Ben Joyce- RP- LAA- Rise Value- Joyce may have turned a corner. His stuff has been phenomenal, but control has been an issue. Last night he earned his first MLB save by retiring all 4 batters he faced in the 9th inning. Joyce threw 15 pitches and 13 of them were strikes. He got 2 swings and misses, including the last pitch of the game, which was a 104.7 mph fastball past J. D. Martinez. Despite having a fastball average velocity of 102.2 mph this season, his chase rate was 23.4% and SwStr% of 11.8%. A lot of that had to do with his Zone% of 55.0%. If he maintains the control he showed yesterday, Joyce will very quickly increase his fantasy value.
David Bednar- RP- PIT- FYI- Bednar picked up his 20th save of the season last night, but it wasn't easy. He gave up 2 hits and walked 1 while striking out 2 in the 9th inning. He gave up a run for the 3rd time in his last 5 appearances. It was the first time Bednar recorded multiple strikeouts in the 6 appearances he has made since coming back from a strained oblique. He has given up 3 runs, 6 hits, 4 walks and registered 6 Ks in those 6 games. Although Bednar has earned 4 saves in that span and not blown any, he has not been near dominant. He's certainly not in the top level of closers.
Parker Meadows- OF- DET- Rise Value- Meadows came off the IL and went 2-for-5 with a triple, run, and RBI. He had a horrible start to his MLB season, then slashed .292/.388/.495 with 8 homers in 237 PAs for AAA Toledo. His K% at Toledo was 19.0%. Meadows was called up in early July and suffered a hamstring strain after 3 games in which he had gone 4-for-12 with a double, homer, walk and 2 Ks. He had been projected as the Tigers' CF when the season began and held that until his bat was not producing enough to keep him up. Meadows likely won't equal the production of his 3-game recall for the long term but he does have potential to develop a 15-homer-per season power pace and contribute steals. He had 19 at Toledo.
Brice Turang- 2B- MIL- Cold- Turang had hit .150 since Independence Day. Only 1 of his 12 hits was for extra bases in that span. Turang was dropped down from the top of the order to the bottom yesterday. He went 1-for-3, so it was a little better. Turang still needs to up his production to get to where he was earlier in the season. In the 23 games since July 4, he has only swiped 4 bases. Turang had 28 in the first 83 games of the season. Regression explains a good bit of his production, as he had a .342 BABIP before the cold stretch and it has dropped to .310. Turang needs to get on base to be able to give his speed a chance to provide value. He hasn't been doing that for a month.
DJ Herz- P- WAS- Hot- Herz allowed 1 run on 2 hits and a walk while striking out 6 in 5 IP against the Brewers. It was his third start in his latest stint in the Nationals rotation and Herz has made progress. In 15 IP across those starts he has yielded 5 ERs, allowed 10 hits, and struck out 18 batters. Most importantly, Herz only walked 4 batters. Control has been the big questions mark for him. Washington wanted to get his lefthanded arm into their rotation if he could lower the walk total while continuing to miss bats. For the season he has a K/9 of 11.46 and BB/9 of 2.53. Herz has an ERA of 4.27, but that has come down from 5.17 before his current run and his xFIP is 3.60. His last three starts have come against the Padres, Cardinals, and Brewers, all playoff contenders.
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