Sample size folks. I discussed my thoughts on Chris Archer last week in a Daily Trends Piece. I said in that article that talk of Archer being hurt seemed nonsensical to me. Monday night Archer went out and tossed 6.2 scoreless inning against the Orioles as he walked nary a batter and struck out 10. Does that sound like a guy that is hurt to you? Archer, by the way, leads baseball with 39 strikeouts (in just 26.1 innings). He isn’t hurt folks. He’s just been making bad pitches.
Wei-Yin Chen allowed just two runs in his fourth start with the Marlins on Monday which improved his record to 1-1 with a 4.32 ERA. That’s the bad. Well, there’s also the fact that he’s allowed four homers in four starts though he was also bombed pretty heavily last season with 28 homers allowed in 31 games. The move to the NL, and to pitching his home games in Florida, should help with that as the innings pile up. As for the overall skills they are really solid folks. His K-rate matches his career best (7.20 per nine). His walk rate (1.44 per nine) would be a career best. His WHIP would be a career best (1.16). His GB/FB ratio (1.36) would be a career best. Add Chen. He’s good and pitching well.
Jaime Garcia is a solid hurler. He’s always hurt though. Over his last two outings he’s not pitched well either walking seven batters while allowing 12 hits over 10 innings. I say it every time I mention Garcia… oh hell, I’m not going to say it again. Just take a look at his Player Profile.
Did you catch my video yesterday? How dare you if you missed it. I break down the solid start of Jose Iglesias, the power production of Corey Dickerson and the lack of steals success for George Springer.
Kevin Gausman made his long awaited debut Monday for the Orioles and looked great. His fastball was routinely hitting 96-98 mph and that led to seven strikeouts. He also walked two and allowed one run in the outing against the Rays. That was the good Gausman, the one that I was pushing in the preseason. There’s a long road to hoe here, tons of innings that need to pile up and games to start, but it was an excellent start last night. The Orioles have jerked Gausman around an awful lot these past few years, and he’s also dealt with health woes, but his shoulder sure looked fine last night. He’s got the talent to be an SP4 in mixed leagues – if he can stay healthy.
Kendall Graveman was bombed against the Tigers as he allowed three homers and six runs over just 4.2 innings. As a result of that beating Graveman now owns a 4.03 ERA and 1.21 WHIP. Through 142.2 big league innings he owns a 4.04 ERA and 1.37 WHIP. He’s just a moderate, AL-only type of arm folks. He gets grounders, and when right can be effective, but his stuff is far from elite and he sure seems prone to the big fly cause when this ground ball artists gets the ball up he gets hammered (15.5 HR/FB and 1.26 HR/9 over 30 outings).
Raisel Iglesias has made five starts for the Reds this season. Through those outings he owns a 3.49 ERA and 1.45 WHIP. That’s both the good and the bad. The 1.45 WHIP is awfully high for a guy who has walked just 2.22 batters per nine innings. The reason? Raisel has been hit well when he isn’t striking batters out (9.21 per nine) as he’s allowed 34 hits, including four homers, in just 28.1 innings. Batters have squared him up to the tune of a 25.6 percent line drive rate as well with a .361 BABIP. Those numbers will come down, but for as much good as there has been there has also been some bad. A slightly above average start. For more on Iglesias see his Player Profile.
Julio Teheran has made five starts this season. In three of those starts he’s allowed two or fewer earned runs. Julio has also allowed just three runs and three walks over his last 12.1 innings. Seems like he’s rounding into form. The two times he pitched poorly though have led to a 4.60 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP, but that allows Teheran to be a nice buy low option. Julio has thrown at least 185-innings each of the last three seasons with 170 strikeouts. He’s also the owner of a 3.49 ERA and 1.20 WHIP for his young career. The walks are still the key. He was at 3.27 per nine last season. This year the mark is up to 3.38. For his career he’s a 2.57 guy. Where is that guy? The velocity was up in his last start, but there are still concerns about the heat and a slider that continues to limp to be average. I would still be buying low as many are running from him.
Garrett Richards did himself a horrible disservice in 2014 by posting a 2.61 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. He’s just not that guy folks. Over his last 37 starts he’s been the owner of a 3.48 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 7.79 K/9 and a 54.0 percent ground ball ratio. Let me ask you – what is wrong with that guy? Answer is nothing. I don’t understand why folks are disappointed. Oh wait, I do, it’s what I led off this breakdown with. Why not champion what Richards is – that is a strong strikeout arm with a great ground ball rate. That’s plenty good enough, I swear.
Finally… Carlos Carrasco will miss 4-6 weeks. Trevor Bauer takes over the open spot in the Indians rotation. Good. He should have been starting all along (sorry Josh Tomlin). Take a look at Bauer’s Player Profile.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 6 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).