for his owners.
Rafael Montero (SP, NYM) - Montero posted a quality start against the Yankees, his first since July 23rd. He went six innings and gave up two runs on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks. His ERA is an unsightly 5.80, but his 9.34 K/9 is worth paying attention to. He got 13 whiffs in this outing including six on his slider for a 23% wiff rate. His walk rate has slowly trended downward, now sitting at 4.67 K/9. That number is still way too high, but a 65% first pitch strike rate and 44% zone rate tell us that walk rate should be lower than it is. He has also suffered from a .373 BABIP despite an incredibly low 27% hard contact rate, so his future results should be even better than his 4.61 FIP would suggest. His velocity fell off quite a bit as he wore on in this start so he might not get built up enough to be a real asset this year, but he is worth a look as a streaming option and as an option in 2018 in keeper leagues.
Asher Wojciechowski (SP, CIN) - Wojciechowski had about as hard a time on the mound against the Cubs as I have trying to spell his name. He was blown up for seven runs over 3.2 innings, although he had a pristine 5:0 K:BB ratio. He gave up a season-high 10 hits, including homers to Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. The home run has been a huge problem for him this season; he has a 2.05 HR/9 over 48.1 innings with the Reds, which has understandably led to a 5.21 ERA. Things could be worse if he hadn't maintained a 1.81 BB/9 so far, which is backed up by a very nice 67% first pitch strike rate. The strikeouts are very nice at 9.50 K/9, and they have ticked up thanks to a 10.8% swinging strike rate. Unfortunately, he is an extreme fly ball pitcher in a hitters park (even nicknamed "Great American Small Park"), which lends to more fly balls turning into home runs than you would normally see. His 15.3% HR/FB rate is higher than anything he's ever posted, so he should be able to pitch more to his 4.48 FIP moving forward, but obviously that's not worth looking at in fantasy. Perhaps he could stand to walk an extra batter or two and live out of the zone a bit rather than grooving pitches.
Chad Bettis (SP, COL) - Bettis blanked the Braves over seven innings, allowing just six hits with no walks and two strikeouts. It was his 2017 MLB debut as he missed the rest of the season battling with testicular cancer. It's a terrific story, and he was both efficient and impressive in this one. He threw 63 of his 90 pitches for strikes, although he amassed just six whiffs. He isn't a high-K pitcher however, so you shouldn't expect a lot more moving forward. Last year over 186 innings he posted a 6.68 K/9 on an 8.7% swinging strike rate. He is effective because he limits walks (3.18 career BB/9) and gets a lot of ground ball outs (49.6% career GB%). That was only good enough to net him a 4.79 ERA last year, and as always it's difficult to trust any starter pitching in Coors. His away split was a 5.06 ERA in 2016 too, so that quells any immediate notion of deploying him specifically on the road. His fastball also averaged just 89.6 MPH in this one, down from 91.7 MPH last season. So unfortunately, despite a great start and a great story, Bettis is best left for the waiver wire.
Jerad Eickhoff (SP, PHI) - Eickhoff gave up two runs (one earned) over five innings against the Padres, walking three and striking out five. The 27 year old has been a disappointment overall this year after putting up a 3.65 ERA over 197.1 innings in 2017, currently sitting with a 4.33 ERA over 116.1 innings and a 3-7 record. On the bright side his strikeouts have increased from 7.62 K/9 to 8.20 this year, but his walk rate has increased dramatically from 1.92 BB/9 to 3.64, and that has been his undoing. His first pitch strike rate has fallen each year now since his debut in 2015, and this year is only 57.5%. He is also not getting any chases out of the zone (26.4% O-zone%), so even though he is using his curveball 8% more this year, he isn't fooling batters. He will continue to be usable as a back-end option in deeper mixed leagues, but there isn't anything pointing towards a productive correction.
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