Adley Rutschman- C- BAL- Rookie- The much-heralded Rutschman made his MLB debut last night and it was successful. It got better as the night went along. In his first AB in the 2nd inning, Rutschman struck out swinging. He reached base for the first time in the majors by walking on 5 pitches in the 5th. Then Rutschman collected his first MLB hit by putting a fly ball in the RF corner for a triple. It was only his 4th triple as a professional. Rutschman was slashing .233/.377/.442 at AAA this season. His average was held down by a .206 BABIP and recovery from a triceps strain. Actually, it was mainly the BABIP. Rutschman looked in fine form at his first two rehab stops before he got to AAA, when he hit over .400 at High-A and AA. He had hit 3 homers in 53 PAs for AAA Norfolk. Last season Rutschman slugged 23 homers in 543 PAs split between AA Bowie and Norfolk. He has shown nothing, even while recovering from injury, that would deter anyone from wanting him. The Orioles are ready to make him their primary backstop and centerpiece of their rebuild.
Patrick Wisdom- 3B- CHC- Hot- Wisdom is on one of his patented power surges. After going 1-for-4 with a homer gives him 2 homers in his last 2 games and 3 in his last 6. Wisdom also showed his Achilles' heel yesterday, striking out twice. His K% of 41.2% is even higher than the 40.8% he had in 2021. He also slugged 28 homers in 375 PAs last season and has 8 in 136 PAs this season. With a 92.1 EV, 54.4% HardHit%, and 17.6% Barrel% Wisdom can send the ball a long way when he connects. The problem is connecting. He has a 16.3% SwStr% and 66.4% Contact%. Wisdom is solely a source of homers and tends to hit them in bunches. His homers before this run came in 3 in a span of 7 games and 2 in back-to-back games. His homerless streaks have run for 9, 5, and 7 games. Maximizing Wisdom's value relies on daily lineups where you can insert him when you see him heat up and then bench him after a couple of off days.
Marcus Semien- 2B- TEX- Stats- There are signs of life in Semien's bat. His 1-for-4 last night was his 4th straight game in which he has hit safely and 6th time in the last 7 games. Of course, it looked like he might be turning a corner earlier this month when he collected 2 hits in each of 3 straight games. Semien certainly has been affected by bad luck, with a .218 BABIP and his K% of 18.0% is lower than his 20.2% in 2021. There are several areas of concern that are evidenced in his disappointing production. Semien's Contact% is off a bit from last season, going from 80.6% to 78.3%. His SwStr% is up from 8.7% to 11.5%. Semien's FB% has dropped from 48.1% to 43.7%. His Statcast numbers are off significantly. Semien has an EV of 84.8, down from 89.7, a 2.5% Barrel%, dropping from 9.8%, and his HardHit% has plunged from 41.3% to 26.9%. Semien is not hitting the ball in the air as much or as hard, which leads to a drop in power. Still, going from 45 homers last year to still waiting for a long ball in 2022 is extreme. Semien is unlikely to finish with no homers, but he is not going to approach the heights of last season. The Rangers will keep him in the lineup because of the size of his contract but his fantasy owners are seeing production that harms the lineup and don't have to put up with it.
Nelson Cruz- DH- WAS- Cold- Cruz went 1-for-3 last night but is still below the Mendoza Line and slashing .194/.276/.288. With a BABIP of .221, regression to the mean will be his friend. His EV of 90.3 and HardHit% of 46.7% are down from last season but still more than respectable for a power hitter. What has hurt his homers (4 in 158 PAs) are his lack of loft when he makes contact. Cruz has seen his FB% drop from 38.6% last year to 31.1% in 2022. It is reflected in his LA of 7.2. Cruz has seen his Contact% increase from 2021 to 74.2% and his SwStr% drop to 12.7%, so Cruz is likely to revert to his FB norm and start getting more homers flying out of the park.
Ryan Helsley- RP- STL- Idea- With Giovanny Gallegos having pitched the previous 2 games, manager Oliver Marmol turned to Helsley with a 1-run lead in the 9th. Helsley retired all 3 batters he faced, throwing 9 of 13 pitches for strikes. He earned his second save of the season, both coming this month. With a marked increase in his control this season, Helsley may get into more high-leverage situations. He has only given up 1 unearned run in 14.2 IP, allowing 2 hits and walking 2 while striking out 25 batters. Helsley's fastball is near 100 mph, up from a little less than 98. In 2021 his BB/9 in 47.1 IP with the Cardinals was 5.13. This season it's at 1.32. Helsley is missing a lot of bats, with a 21.7% SwStr% and his Contact% is only 59.8%. He is effective with not only his fastball, but also his slider, which he uses 34.3% of the time. If he can maintain the control it looks like Helsley could make a big leap in real life and fantasy value.
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