All posts under "Player Commentary" - Page 37

Jhoulys Chacin- P- MIL- Idea- Chacin will be facing an injury-depleted Washington lineup that leans heavily righthanded. This plays into Chacin's strength. Last season he owned a .178/.244/.284 slash line against RH hitting. This year it is .235/.307/.426, not as...

IN THE LINEUP Miguel Andujar has been activated off the IL on Saturday and while he was playing third base for the Yankees Saturday, Aaron Boone says that he's going to get a decent amount of ABs at DH. Throwing...

Mike Soroka, SP (ATL) You would think Soroka is solidifying his spot in the Braves rotation. Each start he seems to get better: six strikeouts in his first start, seven in his second, eight in his third. He also pitched...

Mitch Garver (C - MIN) - Garver had a huge day Saturday against the Yankees, going 3-5 with his 6th homer of the season, and he's now hitting 333/387/719 playing around half of the time. Perhaps most interestingly, the relatively...

Kyle Hendricks, SP, CHC Hendricks dazzled the Wrigley Field faithful with a complete game shutout on Friday afternoon. He only struck out three batters and allowed just four base runners in the contest. What's more impressive is that it took...

Joey Gallo Gallo went 1-3 and walked twice against the Blue Jays on Friday. Gallo has been tearing the cover off the ball so far this season, and the 25-year-old has posted some ridiculous power numbers including a 63% hard...

Corey Kluber (SP-CLE) will be out for an extended period of time as x-rays revealed that the ulna in his throwing arm sustained a non-displaced fracture when it was hit by a line-drive during Wednesday's game. Kluber had surrendered 3...

Matt Strahm (SD) - The Atlanta Braves fans were "Strahming their pain with their fingers" on Thursday as Matt Strahm picked up his win of the season after posting a line of 6IP, 2ER, 0BB and 6 strikeouts. He also...

Jameson Taillon, SP (PIT) Taillon picked up his second win of the season, going 6.1 innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out five. He has yet to strike out more than five batters in an outing, despite doing that...

Justin Bour- 1B- LAA- Idea- Bour hit 18 of his 20 homers last year against RH pitching. His slash line against them was .242/.356/.463. Heading into last night's game he had slugged 3 homers in 64 ABs against righties. Aaron...

Rick Porcello, Boston Red Sox - Rick Porcello dominated the A's over 8.0 innings on Tuesday allowing no runs and just two hits while striking out eight. Porcello hadn't struck out more than five in a game before this start,...

Franmil Reyes (OF-SD) - Reyes homered twice and chipped in a double on Tuesday to raise his line to an "interesting" .232/.286/.561. Hitting second ahead of Manny Machado certainly won't hurt a guy. Reyes finishes April with an impressive eight...

Shohei Ohtani, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery last fall, has been ruled out for the three-game series vs. the Blue Jays this week, but he could return for the club's Mexico Series against the Astros that begins on...

Byron Buxton-Twins-OF Byron Buxton was 1-3 with his first home run against the Orioles. Buxton hasn't lit the world on fire but he has had a strong start to 2019. He is hitting .270 with 1 HR, 12 R, 10...

Carter Kieboom, Washington Nationals - Kieboom hit the second homer of his big league career on Sunday. Kieboom has already hit the pair of homers in just 13 plate appearances in the majors after hitting just 16 homers in over...

Jorge Polanco- SS- MIN- Idea- The switch-hitting Polanco had a .317/.387/.457 slash line against RH pitchers in 2018 and has started even hotter against them against this year (.371/.430/.743.) Facing Dylan Bundy who posted a .319/.385/.553 slash line against LH...

Mike Foltynewicz (SP-ATL) showed a bit of rust as he came of the IL (that still doesn't feel right) to face the Rockies at home on Saturday, going 6 innings in which he allowed 4 runs on 6 hits and...

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B, TOR In the bottom of the 9th inning, with the Blue Jays down a run, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stepped up to the plate and slapped a double down the right field line for the first hit...

Jesse Winker Winker went 2-4 with his seventh home run of the season against the Cardinals on Friday. With a .200 batting average and .720 OPS entering Friday's game, Winker is one of the best buy low candidates around. Much...

Closer. Have any of you every looked up the definition of a closer on the MLB.com website? If not, here it is: "A closer is often considered the best relief pitcher that a club has in its bullpen. Closers are...

Rick Porcello posted a rare 2019 quality start, going 6 IP while allowing 3 ER in a victory. Porcello entered yesterday with an 8.47 ERA, hardly the numbers a former Cy Young winner could ever envision. Porcello has been flat-out...

Caleb Smith, SP, MIA Smith continued his surprisingly impressive 2019 campaign Thursday night as he tossed 6.0 innings and gave up just one run against the Phillies. He ended with eight strikeouts and only allowed four baserunners (3 H, 1...

John Means (SP - BAL) - Means made his third start of the year on Wednesday and was very effective, allowing just 4 hits and a run to the White Sox over 5 innings, walking 1 and fanning 6. Means...

Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer, two runs and a walk Wednesday against the Cubs. Bellinger has quickly erased any lingering memories of his sophomore slump from last year by being the hottest hitter in...

Domingo German (SP-NYY) - I think it's safe to say that German has solidified his rotation spot, regardless who is healthy or not healthy. German spun a strong game Tuesday against versus the Angels, allowing just an unearned run over...

Pablo Lopez (MIA) - Pablo Lopez flashed the brilliance in his start on Tuesday night that made him one of the most trendy late-round speculative picks of the draft season. Lopez had a no-hitter going into the 6th inning, but...

Jack Flaherty, SP, STL Flaherty allowed 4 ER in 6 IP against the Brewers on Monday although he struck out 10 in the performance. Flaherty's 5.25 ERA through 5 starts this season is quite ugly, however his 3.07 xFIP paints...

Yandy Diaz Diaz went 1-3 with his fourth home run of the season against the Royals on Monday. Diaz has always paired strong plate discipline and contact skills with impressive raw power, but the 27-year-old's ground ball heavy batted ball...

Two pitchers to buy low and one to sell high.

Tigers closer Shane Greene struck out two during a scoreless inning vs. the White Sox on Sunday en route to his MLB-leading 10th save of the season. Greene, who lowered his ERA to 1.50, has successfully converted all 10 of...

IN THE ROTATION Mike Foltynewicz is slated to throw another rehab start this weekend as he continues to ramp up his workload to return to the Braves rotation. His last start came on Monday and he walked four batters over...

Ketel Marte, 2B (ARI) Marte struck out three times in five at bats on Saturday. The 25 year old has taken a more aggressive approach to the plate this year. So far it's resulted in the highest hard hit rate...

Eddie Rosario, OF, MIN Rosario took advantage of Saturday's double header against Baltimore by smacking three home runs, a double, and a single (which hit off the wall on the fly). He finished the day 5 for 9 with 4...

Kris Bryant (3B-CHC) showed signs of life at the plate on Friday against the Diamondbacks, going 2-4 with a double, an RBI, and a walk. Especially after he slogged through a disappointing 2018 campaign in which he hit .272 with...

Mookie Betts (OF-BOS) Betts went 2 for 4 with a double and home run Friday. 2019 has been a complete struggle thus far and even Friday's strong performance puts him at just a .216/.314/.432 line. He had been particularly cold...

Jose Abreu, 1B, CWS Abreu went 0 for 5 on Thursday against the Tigers and his season average now sits well below the Mendoza line at .174. Those who drafted the First Baseman hoping last year was an anomaly are...