Patrick Bailey (C - SF) - Bailey reached base all 5 times on Wednesday against Toronto, walking 3 times and hitting his 7th HR of the season. I don't hear Bailey talked about very much at all and he wasn't even in the top 25 catchers drafted this spring, but he is clearly a top-12 player at the position at this point, and the underlying stats look even better. His chase and swinging strike rates have both improved to significantly better than average, his exit velocity is well above average (29th among 253 qualifiers), and he just turned 25 6 weeks ago. I think there's a ton of potential here, yet he seemingly remains underrated. A definite target in dynasty formats, and I like him for the remainder of 2024 as well.
Tobias Myers (SP - MIL) - Myers continued his hot stretch on Wednesday, throwing 8 shutout innings against the Pirates and allowing just 4 hits and a walk with 6 K's. He's allowed only 9 runs over his last 45 1/3 innings, walking 10 with 35 strikeouts. It's important to consider the competition though: in his past 8 starts, Myers has faced 6 bottom-10 offenses, with only the Rockies (who aren't great, but it's Coors) and Padres (he only lasted 5 innings) breaking up that string of weak opponents. We can't be sure what they'll do out of the break, but he should also get a start against the Marlins later in July sandwiched between outings against the Twins and Braves. With the Braves, Dodgers, and Guardians likely on tap for the beginning of August, I have a hunch that Myers will return to earth in fairly short order. He's looked like roughly a league-average SP, which is just fine, but we shouldn't expect decent control and pedestrian swinging strike and GB rates to suddenly yield a low-3.00's ERA type of a SP for any reasonable length of time. He's certainly a sell-high for me if you can find someone that thinks this is a bit more "real".
Carlos Correa (SS - MIN) - Correa was 4-7 with a walk and a HR in Wednesday's doubleheader, bringing his slash line up to 310/379/526 on the season. He's posting the best hard hit% and best swinging strike rates of his career, some of which can be explained by his improved strike zone judgment (chase rate down 3.6%, in-zone swing rate up 3.5%). The above-average power and above-average contact ability are shining through this year, and the counting stats are very solid in the #3 run-scoring offense in baseball this year. It may feel like Correa is at end of his prime years, but he's still just 29 despite playing in his 10th MLB season this year....nothing looks fluky here to me.
Michael King (SP - SD) - King has been very solid since the beginning of May for the Padres, but he has kicked it into another gear the past 3 outings, and I mean that literally. On Wednesday, King's velocity was up almost a full mph for the 3rd straight start as he held the punchless Mariners (28th in MLB offensively) to 3 singles and a walk over 6 innings, fanning 9. He did allow 2 runs (1 earned) and thus took the loss when the Pads couldn't score, but another great outing for the 29 year old. He's been excellent at limiting hard contact (3rd in MLB at 85.9 EV allowed), and solid at missing bats, although the control has regressed a bit this year. He looks like a very solid SP3 to me right now, which puts him somewhere around the top-30 SP in the game....definitely a small step above my expectations coming into the year.
Tanner Bibee (SP - CLE) - Bibee struggled a bit again on Wednesday, allowing only 5 hits over 7 innings to the Tigers, but 4 of them were for extra-bases, contributing to the 4 ER allowed. He also walked 3 while striking out 8. This is two straight starts where his velocity was off (almost 1 mph last time out, 1.5 mph on Wed) and he allowed a bit more hard contact than is typical, and his control wasn't quite as solid either. The bat-missing was still there, but I have a tiny bit of concern with the combination of the three negatives for two straight starts (velo down, hard contact up, control down). Hopefully the ASB will give him the reset that it appears he needs....he should have a good 8 days off now before facing the Padres coming out of the break. I wouldn't be dropping or even shopping just yet, as the peripherals have been really good for Bibee during his sophomore season to this point, but if that first start next week doesn't go well I will likely change my tune in a hurry.
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