| | | | Tuesday, August 27, 2024 | | Before we get to everything you need to know about from Monday's action … allow me to talk to you into Henry Davis again. | | I know exactly what you're thinking: "There's no way I'm falling for this Henry Davis thing again." I was beating the drum for Davis as a breakout this spring, and he was so bad over the first month of the season that he got sent back to Triple-A, with Joey Bart just flat out taking his job before being placed on the IL this weekend with a hamstring. | | But consider Bart himself for a moment before you dismiss Davis entirely. Like Davis, Bart was a highly touted prospect with big power and big contact issues who floundered for several years in the majors before finally finding his way this year with the Pirates. Bart was written off by many, including the Giants, before this season, but he looked to be emerging as exactly the kind of impact bat we hoped he might become before this injury, with the underlying numbers to mostly back it up. | | That doesn't mean Davis is going to follow the same path, obviously. But it is a good reminder that you shouldn't just dismiss the notion out of hand, especially when it comes to catchers, whose development tends to be especially non-linear even among prospects. They've got a lot more defensive work to do to prepare for every game, which tends to make their development path a bit slower and windier than other positions even in a best-case scenario – and between injuries and that weird outfield experiment last season, Davis has certainly not had the best-case scenario so far in his career. | | Despite it all, Davis has remained extremely productive at Triple-A – he hit .307/.401/.555 with just a 22% strikeout rate this season – and if you're looking for upside at catcher, he brings some to the table. Your skepticism is both warranted and noted, but I'm just saying, give the kid a chance before writing him off again. | | Here's what else you need to know about from Monday's games: | | | | Tuesday's waiver targets | | | | Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Cubs (26%) – There was always a gap between the scouting reports for Crow-Armstrong and the production. The scouting reports made him sound like a guy whose glove would have to carry most of the weight for him to make it at the big-league level, despite very interesting production – including 25 homers and 47 steals in 133 games between Double-A and Triple-A overall. And for the most part in his first tastes of the majors, the scouting reports looked like the better source as Crow-Armstrong entered play Monday hitting just .206/.261/.361 in his first 105 career games, dating back to last season. But he's been much better lately, and it might not just be a fluke – he is hitting .307 with four homers and eight steals over the past 26 games, and August has been the best month of his career skills-wise, with a .378 expected wOBA over his past 74 PA. The thing about Crow-Armstrong is, that he's one of the fastest players in baseball and a legitimately very good baserunner, so if he can just be an average hitter with a bit of pop, he's probably a must-start Fantasy option. He looks like at least that right now. | | Nick Pivetta, SP, Red Sox (82%) – There's something kind of funny in the fact that Pivetta's best start in nearly two months came in a game that, technically, happened more than two months ago. A game that likely did not count for your Fantasy leagues, as Pivetta took the mound for the second inning of a suspended game from June. And he was dominant, limiting the Blue Jays to just two earned runs over six innings while striking out 10 and issuing zero walks. It is Pivetta's fifth double-digit strikeout effort of the season, and it comes amid a streak where he hadn't had a quality start since July … and I suppose still hasn't. The stats don't count from this one, but the performance does, and it's Pivetta's most promising in at least a month. If you're looking for a pitcher to add where he's available, this is a reason to do so. | | | | MJ Melendez, OF, Royals (17%) – Is there some post-hype appeal here? Melendez has largely fallen on his face this season, but he's starting to remind us of the talent we once got so excited about of late, hitting .301 with six homers and 14 RBI over his past 23 games, with an average exit velocity of 92.1 mph on his batted balls in that time. Of course, he's also been playing a bit more sporadically of late, and even with this hot streak only just now got his season-long OPS over .700. Which is to say, yeah, it's a long shot that Melendez is going to be a difference maker for Fantasy, but I don't mind riding the hot hand when that hand belongs to a 25-year-old former top prospect with Melendez's raw power. | | Whit Merrifield, OF, Braves (20%) – The Braves might have something here with Merrifield. They've been churning through a series of also-ran veteran types, but Merrifield seems to have stuck, starting 25 games in a row as of Monday's five-hit effort against the Twins. He is now hitting .313 since joining the team, with one homer, 17 runs, and five stolen bases. It's a pretty empty average (and the five hits Monday are carrying a lot of weight here), but he brings a bit of speed to the table that could matter in Roto leagues, especially with triple eligibility. | | | | News and Notes | | Yordan Alvarez returned to the lineup Monday after missing three games with neck discomfort. The Astros are in a tough spot with Alex Bregman limited to either first base or DH duties while dealing with an elbow injury, forcing Alvarez to play more of the outfield than they'd probably prefer, but he's a must-start player, obviously. | | Oneil Cruz is moving to center field, and Pirates manager Derek Shelton suggested that the move will be permanent, too. Isiah Kiner Falefa will play shortstop with Nick Gonzales at second base, though Cruz is expected to serve as DH in the short term as they get him ready for the transition to CF. Cruz has been hit or miss both defensively and at the plate this season, but there remains incredible upside on both sides of the ball if he takes to the outfield quickly. | | Jared Jones is set to be activated and start Tuesday against the Cubs. He's been out since early July with a Grade 2 right lat strain, and I'd be willing to get him in my starting lineup after he got up to 73 pitches in his most recent rehab start. | | Devin Williams was unavailable Sunday due to left shoulder soreness. Apparently, Williams felt a pinch in his non-throwing shoulder when he woke up Sunday morning, so consider adding Trevor Megill if you want to get ahead of this one. He was dominant as a closer earlier in the season with Williams out. | | Xavier Edwards was placed on the IL due to mild back extensor soreness. Vidal Brujan started in his place. | | Ryan Mountcastle went on the IL with a sprained left wrist. That means Ryan O'Hearn should fill in at first base, which could create more consistent playing time for Eloy Jimenez, too. | | Luis Gil threw a bullpen session on Sunday. Aaron Boone said it's possible Gil will be ready when first eligible on September 6. | | Brenton Doyle was scratched from Monday's lineup due to right leg soreness and could need another day or two off. That's frustrating in a week with seven games at Coors Field. | | Michael Harris was out of the lineup after getting hit by a pitch in his left hand Sunday. He said he could realistically return to the lineup within a few days. | | Dylan Crews was officially promoted and was in the lineup, batting second for the Nationals. He finished 0-3 with a walk and strikeout. | | Byron Buxton is getting closer to a rehab assignment but is not there yet. He hasn't played since August 12 because of right hip inflammation. | | Javier Baez will undergo season-ending arthroscopic surgery on his right hip next week. | | Monday's standouts | | Cole Ragans , Royals @CLE: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K – There are extenuating circumstances here, as Ragans was forced from the game due to cramping in his hamstring and calf. Of course, he was already struggling long before he was pulled, and might not have been long for the game anyway, with 94 pitches thrown in just the four innings of work. The hope here is that Ragans just wasn't 100% for this one and that explains the inefficiency but that's now two starts in a row of five innings or less for Ragans, who is already more than 20 innings north of his career-high (and nearly 60 up from last season). Is he running out of steam? I'm not ready to say that, what with Ragans' velocity actually being up in the month of August prior to this one (where he was down more than 1 mph from his career averages). So I'll say: This is a red flag, but not something I'm panicking about. Yet. | | Max Fried , Braves @MIN: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K – If you're disappointed that Fried only threw five innings on 73 pitches in this one, it could have been a lot worse: He pitched one inning before an 86-minute rain delay, and I was surprised we saw him back out there at all. Given those circumstances (and the generally wet conditions throughout), I'd say this was about as good of an outcome as you could have hoped for. Fried has walked just one over the past two starts after struggling with his command in his first few starts back from his forearm injury, so signs seem to be pointing up here. | | Bailey Ober , Twins vs. ATL: 2 IP, 7 H, 9 ER, 2 BB, 2 K – I don't want to come down too hard on Ober, who pitched through the same conditions Fried did, including having his warmup for the game affected by the delay. We've seen Ober bounce back from disaster starts like this multiple times this season, and I have no real reason to worry he won't do so yet again this time around. But it would be nice if we didn't have to deal with these kinds of week-wrecking performances from Ober multiple times a year. His ERA for the season is up to 4.06, and I think we can all agree that is not indicative of how he has actually pitched this season. | | Bryce Miller, Mariners vs. TB: 7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K – Is Miller figuring it out? He matched his season-high in strikeouts in this one, and has been on quite a roll lately, with 34 strikeouts to just four walks in 28.1 innings over his five August starts, arguably the best month of the season for him. Of course, we also thought Miller might be figuring it out in April, when he had a 1.19 ERA with 33 strikeouts in 30.1 innings of work, and he followed that up with two months of a 4.94 ERA and less than a strikeout per innings. Miller has been less fastball reliant in August than he was earlier in the season, especially fading his sinker for more sliders and curveballs, and the latter was a big part of his success Monday, generating four of his 14 whiffs. That's a new pitch for Miller this season, and it's been arguably his best pitch overall – the competition comes from his excellent four-seamer and that new splitter. It's been a frustrating ride over the first two seasons of Miller's career, but yeah, he might just be figuring it out. | | Jose Berrios , Blue Jays @BOS: 7.2 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K – I don't really have a good explanation for why Berrios was so bad between May and July. He faded his sinker and slurve a bit after a hot start, with both his changeup and four-seamer playing a big part in his midseason struggles. But his sinker was also getting crushed for most of those three months, and while slurve remained his best pitch pretty consistently, his usage of that pitch has actually been a bit lower in August than it was in, say, June or July. Which is to say, I'm not sure I have a good feel for why Berrios has turned his season around so dramatically twice already, this most recent time for the better. He still gave up a bunch of hard contact Monday (11 hard-hits allowed), and that's been a consistent theme, so it might just come down to: He's petty good when the hard-hit balls find gloves. I wish I had a better explanation, or more confidence one way or the other about what the rest of the season will hold for Berrios. But with a 2.66 ERA and 1.03 WHIP over the past six starts, I'm probably just rolling with Berrios moving forward. | | Nestor Cortes, Yankees @WAS: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K – For a while there, Cortes was able to "One Weird Trick" his way to success, with a unique fastball and cutter that managed to befuddle hitters for multiple seasons. But they started to catch on earlier in the summer, and Cortes had to adapt, going from a combined 78.8% fastball/cutter usage in April to 67% in August. That isn't a wholesale transformation of his approach, but it has meant more sweepers and changeups, and that has largely been a good thing (even though they only combined for three whiffs Monday). The good news is, Cortes is showing he can. | | Edward Cabrera, Marlins @COL: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K – I remain so intrigued by Cabrera, and starts like this don't help. He generated a whopping 18 whiffs on his 102 pitches in this one and could have had his second quality start in a row with just slightly better results. But isn't that how it always goes with this guy? There's always something to be impressed by, but there just isn't any kind of consistent forward momentum, mostly because of the command. His two walks Monday were his fewest in a start since July, and as long as he remains good for three to four every time out, Cabrera is going to keep disappointing. This might be a case where he just needs a change of scenery and some new voices in his ear to help him figure things out. | | Randy Vasquez, Padres @STL: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K – There were a handful of solid starts from low-rostered players Monday, so let Vasquez act as a stand-in for Ty Madden and Davis Martin here. I'm not really interested in any of them, honestly. Vasquez has a bit of prospect pedigree, but just hasn't shown any kind of strikeout ability at the MLB level; Madden has had some flashes in the minors, but we're talking about a 6.98 ERA in the minors this season, so he needed to be a lot more impressive than three walks and two strikeouts to be worth adding. Martin might actually be the most interesting of the bunch with his new changeup, though that actually wasn't a very good pitch for him today, resulting in a lot of loud contact and not many called or swinging strikes. I can squint and see the outline of an interested pitcher with Martin, but with the White Sox backing him up, I'm just not sure the juice will be worth the squeeze there. | | | | | | | | Canadian Football League | | NWSL | Get your fill of football from across the border with a Saturday matchup between the Ottawa Redblacks and BC Lions at 7 PM ET on CBS Sports Network. Also catch a game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday at 7 PM ET on CBS Sports Network.
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