Lance McCullers Jr. (SP-HOU) McCullers Jr. was lights out Saturday night tossing 7 shutout innings allowing just 2 hits and striking out 7 in the Astros 11-0 victory. McCullers Jr. entered the game with an unsightly 4.67 ERA, mostly due to an 8 run implosion vs the Twins a few weeks ago. Other than that start he has given up only 6 earned runs in 30 1/3 innings, while striking out 38. McCullers Jr. has been one of several dominating Houston starting pitchers, entering the game second in the AL in Ground Ball % (63%) and sporting a 3.43 FIP and 12.33 K/9. Interestingly despite the strong string of outings with just one dud, McCullers has allowed the highest BABIP (.381) of all American League starters. As this number regresses to a more normalized value McCullers could be due to improve even more on his dwindling ERA, which fell to 3.71 after the win.
Kevin Pillar (OF-TOR) Pillar smacked 2 solo home runs in the Blue Jays loss to the Rangers Saturday. Mainly known for his highlight reel outfield plays, Pillar has had a nice start offensively to 2018 with an OPS checking in at .888 to go along with 3 home runs, 13 RBIs, 17 runs scored and 4 stolen bases. Pillar has locked down the everyday center field job in Toronto for the past 3 season due to his defensive prowess and his blend of speed and gap power (30+ doubles, 14+ steals each of the past 3 seasons) but could become even more of an asset if he can keep his batting average hovering around .300 for a prolonged period of time.
Jose Altuve (2B-HOU) Altuve went 4-5 with his second home run of the season. Altuve upped his average all the way to .351 after this one, but he only has 7 extra base hits to his name and has only swiped one bag so far this season. It would be absurd to complain in any way about someone batting .351 but Altuve has set the bar so high in years past it is hard not to look past the fact that his OPS was "only" .791 entering Saturdays game. Altuve has a significantly lower ISO to start this season (.066 in 2018 vs .202 last year) and his pull rate is much lower this year (29.7%) than last (40.8%). That being said the extra base hit drought may be coming to end following the big night Saturday.
Eric Skoglund (SP-KC) Skoglund tossed a gem in Game 2 of the Royals doubleheader allowing a solo home run among 2 hits in 7 innings while striking out 9 White Sox Batters to pick up the win. He entered the game with a 8.57 ERA and carried a 9.50 ERA from 2017 in limited action, so needless to say this was an impressive and surprising outing from the lefty. Following a leadoff home run to Tim Anderson, only one other batter reached base via a hit. His K/9 (6.61) and BB/9 (4.68) during his short time in the majors are nothing to write home about but he should have plenty of opportunities this season to log more starts like these on a 6-20 Royals team.
Daniel Palka (OF-CWS) Palka had a monster Game 1 of the White Sox Doubleheader Saturday going 4-5 with a double, 3 runs, 3 RBIs and his first major league home run. The 26-year old padded the White Sox lead with a 427 foot 3-run shot in the 7th inning showcasing some of his power that led to 109 home runs during 6 seasons in the minor leagues. While Palka sat for the second game of the doubleheader, he may be worth a flier in deeper leagues as the young White Sox may be able to find him a few additional starts with Avisail Garcia on the DL - although owners should note he struck out in close to 30% of his at bats during the past few years in the minor leagues.
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