Jose Ramirez, 3B (CLE)
Ramirez reached base in all six plate appearances on Tuesday and stole a pair of bases in Cleveland's extra-inning win at Detroit. The superstar third baseman hit the hardest ball of the game, a 109-mph double off Joey Wentz in the 4th inning. In his 11th season, Ramirez is posting his most aggressive plate rates, swinging at nearly half the pitches he sees and walking at the lowest-rate of his career, but he may be on his way to his most successful campaign. He has 23 home runs and 18 stolen bases. His career highs in home runs and stolen bases are 39 and 34, respectively, both accomplished in 2018. Ramirez can certainly surpass those numbers, and it all comes with what is currently a .275 batting average. He has scored 70 runs and driven in 77 RBI's. He may not be at the top of the list, but Ramirez should certainly be in the conversation for AL MVP.
Brandon Marsh, OF (PHI)
Marsh stuffed the stat sheet on Tuesday, reaching base three times, including a home run and stolen base, while scoring three runs in Philadelphia's 10-1 rout of the Dodgers. The athletic outfielder has a career-high 11 stolen bases, and he is on his way to setting a career high in home runs (12 HRs is his previous high; he currently has eight). There is so much to like about Marsh's skillset. He hits the ball very hard (92-mph avg EV, 50.4% hard-hit rate) and makes good contact (77.4%) with a low swinging-strike rate (8.8%), but somehow he strikes out at one of the highest rates in the majors (32%). How does a player post a sub-9% swinging-strike rate but a 30+% strikeout rate? Well, for one he sees very few pitches in the zone and so a good number of his swings are on pitches outside the zone, where his contact rate is a putrid 61.4%. In other words, get him to two strikes and it's not that hard to finish him off. It's also worth noting that most of his strikeouts come against left-handed pitching (47.2% strikeout rate). He is better against righties, and those are the pitchers he dominates.
Michael Busch, 1B (CHC)
Busch appears to be running on one of his notable hot streaks. The left-handed slugger extended his hit streak to six games with four hits in six at-bats. Busch hit his second home run in as many games as the Cubs blitzed the Orioles in Baltimore. Busch is thriving in the No. 2 spot in the order and actually seems to be benefiting the hitters around him in the lineup. The 26-year-old has a .838 OPS with 12 home runs in 264 at-bats in his first full season as a major-league starter. Furthermore, Busch has held his own against left-handed pitching, hitting .324, albeit with only one home run, in 37 at-bats. His inconsistent plate discipline leaves him vulnerable to streaky runs, which can be frustrating in head-to-head leagues, but he is still very young in his career, approaching only 350 career major league at-bats. Modest improvements to his plate rates could see his value soar.
Rece Hinds, OF (CIN)
Okay, Rece Hinds. We see you! After debuting with a home run and double in three at-bats on Monday, Hinds one-upped himself by finishing a single shy of the cycle in his second career game. The powerful young outfielder hit his first home run an incredible 449 feet, but his second was even further, 458 feet. Two of his hits on Tuesday were hit over 110 miles per hour. Some players never hit a ball 109 miles per hour. Hinds has three such batted balls in his first two games. His power/speed combination has been evident throughout the minor leagues. Hinds' biggest issue has been strikeouts. He had two K's on Tuesday, and unless he demonstrates even just average plate discipline, it will be hard to endorse Hinds as a must-add fantasy asset. Even after such a ridiculous start to his career.
Jose Quintana, SP (NYM)
Quintana posted his second-straight start with seven scoreless innings. He has only allowed three earned runs in 30.1 innings over his past five starts. Quintana was excellent over the first month of the season, and then shaky over the next two months, but he has been excellent once again over the past month. Even his strikeouts have ticked up. He struck out five batters on Tuesday but only allowed one hit and one walk. It feels like it will all come crashing down in any given start due to an elevated 1.26 WHIP and 4.48 xFIP. He doesn't control quality of contact particularly well. He doesn't strike out enough batters, and he doesn't even limit walks at a high level. It's not a good sign for a pitcher that has been delivering elite results lately.
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