Patrick Wisdom (1B/3B-CHC)
Wisdom slugged his 4th HR of the season among 2 hits and drove in 2. It would be hard to find a hotter hitter right now, but Wisdom has stepped for the Cubs and has now slugged 4 home runs since being called up May 25th slashing an otherworldly .474/.500/1.158 since the callup. He has also doubled and stolen a base in 8 games. Wisdom has had an interesting start to his AAA season where he had just a .160 batting average over 8 games - but all 4 of hits went for extra bases and he had 11 RBIs, 1 stolen base and 6 walks for a .912 OPS. The power isn't completely unprecedented as Wisdom smashed 31 home runs in 2017 at AAA with the Cardinals and 31 again in 2019 with the Rangers. If you need power and have a spot to spare, grab him now.
Odubel Herrera (OF-PHI)
Herrera went 3-6 with a pair of home runs. This is is second 3-hit game in a row and he is really hitting his stride as he has 9 hits in his past 4 games. Herrera has taken the reigns on the Phillies center field job and raised his season slash line to .276/.346/.448 with a solid 8% walk rate, 17% K rate to go along with 3 steals in 3 tries - and may have also have gained the edge in the leadoff spot over the struggling Andrew McCutchen. He started out slow upon his initial recall going 1-19 over his first 7 games but has come along nicely and is quickly becoming a must add in fantasy teams.
Sandy Alcantara (SP-MIA)
Alcantara allowed 4 runs on 9 hits over 6 innings, striking out 4. Despite all the baserunners he did throw 17 first pitch strikes and generate 9 balls, with a 3-run HR to Vlad Jr. being the big blow. Alcantara is trending in the right direction this year as he has a slightly elevated K rate (8.86 K.9) and slightly lowered walk rate (2.77) while dialing up a career high numbers of ground balls (51%). While his hard hit rate remains similar to years past, round 40% opponents have a 2.9% barrel rate against - much lower than previous years and one of the lowest in the leagues. Alcantara has also changed his pitch selection this year - he actually throws his changeup the majority of the time - 28% and mixing that 91 mph pitch more effectively with his blazing 97 mph fastball has led to string results - batters cannot gear down for the changeup and are hitting .108 against with a 37% whiff rate. Alcantara hasn't garnered huge swing and miss numbers even with his top shelf speed, but it looks like his mixing and matching of pitches in 2021 may put him in line for a career year.
Aaron Nola (SP-PHI)
Nola labored through 5 innings Tuesday, allowing 3 ER on 8 hits, striking out just 2. The Phillies spotted him 10 runs, so he didn't need to be at his best, but it has been an interesting season for Nola. His 3.84 ERA, while higher then most would have hoped/ wanted isn't actually too far off his career mark (3.49) and his fip (2.97) lines currently sits at a career best. Nola is still spinning a 92.4 mph fastball with his similar mix of curveballs and changes up. His percentage of pitches in the zone has risen by almost 10% from a year ago and as such he has walked a career low (1.79 BB/9) but batters have taken notice as a .233 batting average against / .306 babip, while still solid would be the worst marks against him in a few years. Nola has also allowed a career low 40% groundball rate, and despite an elevated FB% his HR/9 is below 10% for the first time in his career. It will be interesting to see if the increased strike zone pounding / fly ball rate eventually add up to more HR.
Ryan Weathers (SP-SD)
Weathers allowed 4 ER on 7 hits over 5 innings, striking out 2 in what was his roughest outing of the season. Weathers has been utilized in different roles this season with a season high of innings pitched being 5 and 2/3 on April 22 and after giving up just 1 ER in April Weathers has "struggled" allowing 4 ER over 18 May innings. His K/9 sits at an OK 7.1 K/9 as he struck out less batters in May (11) then April (16) despite throwing 2 more innings in May. So far his pitch mixture has mostly been a 94 mpg FB (50% usage) and a slider (30%) which has been his wipeout pitch with a .071 batting average against. With a 97% strand rate Weathers will eventually face some bumps in the road, but the Padres usage of him has been smart especially considering he barely had 100 innings of minor league experience. Continue to look for him pitching 4-5 innings, potentially more if he can keep the pitch count down.
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