Happy Monday to everybody, but especially those who have Triston McKenzie on their Fantasy rosters. He flashed upside last year and it appears he's back. You can read more about him below, but I actually wanted to start with a few starting pitchers who have been struggling recently. Over his past seven starts, Kevin Gausman has a 5.17 ERA. There are multiple things working against him right now, including lack of control, declining swinging strike rate and a higher hard contact rate. All of those things are a recipe for disaster. Any pitcher can be prone to a bad stretch, but especially one who relies on a splitter as his go-to pitch. While I have my reservations about Gausman, I would keep him in the lineup this upcoming week against the Mets. 

I can't say the same for Yusei Kikuchi, who has a 6.69 ERA over his past eight starts. Like Gausman, Kikuchi has lost his control, but he's also giving up a ton of home runs. He's tinkered with his pitch-mix quite a bit, too, during this stretch. I'm not dropping Kikuchi yet but I definitely would not start him this week, even in a strong matchup against the Kansas City Royals. 

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Cleveland SP Triston McKenzie made Chris Towers' sleepers list more than once in the early spring, and after a slow start to his 2021 season, he's starting to look a lot like the breakout candidate he was pegged to be. One outing after falling four outs short of throwing the 24th perfect game in MLB history, McKenzie was dominant again in shutting down a tougher challenge in the Angels. 

He went seven innings plus and allowed just two hits against the Angels (and one earned run). He was once again in command and inducing strikes at will. McKenzie walked just one batter while striking out eight. He has 19 strikeouts and has allowed just three hits and one run in his past 15 innings.

The velocity has been up and he has just a 0.78 WHIP since returning from the minors to the majors. The fact that he's pitching deep into games and in command with a consistent role, we've now seen four straight starts where the upside is being realized, and Chris believes it's here to stay.

Reds OF Tyler Naquin was one of the hottest waiver pickups in April, but his production had fallen off since -- until now. Naquin is hot again. He had seven hits with three homers this weekend alone. He is now just 53% rostered and he might just be one of the hottest hitters in August. In this month alone, Naquin is batting around .400 with a ton of pop. He's up to seven homers in August. More importantly, under the hood, the numbers are promising there too. Naquin has just a 15.6% strikeout rate and a 34% line drive rate.

Naquin has the centerfield job locked up and really good matchups ahead (check out that rest of season Reds schedule now -- it's shockingly easy).

• OF Myles Straw in 21 games with CLE: .318 BA, .389 OBP with 4 SB and 18 runs scored (31% LD rate), 51% rostered and he has six home games this week.
• Mets OF Brandon Nimmo in his last 15 games: .295 BA, 2 HR, 1 SB, 59% rostered, six home games this week.
• Royals OF Andrew Benintendi has 14 hits over his past eight games, 55% rostered, seven games this week.
• Phillies OF Odubel Herrera 4 for 5 Sunday and has now gone consecutive games with a homer. He's 13% rostered and gets six home games this week.

Don't look now, but Royals 2B/SS Nicky Lopez is quickly becoming one of the best sources of speed in all of Fantasy Baseball. In his past seven games, Lopez has 11 hits and eight steals. That's right -- eight bags in seven games! Where else can you find that kind of speed on your waiver wire now? The answer is nowhere. Lopez is 18% rostered with seven games this week.

• The following players went on the IL this weekend:
• Anthony DeSclafani right ankle inflammation.
• Evan Longoria/Nelson Cruz to the COVID IL.
• Diego Castillo right shoulder inflammation.
• Wily Peralta with a blister.
• Joe Barlow with a blister -- Spencer Patton could be closing again (for now).
• Tyrone Taylor right oblique.
• Miguel Cabrera hit his 500th career home run on Sunday, 28th player in MLB history!
• Kenta Maeda left Saturday's start with forearm tightness. He's slated to undergo additional tests. 
• Mike Trout worked out on the field prior to Friday's game and indicated that he is feeling good. He also admitted to experiencing some soreness earlier in the week but it appears to have subsided.
• Clayton Kershaw threw from 120 feet Saturday and may get back on the mound next week. 
• Astros GM James Click said that Alex Bregman will appear in another rehab game Monday. Bregman played Friday and homered at Triple-A. 
• Kyle Tucker is trending towards a mid-week return. He's currently on the COVID IL. 
• Chris Paddack (oblique) threw 25 pitches in an "intensive" bullpen session Friday. 
• Jose Urquidy threw a bullpen session Sunday. 
• Aaron Civale made a rehab start at Double-A Sunday. 
• Ian Anderson will make one more rehab start at Triple-A on Tuesday before likely rejoining the Atlanta starting rotation. 
• Pablo Lopez made a rehab start this weekend. He went three no-hit innings with three strikeouts.
• The Pirates waived Gregory Polanco.
• Tejay Antone is expected to return Tuesday.
• Nick Solak was recalled by the Rangers and expected to be their everyday second baseman.
• Alec Bohm was optioned to Triple-A. He was batting .245 with a .645 OPS this season, 26% strikeout rate, 53% groundball rate. 

• No 1: Cleveland SP Triston McKenzie
• No. 2: Braves SP Touki Toussaint (3.69 ERA in last seven starts, 65% rostered)
• No. 3: Reds SP Vladimir Gutierrez (six consecutive quality starts, 78% rostered)
  
• No. 4: Cleveland SP Cal Quantrill (1.50 ERA, 9% SwStr rate, 54% GB in his last eight starts)