Jon Gray- P- COL- Stats- Gray had been the subject of trade rumors before Friday but ended up staying put in Colorado. He has been very consistent in 2021. Gray has allowed more the 3 earned runs in only 3 of his 19 starts. He has 10 quality starts and a 1.22 WHIP. Gray has been very good in the high altitude of Coors Field, with a 3.14 ERA as opposed to 4.21 on the road. There has been a measure of luck in that, as his FIPs are reversed, with 4.59 at home and 3.90 on the road. Still, Gray seems comfortable with the team that he was drafted by and been with for his entire 7-season major league career. His 8.19 K/9 isn't stupendous but is also not horrible. Gray is a solid middle of the rotation guy for most fantasy teams.
Tyler O'Neill-OF- STL- Cold- O'Neill got hits in his first 6 games after the All Star Break, but then his bat went cold. It has dragged his second half numbers down. He is slashing .220/.281/.322 with 2 homers in 64 PAs. O'Neill hit 15 homers in 252 PAs in the 1st half. He can't blame bad luck for his average. O'Neill has had a .333 BABIP since the Break. It was .343 before, but his career mark is .320, so some more negative regression to the mean could be expected.
Jesus Luzardo- P- MIA- FYI- Luzardo was called up and made his first start for the Marlins after being acquired from the A's. Luzardo got the win. He allowed 3 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5 in 5 IP. One of the hits was a homer. The long ball has been Luzardo's nemesis in his previous MLB stints with Oakland. Last season he had a 17.6% HR/FB ratio, which left him with a 1.37 HR/9 even with a 30.7% FB%. Earlier this season with the A's, Luzardo saw his FB% grow to 44.2% and his HR/FB ratio to 22.0%. This gave him a HR/9 of 2.61. The difference between his ERA of 6.87 and xFIP of 4.66 shows the effect of those homers. Luzardo hasn't had that tendency on the minors so it is incumbent on him to keep the ball in the park top show that he isn't a AAAA pitcher.
Joc Pederson- OF- ATL- Caution- Since joining the Braves on July 16, Pederson has slashed .306/.358/.468 with 2 homers in 67 PAs. That is far better than his performance with the Cubs, where he slashed .230/.300/.418. However, Pederson had a .274 BABIP in Chicago and that has been .362 with Atlanta. With an overall BABIP of .293 for the season and career .262 mark, negative regression to the mean would be expected from her on in. Also, Pederson's Exit Velocity was 91.2 with the Cubs and is 88.8 with the Braves. Likewise his Barrel% is lower (was 10.2% with Chicago and is 4.1% with Atlanta.) Pederson's HardHit5 has taken a dive as well (46.2% to 44.9%.) All of this would point to Pederson being a player to sell high based on his initial results post-trade instead of being an acquisition target.
Manuel Rodriguez- RP- CHC- Rookie- Rodriguez is one of the names mentioned as a contender to close for the Cubs in the post-Kimbrel era. He had a chance at a high leverage situation on Saturday, entering the bottom of the 9th in a tied game. He didn't fare well, allowing a walk off homer. Still ,he has pitched well in the minors this season, saving 5 games at AA and AAA. He only threw 20.2 IP before being called up but posted a 1.31 ERA and struck out 27 batters. Control was an issue as Rodriguez walked 12. He did get better once he got to AAA, walking 2 in 7.1 IP at AAA Iowa. The Cubs will probably go with a closer committee for a while, in those instances where they actually have a save opportunity. Rodriguez should be in that mix as the Cubs are going to see what they've got as they prepare for 2022.
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