John Hicks (C/1B) DET - Hicks has been playing consistently since May started, and he's hit in 8 of his last 10 after a lone single on Sunday. He's been murdering lefties to the tune of 345/444/586, exhibibting above-average exit velocity and a substantially increased flyball rate. His playing time is likely going to drop a bit in the near-term when Miggy returns, but with catcher eligibility I think he's still going to be useful in deeper leagues. Hicks is interesting to me because, despite being 28, last year's 408 PAs between AAA and MLB represents the most that he's had since 2012 in A-ball. Last year in that roughly 2/3 of a season Hicks had 13 homers and 7 steals with a hard contact rate of 35%, and this season the hard contact rate has jumped nearly another 10 points, leading me to believe that he could put up 20 homers if he got enough playing time. I doubt he'll steal a ton in the majors, but a catcher that could hit 20 homers and chip in five steals or so with an AVG that doesn't kill you? He's probably borderline top-10.....if he gets the PT, and that's the issue. I think there are more potential issues with the AVG here than we've seen so far as well, as the chase rate and contact rate are pretty poor, yet the AVG has been held afloat by the excellent hard contact rate and BABIP. Regardless of the potential downside there, I like the power, so I see him as a useful piece in deeper leagues, AL-only leagues, and 2-catcher leagues with an outside chance of having relevance in standard formats if he can maintain playing time 4 or so days per week after Cabrera's return.
Trevor Bauer (SP) CLE - Bauer's 3rd-straight QS was ruined by coming out to start the 8th inning already at 110 pitches....3 batters later he was pulled with two men on and the bullpen allowed everybody to score and then some. Still, you've got to say this was another excellent outing for Bauer, as he fanned 13 and allowed only 5 baserunners in his first 7 innings. Bauer continues to use his breaking pitches with career-high frequency, dropping his FB usage down to just above 40% despite posting the best velocity of his career. He's been a bit fortunate this year via BABIP given his hard contact rate, but the massive increase in swinging strike rate (9.2 to 12.3) and chase rate (25 to 33) have helped him become a guy that looks like a legitimate #2 starter. The occasional control battles and hard contact rate keep him from the "ace" discussion, but he's a guy I'd be happy to have in my rotation nonetheless.
Evan Gattis (C/DH) HOU - Since bottoming at 186/263/279 on May 6th, Gattis has hit in 10 of 14 with 3 doubles and 5 homers in 49 ABs. With the best chase rate, swinging strike%, and zone contact rate of his career, you'd expect the numbers to continue to normalize for Gattis going forward...he's been much more patient this year than he ever has before, and it looks like the approach is starting to pay dividends. This may (depending on your league rules) be the last year that Gattis retains C eligibility, and as such it may be the last year that he retains standard-league value, but for now he still has both.
Nomar Mazara (OF) TEX - Another week, another pair of homers for the 23 year old Mazara, who continues to post a ridiculous HR/FB rate (now 34.3%). As much as we may quibble about Mazara's good fortune to this point, this is a guy that I've thought would eventually become a star when he was 19, and I'm not completely dissuaded from that viewpoint now. Over the past few years Mazara has made small strides in improving his chase rate, he's made significant gains in hard contact rate, and he's made massive improvements in his ability to hit LHP and breaking pitches. Sure, the launch angle is crap, but there's time here....despite over 1400 MLB PAs he just turned 23 a month ago. I love the guy in dynasty leagues, and I like him to maintain OF3-OF4 status this year (he's ranked #20 right now).
Ryan Tepera (RP) TOR - A pretty good rule of thumb to determine if you're the closer is this: if you're allowed to close out back-to-back games, you're the closer. By that rule, Tepera is officially the man for the job in Toronto, reducing Oh and Clippard to CIWs once again. Tepera is a standard "hard and harder" guy, throwing a fastball and cutter over 95% of the time. His control is a bit sketchy and the hard contact rate is up this year, so I'd expect him to give the job back again at some point this year, but you never know with bullpen guys as the sample size is so small....it's easy to rattle off 8-10 innings in a row without blowing up, and if they aren't all one-run leads you're protecting then boom, you're the permanent closer. Tepera probably doesn't even crack the top-20 for RP with this news, but saves are saves so he has some value for the time being.
