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| Monday, August 16, 2021 |
| What an eventful weekend it was! From Tyler Gilbert to Fernando Tatis, there was a little something for everyone. Let's start off with some good. You can read about Gilbert and Triston McKenzie below, but I want to shine some light on Reid Detmers, who turned in the best start of his young career Sunday. Detmers is regarded as one of the best pitching prospects in the game and showed us why, racking up six strikeouts over six innings of one-run ball against the Astros. While he didn't have a ton of swinging strikes, Detmers used his big curveball to shut down one of the best lineups in the game. I'd rather add McKenzie for now, but Detmers is close behind. |
| Now for the bad. Carlos Carrasco got ripped on Sunday Night Baseball, allowing six runs over just two innings of work against the Dodgers. Carrasco has now allowed 13 earned runs over his first 11.1 innings pitched with the Mets. I'm willing to give him a pass here as the Dodgers are no joke. The problem is he faces them again this upcoming week. You're going to want to leave Carrasco on your bench for the time being until he gets back on track. |
| Of course, as always, you can follow to make sure you get the latest episodes of Fantasy Baseball Today right when they drop on Apple and Spotify. |
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| What to know about Tyler Gilbert |
| A few short weeks ago we were talking up Mariners top pitching prospect Logan Gilbert and projecting a big second half but it turns out we may have had the wrong Gilbert! Just kidding -- we're not ready to go that far -- but it was a truly eye-opening performance from Diamondbacks SP Tyler Gilbert. Despite being matched up against one of the best teams in baseball -- the Padres -- Gilbert threw a no-hitter in his first career start! |
| Gilbert's no-hitter included three walks and only five strikeouts. Under the hood, he induced just nine swinging strikes on 102 total pitches. Gilbert throws his cutter a lot -- 47% of the time in this no hitter. It doesn't generate a lot of swing and miss and Gilbert actually allowed 10 hard hit balls in the nine innings. He also doesn't have much of a background that you're looking for from a potential future ace. Gilbert is a former sixth-round pick and now 27 years old. |
| Here's a look at his career minor league numbers: 3.37 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 367 strikeouts in 403.1 IP. However, Gilbert had been mostly a reliever during his minor-league career and he throws sub-90 mph. As Scott made clear, there were several batted balls that could've and probably should've ended the no hitter -- and the shutout. This was a day where baseball magic happened and created a great memory for Gilbert, but Scott is not planning to add him in any Fantasy leagues and wouldn't advise you to either. |
| Gilbert currently only has RP eligibility (which is helpful in points leagues) and he is 20% rostered. If he sticks in the rotation, his next start is in Coors Field! Fun fact: Gilbert became the fourth pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter in his first career start (and the first since 1953). |
| Swanson can't stop going yard |
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| Braves SS Dansby Swanson is all of the sudden one of the best power-hitting middle infielders in Fantasy Baseball -- where did this come from?! Swanson simply cannot be slowed down. After knocking out a pair of home runs on Saturday -- and home runs in three straight games -- Swanson has 24 home runs on the season. |
| Although his overall numbers aren't eye popping, he's on an incredible run. Since the All-Star break, Swanson is hitting .321 with a .965 OPS with nine home runs in 29 games. Swanson is in his age-27 season and we've always thought Swanson could have better production than he had put on paper. Last season he emerged as a must-start player and now he may be morphing into more. He has a career high in key advanced stats including exit velocity. It's all coming together for the former first-round draft pick. |
| Sale's return to the Sox |
| Chris Sale finally made his long-awaited return to the Red Sox, who couldn't have picked a better team to trot him out against than the Orioles. Sale went five innings strong and allowed two earned runs on six hits. Sale didn't walk a batter and showed excellent command. He also generated a ton of swing-and-miss stuff. Sale finished with eight strikeouts and 16 induced swinging strikes on 89 pitches (including 10 on his fastball). |
| Under the hood, the advanced metrics were excellent. Sale had a 35% CSW rate and allowed just two hard hit balls in the entire outing. He averaged 93.2 MPH on the FB (93.4 mph in 2019, 95.2 mph in 2018, 94.8 mph in 2017). Sale only threw his slider 20% that was consistently over 30% the past three seasons he pitched. His next start comes against the Rangers his week and he's certainly worth starting. |
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| More news and notes |
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Mets SP Jacob deGrom will remain shut down from throwing for at least two more weeks after being re-evaluated Friday. The inflammation in his elbow has been reduced but it's still there. The earliest we might see him is mid-September.Yankees SP Gerrit Cole will return and start Monday, which lines him up for two starts against the Angels and Twins.Padres SS Fernando Tatis returned Sunday and made his first career start in right field. It doesn't matter where he plays, he's awesome… He went 4 for 5 with a double dong and is now at 33 homers on the season Dodgers SP Clayton Kershaw may not have time to build up to a starter's workload before the end of the regular season. Dave Roberts had this to say: "I think that will be kind of contingent on where the ramp-up goes. I don't want to say, 'No.' That's the goal. But if it comes to be a two-, three-inning monster out of the 'pen, then that's what it will be."RP Aroldis Chapman is traveling with the Yankees on their current road trip, and the team is hopeful he can be activated when first eligible to come off the IL. Royals SS Adalberto Mondesi experienced oblique tightness during his rehab assignment and returned to Kansas City to be evaluated. Mets SS Francisco Lindor is hoping to skip a rehab assignment once he's cleared for game action. Manager Luis Rojas said Lindor could be activated next Monday.Cleveland SP Shane Bieber threw a bullpen session Saturday for the first time since he landed on the injured list back in mid-June. The session lasted 20 pitches and he didn't throw anything but fastballs. Astros 3B Alex Bregman was supposed to resume rehab on Friday. NARRATOR: He did not. White Sox SP Carlos Rodon's medical examination came back clean and confirmed shoulder soreness. He'll miss more than the minimum 10 days but Tony La Russa said he didn't expect a long absence. Cleveland SP Aaron Civale is scheduled to throw a two-inning simulated game at High-A Tuesday. The year of the setback continues as Yankees SP Luis Severino is feeling something in his shoulder. He'll visit a doctor Monday.
Luis Gil (HEEL) is expected to be recalled and start one of the Yankees' doubleheader games against the Red Sox on Tuesday. That means he'll be sent down again afterwards. Phillies 3B Alec Bohm has sat out four straight and appears to have lost his job to Ronald Torreyes. The Reds activated OF Nick Senzel from the 60 day IL and then optioned him to Triple-A.Miles Mikolas is set to rejoin the Cardinals rotation this week. He made one start earlier this year and zero starts in 2020.Yankees 1B Anthony Rizzo is feeling much better and could resume baseball activities Monday. He tested positive for COVID last weekend. He doesn't have a timetable but it sounds like maybe later this week or the start of next week for Rizzo. |
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| McKenzie going into post-hype sleeper mode? |
| Cleveland SP Triston McKenzie was a favorite industry sleeper in March but that momentum slowed down in spring training. McKenzie had issues with his control in the first half of the season, but he nearly made history on Sunday and it wasn't just a blip -- he has been excellent as of late. The Chris Towers favorite came just four outs shy of a perfect game. He retired 23 batters in a row at one point. |
| The really good news is that his velocity is back up and he is inducing a lot of swinging strikes. McKenzie totaled a career-high 11 strikeouts and induced 21 swinging strikes. He also only allowed three hard-hit balls (topping 95 mph). There are a lot of positives to take away and a lot of reasons to like McKenzie moving forward. |
| McKenzie has allowed just five earned runs total over his last three starts. He's also had three quality starts in a row and in five of his last seven starts. During that stretch he has racked up 20 strikeouts with just one walk. The walks weren't an issue for him in the minors but they had been holding him back this season. McKenzie is just 47% rostered and he is a must-add pitcher. |
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