Xavier Edwards
The X-man hit for the cycle on Sunday, beating out an infield hit for a single to wrap up his historic night. The former top prospect has quietly been excellent in his small sample this season. He is slashing .379/.462/.494, but xwOBA (.327) says he's much more of an average hitter. I'm going to disagree with xwOBA here since we can point to exactly why xwOBA doesn't like him. Edwards has premium contact skills, but also features premium launch angles (41.4% LA Sweet Spot). He is a batting average machine, and will be something like Luis Arraez, minus the chase, and therefore an actual ability to walk. I love Edwards in points leagues.
Other Notes...
Reynaldo Lopez
Lopez tossed three shutout innings in his start today before being pulled from the game with forearm tightness. Forearm tightness, followed by a flight back to the home stadium for an MRI, is not great. In fact, it is certainly one of the more concerning lines you could read. Lopez has a 4.32 xERA but a 2.06 ERA, so it's been impressive to see him vastly outperforming his peripherals. It's made in a lock-start for fantasy purposes. If Lopez's MRI comes back healthy, I would seriously consider selling high, as analysts have been calling for regression for some time now, and I think any kind of injury would propel him in that direction.
Bailey Ober
Ober was more than outstanding against the Tigers on Sunday. He spun eight shutout innings, allowing one, lone single (a mere bloop single), while punching out 11 and walking two. Ober now has 7 quality starts in a row. He's lowered his ERA from 5.13 to 3.76 in that span. The underlying stuff for Ober is also trending up. He had a 24% Whiff rate at the end of April, but that figure has climbed every month, and now he is getting 30% Whiff in July. You're not crazy if you want to buy high since it seems like there has been some underlying talent development that has occurred.
Brenton Doyle
Doyle has been an excellent surprise this season. His 17HR/21 SB season so far with a .344 xwOBA has made him on the best hitter waiver wire adds on the year. Unfortunately, he was pulled from Sunday's game after he apparently slammed a finger on his throwing hand against a med-kit. While this is certainly not a long-term issue, finger and hand issues can't really be played through, so we will see if Doyle will miss a handful of games. Reports are that his X-Ray came back clean, so I don't think we will see an IL stint.
Austin Wells
Wells went 2-4 with 2R and RBI on Sunday, contributing to a solid Yankee defeat over Boston on Sunday. Wells has quietly been one of the more consistent hitters behind Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. He had a slow start to begin the year but is slashing .315/.441/.611 in July. He also takes walks (13.5%) and limits punchouts (18.8%). xwOBA agrees that the hitter has been solid all year (.360, 87th Percentile). I love Wells as an add in points leagues.
Photo Courtesy: Getty Images
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