Eddie Rosario, OF, MIN
Rosario took advantage of Saturday's double header against Baltimore by smacking three home runs, a double, and a single (which hit off the wall on the fly). He finished the day 5 for 9 with 4 RBI and brought his season average to an even .300. Boy, when Eddie gets hot, he really cooks. Rosario has homered 5 times in his last 13 at bats and has 9 on the season as a whole (all coming in the past 12 games). The 27-year-old lefty is prone to having prolonged slumps at the plate, but he's also prone to have stretches like this one. This kind of volatility can make Rosario a pain to have, but he has been continually improving his approach at the plate (career best 6.7 % BB% and 88.1% Z-Contact%), and could be ready to break into the 30 home run club in 2019.
Clint Frazier, OF, NYY
Frazier went 3 for 5 with a home run and a double against the Royals yesterday afternoon. He has been hot as of late (9-20, 2 HR, 2 2B over the past five games) and is now batting .351 on the year with 5 homers and 14 RBI. With another injury to the Yankees outfield (Judge likely headed to IL with an oblique strain) Frazier should be an everyday player for the foreseeable future. He is rostered in just 26.4 % of ESPN leagues and could be a suitable replacement while Judge, Stanton, and Hicks remained sidelined. Both Frazier (4,500) and fellow teammate Mike Tauchman (4,000)-- who has three home runs in his past four starts--should be good value plays on Draft Kings for the time being.
Rick Porcello, SP, BOS
Porcello had his first decent outing of 2019 against the Rays on Saturday. He went 5.2 innings, giving up 2 earned runs on 6 hits, while striking out 5. Porcello didn't factor in the decision, but what's most important for fantasy owners to note is that he only walked one batter. Coming into Saturday, Porcello's 17% BB% was the third worst in all of baseball (amongst pitchers with 10+ innings pitched). His season stats are still extremely ugly: 0-3, 8.47 ERA, 2.47 WHIP, but yesterday's outing was certainly a step in the right direction. This is a guy who won 51 games with an ERA of 3.97 over the past three seasons, so despite the early struggles he is still on plenty of fantasy rosters (64.6 % ESPN leagues). Considering Porcello's control issues are so immensely atypical of him (5.6% career BB%) it's almost pointless to attempt to predict what we will see out of him for the rest of the season...so what I am going to do is leave you with a graphic of his past five seasons:
2014: IP: 204.2, ERA: 3.43, WHIP: 1.23, W: 15, L: 13
2015: IP: 172.0, ERA: 4.92, WHIP: 1.36, W: 9, L: 15
2016: IP: 223.0, ERA: 3.15, WHIP: 1.01, W: 22, L: 4
2017: IP: 203.1, ERA: 4.65, WHIP: 1.40, W: 11, L: 17
2018: IP: 191.1, ERA: 4.28, WHIP: 1.18, W: 17, L: 7
As you can see Porcello has very much so been an "on again, off again" type of player and if that continues this would be an "off again" year for him; so if you're one who buys into this kind of a statistical trend it's probably time to cut bait, but if you're not, you should probably give him a little more time and see what happens when he gets that control in check a little bit.
Justin Smoak, 1B, TOR
Smoak extended his hitting streak to eight games on Friday; he was 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBI on the day. Since the start of the streak Smoak has seen his average climb from an abysmal .194 to a solid .274. The Jays' first baseman has broken out over the past two seasons and seems poised to build on that here in 2019. Smoak hit 63 bombs between '17/'18 and has put together a good year so far this season, yet he is only owned in 59.5% of ESPN leagues. A lot of that has to do with the depth at First Base, but it's worth mentioning that since the start of the 2017 season Smoak has the 4th most Home Runs among all first baseman. He now has four homers on the season and he has been swinging the bat even better than he did the past two seasons. He is currently posting career bests in: BB% (17.8%), K% (19.2%), Hard% (45.5%), and OPS (.932) so all indications point to Smoak having a career season for a third consecutive year.
Corey Kluber, SP, CLE
Kluber secured his 2nd win of the season against the Braves yesterday, but gave up 4 earned on 5 hits and walked a pair in the contest. After tossing six solid innings, Kluber gave up back to back home runs to Brian McCann and Matt Joyce to begin the 7th.The two-time Cy Young Award winner has struggled mightily with his command so far this season; he came into the contest with a 10.8% BB% which is exactly two times higher than his career average. The walks are certainly a concern, but what's more concerning is how hard he is getting hit when the ball does find the zone. Opposing batters have posted a Hard% of 44.3% (career 29.2%) and have tagged him for four home runs already this season; which gives him a HR/9 ratio of 1.38 (.88 career). Additionally, Kluber's velocity is down a little from last season--.3 mph on his two-seamer, .7 mph on his cutter, and 1.1 mph on his slider--so there might be some cause for concern. Alas it's still just April, so owners should probably hold out hope that this is nothing more than a shaky start.
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