Carlos Santana, 1B, CLE
Santana went 2 for 3 with a home run and a double against Baltimore yesterday afternoon. The veteran first baseman has been enjoying his first season back in in Cleveland and is now batting .281 with 6 home runs on the season. Santana hit .229 and went deep 24 times in his only season for the Phillies last year. Santana has never hit for average (.247 career hitter) and the .281 he is currently touting would be the best mark of his nine year career by .13 points. The 33-year-old appears to have severely altered his swing here in 2019 and the incredible spike in average is the result. Santana is getting much less loft on his batted balls this season; his 1.68 GB/FB ratio is significantly higher than his career average of 1.08. The more level swing has him hitting the ball better (career best 49.6% Hard% in 2019) and has him producing far less easy fly ball outs (5.3 % IFFB% in '19 vs 14.0% career). Considering his age it is hard to see Santana keeping up this level of hitting; but his K% and BB% are basically unchanged from his career averages and his Soft%/Hard% Delta is at a career high 34.1%, so it's not all that improbable to think that Santana could be in the midst of a career year. If he does keep this up he probably won't hit as many home runs has he is accustomed to, but his hitting and on-base stats should be vastly superior to those from past seasons.
Blake Snell, SP, TB
Snell gave up one run in 6.0 innings while fanning nine batters on Saturday afternoon. It was a dandy outing against the Bronx Bombers that lowered Snell's ERA to 3.31 and WHIP to an even 1.00 on the season. Snell also saw his xFIP drop to an impressive 2.39, which is good for second in the majors (amongst qualified starters) behind Houston's Gerrit Cole. The Rays' ace had a pair of short, and struggle-filled, outings against the Royals a few weeks ago, but has bounced back nicely with three consecutive successful starts in which he gave up two or fewer runs. It's particularly pleasing to see Snell pitch so well in New York; the southpaw was 1-2 with an ERA of 6.08 in three starts against the Yankees in 2018.
Tyler White, 1B/DH, HOU
White went 2 for 5 with a double and a pair of RBI during Saturday's contest at Fenway Park. The big 1B/DH has struggled to find consistent playing time again this season and has been very ineffective when he has been given the opportunity to play. White is now batting .241 and Saturday's double was just his fifth extra base hit of the season (all doubles).The sporadic playing time shouldn't bother White considering he was able to post a respectable wRC+ of 127 in 2017, and 144 in 2018, with similar playing regularity...yet in 2019 White has posted just a 78 wRC+. His numbers across the board are way down and it all stems from a hiked K% (33.7%) and a depleted Contact%. As a result White has produced a putrid .283 wOBA and an insanely low ISO of .063 so far this season. In the past it seemed like White was just an injury away from being fantasy relevant, but his struggles this season should give pause to that notion.
Lucas Giolito, SP, CWS
Giolito gave up one run on three hits and a pair of walks in a 5.0 inning complete game on Saturday. The game was called after the fifth inning due to rain and Giolito happily walked away with his fifth win of the season. It was his third consecutive victory and Giolito is now 5-1 with a 3.35 ERA and 1.16 WHIP on the season. Giolito has a good strikeout rate (10.47 K/9) and has been able to reasonably limit the long ball so far this season (.63 HR/9). He owns a solid FIP/xFIP of 3.02/3.90 and though he walks quite a few batters (3.77 BB/9), he could be a decent streaming option off of waivers for your fantasy staff (owned in 33.3% of ESPN leagues).
Austin Meadows, OF, TB
Austin Meadows hit a go-ahead home run off of Luis Cessa in the 11th inning of Tampa Bay's 2-1 victory over the Yankees on Saturday afternoon. It was Meadows' only hit and he finished the day 1 for 5 with two strikeouts; his season slash line now sits at a superb.347/.423/.694. The 24-year-old outfielder has been nothing short of fantastic for the Rays since coming over from the Pirates last season and Saturday's heroics were no different. Meadows now has nine homers this season and he owns the third best wRC+ in all of baseball (minimum 100 PA). The only thing that has slowed Meadows in 2019 was a thumb sprain that sidelined him for a week or so earlier in the season.
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