Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B, TOR
Guerrero had a career game for the Blue Jays on Tuesday, going off for 3 HR's and 7 RBI against Max Scherzer and the Nationals. It's a couple years after many expected, but Guerrero looks like he's having the breakout MVP-type season that fans have anticipated since his arrival in the big-leagues. He is now slashing .360/.484/.693 with 7 HR's through 93 PA's, he has lowered his K% to 14.0%, and he has more than doubled his BB% rate to 17.2%. He has also dropped his GB% over 11% since last year to 43.1%, which is a key for him to become true power hitter. On top of all that, he has slightly increased his already good EV to 93.8%, and that was before Tuesday's outburst. At 22 years old, Guerrero could very likely be a 1st round fantasy option for years to come.
Joey Gallo, OF, TEX
Gallo finally hit his 2nd HR of the season on Tuesday, after going a career-high 20 games without a dinger. It's not clear whether this is intentional or not, but Gallo, who hasn't had a GB% over 30% since his rookie year, now has a GB% of 45.7%. It's certainly not intentional that his HardHit% and EV are also down. You don't like giving up on a guy who can breakout at any time and hit 40 HR's, but we will need to see some improvement in his batted ball profile to be confident that that breakout will actually happen.
Kyle Higashioka, C, NYY
Higashioka hit his 4th HR of the season against the Orioles on Tuesday and is slashing an impressive .320/.414/.880 through 29 PA's this season. As a result of his strong start, manager Aaron Boone said that Higashioka would be getting more playing time, which will come at the expense of Gary Sanchez who is hitting just .182 with a .617 OPS. Higashioka entered Tuesday's game with a 50% FB% and 50% HardHit% which bode well for his power potential. His 17.3% K% is very solid as well, especially for a catcher. It's not clear yet what "more playing time" will mean for Higashioka. It could be a 50/50 split with Sanchez, or possibly Higashioka becoming the starter and Sanchez the backup. If it turns out Higashioka is playing 70% of the time or more, he would be a viable mixed league catcher.
Franmil Reyes, DH, CLE
Reyes smashed 2 HR's as part of 3-4 effort against the Twins on Tuesday, and is now hitting .308 with 7 HR's and 17 RBI through 21 games this season. He is on a hot streak right now, hitting .419 (13-31) with 7 XBH's (including 2 triples!) over his last 8 games. Reyes hits the ball about as hard as anyone, with an 94.1 EV (8th in MLB) and 58.0% HardHit% (9th) entering Tuesday, numbers that are roughly in line with those of Nelson Cruz. One area which Reyes will likely regress in is his BA, as he still strikes out a ton and probably won't maintain a .370 BABIP, even hitting the ball as hard as he does. But he has a career BA of .264 and that's not bad at all if he gives you close to 40 HR's. He doesn't have the track record of Nelson Cruz, but he does have youth at 25 years old, and it may not be that long before he becomes the top player without a position.
Taylor Rogers, RP, MIN
After another meltdown by Alex Colome on Tuesday, Rogers appears likely to take over as the Twins closer as Colome moves to lower leverage situations. Rogers has been lights out so far this season, as he has not allowed an ER while posting an 11:1 K:BB across 9.1 IP. He has limited hard contact and kept the ball on the ground (50.0% GB%), a recipe that has worked for Rogers in the past. He should be owned in all leagues at this point.
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