| | Tuesday, May 21, 2024 | A couple high-profile hurlers took it on the chin Monday, with home runs being to blame. Pablo Lopez allowed seven earned runs in five innings at the Nationals, serving up two home runs to give him nine in a season when home runs have been harder to come by. It explains why he has a 4.72 ERA even though his 1.12 WHIP and 10.3 K/9 are right where you'd want them to be. Framber Valdez, meanwhile, served up three home runs of his own (eight earned runs total), but those were completely out of character. He had given up only two prior to that, thanks to his 65 percent ground-ball rate. | Both pitchers have had multiple starts this year where they looked like themselves but have fallen a little short of expectations overall. These latest missteps shouldn't cause you to abandon ship, but the same doesn't hold true for Reid Detmers, who once again got shellacked, this time at the hand of the Astros. He's seen his ERA climb from 1.19 to 5.80 in his past five starts, serving up nine home runs during that span, and while he's still a quality bat-misser, there's simply too much serviceable pitching out there to remain encumbered by him. There will probably come a point when he's worthwhile again, but if you need to drop him, feel free. | Some notable hitting performances from Monday include Danny Jansen, who went 3 for 5 with his fifth home run and ninth double in only 22 games (he began the year on the IL, remember). He's earned a 60/40 share with Alejandro Kirk and is firmly in the conversation for one catcher leagues, even. Also, Marcell Ozuna homered in both games of a doubleheader to bring him to 14 on the year, and Kyle Tucker swiped two bags to give him nine (to go along with 15 homers). It's nice to see some hitters actually pulling their weight, because those have been few and far between. | The pitching, on the other hand, has been so plentiful that no one could blame you for being extra finicky with it. If you've had any doubts about these 10, though, here are some reasons to be encouraged. | | SPs showing positive signs | Walker Buehler, SP, Dodgers | Manager Dave Roberts summed up Walker Buehler's first successful start back from Tommy John surgery this way: "He wasn't overthrowing." Indeed, Buehler's average fastball velocity was down about 1 mph from his first two unsuccessful starts back from Tommy John surgery, but at 94.9 mph, it was basically in line with his last two healthy seasons. And whatever he lost in power, he gained several times over in command, going from throwing 61 percent of his pitches for strikes in his first two starts to 71 percent in this one. Buehler made another change in the interest of improving his command, according to MLB.com, going "from having just his toes on the rubber to his entire foot." Between that level of intention and Saturday's level of success, you have to believe Buehler will stick with this new approach. | Corbin Burnes, SP, Dodgers | Corbin Burnes might seem out of place on this list given that by most real-world standards, he's been pitching like an ace. But something just seemed off to me. He wasn't missing nearly as many bats as in years past, and he entered Sunday's start with less than a strikeout per inning. It wasn't enough for me to bail on him, but it was enough for me to drop him behind Zack Wheeler and Tarik Skubal in my rest-of-season rankings, with perhaps others to come. But it turns out Burnes had some interesting things to say about his lack of strikeouts prior to Sunday's start, telling MASN that hitters have changed their approach to him and that he may try sequencing differently to get more strikeouts. He then followed up with his best swing-and-miss game of the year, collecting 19 whiffs and 11 strikeouts. I can't speak to the sequencing, but Burnes took a mile per hour off his slider and got seven whiffs on eight swings against it. Perhaps the guy knows what he's doing. | Lucas Gil, SP, Yankees | Of the three 14-strikeout efforts around the league this season, Luis Gil's was the most surprising. What made it surprising, though, wasn't the missed bats -- his 11.4 K/9 rate ranks fifth among starting pitchers, after all -- but that he lasted long enough to get 14 strikeouts. It wouldn't have seemed possible earlier in the year, when he was needing 99 pitches to make it through five innings because the walks were just as plentiful as the strikeouts. But suddenly, he has four straight starts with six innings or more and four of five with two walks or fewer. It clearly hasn't compromised his bat-missing ability, and that's not even accounting for his best skill of all: hit prevention, the product of a fly-ball profile and penchant for weak contact. Gil isn't about to become a model of efficiency, but he's making sure he's not just a footnote either. | | Christian Javier, SP, Astros | Of all the pitchers on this list, Cristian Javier is the one who I've come closest to writing off completely, and I'm only hitting the brakes now because of one start. But in that one start, he addressed my two biggest concerns. He had eight strikeouts in six innings. He had 15 swinging strikes on 80 pitches. At his best, Javier was good for 11.7 K/9 and a 13.8 percent swinging-strike rate, but he was down to 6.6 K/9 and an 8.8 percent swinging-strike rate prior to that one start. Was it just a really good day against a suspect Athletics lineup? Maybe, but I noticed that the velocity was down and the vertical break was up on both his slider and changeup. It seemed like it may have been by design rather than just random variation and is reason to hold on for at least one more start. | You can find the rest of my breakdowns on the other starters here. | | News and Notes | Gerrit Cole is scheduled to face live hitters on Tuesday, the first time he's done that in the rehab process. Zach Eflin was placed on the IL with lower-back inflammation and is expected to miss 2-4 weeks.Xander Bogaerts exited Game 1 of their doubleheader with a left shoulder injury. Preliminary imaging came back negative but they are awaiting results of additional tests. It sounds like Luis Robert will play in some rehab games later this week. There was hope that he'd play in games last week but the White Sox decided not to push him.Bobby Miller is expected to throw a simulated game Tuesday. He's been on the IL since April 13 due to right shoulder inflammation.Kodai Senga did not throw his scheduled bullpen Sunday due to right triceps tightness. The hope is that he'll be ready to throw off the mound later this week. Reese Olson left his start early after being struck by a line drive in his right hip. It's been diagnosed as a bruise and he seems to have escaped with just a minor injury.Evan Phillips, who's on the IL with a right hamstring strain, is expected to make 2-3 rehab appearances before being activated.Lane Thomas will begin a rehab assignment at Double-A on Tuesday and, if all goes well, could be ready to rejoin the Nationals Friday. Joey Ortiz got hit by a pitch on his right foot, thankfully X-rays came back negative. The Brewers will re-evaluate Ortiz on Tuesday morning.Aaron Boone said DJ LeMahieu will be the Yankees primary third baseman when he returns.Cade Cavalli has been assigned to the Florida Complex League to begin a rehab assignment.Joe Ross exited his start due to back tightness and is expected to land on the IL. Garrett Whitlock, who was on the IL with a left oblique strain, now has right elbow damage and will likely need surgery.Bryce Elder was optioned back to Triple-A. Darius Vines was recalled. | | | | | UEFA Europa League | | The Golazo Network | Atalanta will fight to break Leverkusen's 49-match win streak this Wednesday on CBS Sports Network and streaming on Paramount+. Catch coverage of the potential history-making match TOMORROW starting at 2 PM ET. Watch Live | | Watch LIVE global soccer coverage on the CBS Sports Golazo Network, available FOR FREE on the CBS Sports App, Pluto TV and streaming on Paramount+. Watch Live |
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