Dylan Crews (OF - WAS) - Crews is 5-47 with 5 singles and a 2:18 BB:K ratio after another 0-4 on Monday against former college teammate Paul Skenes, so I went in to check his Statcast data and plate discipline/contact numbers, and the results are.....not awful? Above average exit velo, only two fewer barrels than he has hits, an average chase rate and slightly below average contact. He hasn't been good by any stretch of the imagination, but he has been tremendously unlucky to go along with mediocre raw performance. I'm still inclined to hold here....it's 13 games, he has plenty of talent, and he has 3 games against Keller/Falter/Heaney (two lefties) followed by a series in Colorado coming up. If you're a gambler, today and tomorrow could be a pretty solid "bargain basement" acquisition time for the 23 year old.
Kameron Misner (OF - TB) - Misner bashed a pair of homers and added a single and a walk in the 16-1 drubbing of the Red Sox on Monday, and the 27 year old rookie is now hitting 400/444/775 through 14 games of filling in for Josh Lowe. Misner has shown above average power, speed, and patience in the minors, but poor contact ability has made his progress toward the majors plodding at times. It's early to get more than a touch excited, but through two weeks with the Rays he's showing better contact ability than he ever did at any minor league stop. I certainly don't think he's suddenly going to be a good contact bat, but any incremental improvement there is going to play up the power, speed, and patience. There is quite a bit of upside here, and I do think that he's worth an add in most formats. We'll worry about the return of the three injured TB outfielders when we get to that point (Palacios could be back this week, Deluca is weeks away and Lowe likely further).
Clay Holmes (SP - NYM) - Holmes picked up his 2nd win on Monday, going 5 innings and allowing 2 hits and a run to the Twins, walking 2 and fanning 8. I did think that folks were a bit overly enamored with Holmes in the spring, as the control issues that plague him from time to time will be an issue, but he keeps the ball down and can miss bats at a decent level, so he's probably good enough to be a bit better than league average starter. That, of course, is worth having in any format...I just feel that the floor is a bit lower than people expect. The LA against him is up almost 10 degrees through his first 3 starts, and as the weather warms up that will result in more HRs than we are used to him allowing if it remains a bit elevated. My expectation is an ERA in the high 3.00s with a WHIP that is roughly league average. Solid, but not spectacular.
Ben Rice (1B - NYY) - Rice has reached base in 10 straight after a walk and another HR (his 5th) on Monday against Seth Lugo and the Royals. I'll reiterate what I've been saying since about 4-5 games into the season: this is a hitter with excellent plate discipline, above average power, and at least average contact ability hitting at the top of a (at least) good lineup. There's a bit of speed too. I know there are leagues where this guy is still available, and that shouldn't be a thing. I believe that he's a legitimately good player.
Dillon Dingler (C - DET) - Dingler was 1-5 with an RBI double on Monday, giving him a 325/341/575 line through 11 games. With Jake Rogers out for a month or so at least, the 26 year old Dingler is going to be the primary catcher for Detroit for a bit. I'm starting to come around on him a bit: the two highest contact rates of his career were last year and this 11-game sample, he certainly has some pop (consistently above average exit velos, and 33 HR in 160 G in the minors in '23 and '24 combined), and he even has non-zero speed. Plus, he's a pretty solid defensive catcher, which may buy him a longer leash if that's needed. In two catcher leagues, I'm buying.
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