Sonny Gray, SP, NYY
Gray pitched 8 shutout innings against the Blue Jays on Wednesday, giving him 5 quality starts in his last 7, and a 3.38 ERA during that stretch after a rough start to the season. Gray is not as bad as he looked earlier in the year, but I wouldn't expect a return to his heyday with the A's when he posted a 2.88 ERA over his first three seasons. His 4.24 BB/9 is easily a career-high, while his 8.20 K/9 is merely average. His xFIP sits at 4.40 and it's been hanging around 4.00 the past couple of years which is a fair expectation moving forward. That should be good enough to get some wins on a strong Yankees squad, but he's more of a back end fantasy starter rather than an ace.
Trey Mancini, OF, BAL
Mancini went 0-3 against the Mets on Wednesday lowering his slash line to a disappointing .231/.309/.367 for the season, a far cry from the .293/.338/.488 he put up in 2017. He has especially struggled recently, hitting just .132 (9-68) with 2 XBH's and 1 RBI over his last 19 games. His .352 BABIP from last year is looking more and more like a fluke, and while his current .273 BABIP may increase as the season goes along, it's probably closer to what we should expect going forward than what we saw last year, so we shouldn't assume Mancini will revert back to being a near-.300 hitter. In addition, his FB% has dropped to 25.9% and he is only pulling 11.6% of his FB's (compared to 19.8% last year), so matching his 24 HR's from a year ago isn't a great bet either. The fact that he's batting leadoff is always a plus in fantasy, but right now, he's not an asset regardless of where he is in the lineup.
Jurickson Profar, SS, TEX
Profar hit 2 HR's and drove in 5 against the A's on Wednesday, giving him 3 HR's in 2 games after hitting just 3 in his first 55 games this season. Profar has cut his K% down to 14.6% this season, and if that continues, he should see some improvement to his .243 BA, but the power comes sort of unexpected. Not that a player can't develop power in his age-25 season, but we would have to see an increase to his 24.0% Hard% before we can expect the power to stick. If that does happen though, the Rangers will likely find ways to keep him in the lineup even after Elvis Andrus returns from injury.
Eduardo Rodriguez, SP, BOS
Rodriguez won his 4th straight start against the Tigers on Wednesday, allowing 1 ER in 5.2 IP while striking out 5. Over his last 6 starts, he has posted a 2.14 ERA with a 38:8 K:BB across 33.2 IP. For the season, E-Rod has a solid 3.68 ERA, which is backed by a 3.64 xFIP and a career-high 10.50 K/9. Pitching for the Red Sox has allowed him to rack up 7 wins as well, and if he stays healthy, there's little reason to think he won't continue to accumulate wins and K's while posting solid ratios. He should probably be owned in more fantasy leagues than he currently is.
Jalen Beeks, SP, BOS
Beeks will make his MLB debut against the Tigers on Thursday, after posting a 12.78 K/9 and 2.56 ERA in 10 AAA starts this season. It's hard to know what to expect from thee rookie, but he comes cheap, it's against a mediocre lineup, and he would seem to have upside. Why not go for it? DraftKings Value Play Salary $5,700.
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