Andrew Cashner has a 4.85 ERA and 1.42 WHIP a season after he was saddled with a 4.34 ERA and 1.44 WHIP. That’s a long period of below average work. His K-rate is a tad higher than last season at 8.19 per nine, but the walk rate is way up at 3.94 per nine, a poor number. Still, he has thrown three quality starts in his last four outings for those of you looking for something to hang your hat on. On the negative… his 43.7 percent ground ball rate would be a career worst, and no one wants to see that.
Bartolo Colon has made six outings, five starts, and looks as good as ever. The nearly 43 year old has a 2.56 ERA and 1.14 WHIP for the Mets. He’s, amazingly, walked three batters this season. It’s really the key for Colon. He throws his fastball more than 80 percent of the time and never walks anyone. Get this. He’s made 147 starts, and 153 trips to the mound, since the start of the 2011 season and he’s walked a total of 149 batters. Amazing. He doesn’t beat himself, and moderate success follows.
Nate Karns has a 3.81 ERA and 1.34 WHIP, right in line with the 3.67 and 1.28 rates he posted last season. He’s upped the 8.9 K/9 rate from last season to 9.2 this year, but alas he’s added more than a half batter to his walk rate which boosts things up to 4.13 walks per nine. That’s not a mark you can hold on to and succeed with long-term. If he can knock a batter per nine off that mark he’s someone you can feel decent about rolling out there. If things continue along at their current pace, well, who really needs a guy with league average ratios starting 30 times for them?
Lance McCullers is working his way back from shoulder woes. He will start for Triple-A Fresno on Saturday, and if he looks good he could be back with the Astros nest week. Here’s the story.
Matt Moore allowed six runs over his first three starts and people loved him. Then he allows seven runs in an outing, is going to have a start skipped this weekend, and people want to drop him. I feel like a lot of you out there need some Prozac. Calm down folks. If you aren’t willing to ride the waves up and down do something else with your free time. Seriously. Moore has made six starts and has a 9.17 K/9 which would be a career best. Moore has a 2.48 BB/9 rate which would be a career best. Moore has a 1.21 WHIP which would be a career best. Moore has a 1.25 GB/FB ratio that is well above his 0.96 career rate. What, you’re upset because he had one bad outing?
Justin Nicolino has made two starts for the Marlins and has a 2.70 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. Love that. So end the excitement. Do you really that Justin has one strikeout for each of his starts this season? Moreover, in 14 starts he has struck out 25 batters. Seriously. That’s 2.58 batters per nine innings. Just move on unless you are in an NL-only league.
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Tanner Roark is sporting that epic 2.35 ERA. He also has 34 punchouts in 38.1 innings. Danger Will Robinson though. The 3.52 BB/9 rate is half a batter above the league average. That effort leaves him with a league average 2.27 K/BB ratio that is light years off his 3.10 career mark. There’s also the fact that Roark has a 56.1 percent first strike rate which would be a career worst and is well off his 63.4 percent career mark. He’s also generating just a 21.3 percent swing at pitches thrown outside the strike zone mark. That level would be a career worst and is way off his 30.2 percent career mark. It’s also simply not possible that his homer rate will remain so low. Currently the mark sits at 0.23 per nine innings whereas his career mark is 0.78. Batters are also hitting just .216 off of Roark versus his .243 career mark. Luck isn’t the right word, but let’s just say Roark has been very fortunate to have success like he has early in the year.
Josh Tomlin made 10 starts last season with a 3.02 ERA and 0.84 WHIP. This season he’s made four starts with a 3.13 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. That’s 14 starts with a 3.1 ERA and a WHIP below 1.00. That’s legit. Still, he’s given back the strikeout games he flashed last season (7.81 per nine) with a mark of 6.26 this season. He also owns a poor 0.97 GB/FB ratio this season and when you don’t miss bats (his swinging strike rate of 7.6 percent would be a career worst) you really want a guy to generate more grounders than Tomlin does. Still nothing more than a streaming option to me.
Michael Wacha has a 2.65 ERA which is intriguing, but there’s no growth here. Last year he had a 1.21 WHIP. This year the mark is 1.26. Last season he struck out 7.6 batters per nine. This year the mark is 7.7. Last year he walked 2.9 batters per nine. This year the mark is 2.9. Last year he had a 1.43 GB/FB ratio. This year the mark is 1.61. Last year he had a 76.2 left on base percentage. This year the mark is 77.6. He’s basically the same guy. Nothing wrong with that at all of course, and he does have 17 punchouts in his last 15 innings. A nice arm, but he doesn’t show signs of joining the elite.
Matt Wisler of the Braves tossed eight shutout innings at the Mets Tuesday. That was his second outing with no runs allowed in three outings. That’s great. However, there are concerns. Do I ever not say that? I wonder? His 6.21 K/9 rate stinks (6.01 for his career). His 2.43 BB/9 rate is decent but over 142.1 innings the mark is worse than the league average at 3.10. His 1.26 HR/9 career mark is worse than the league average. He current is holding batters down with a laughably low .175 batting average against. The mark was .280 last season and the rate this year is so low cause of his lucky-as-all-hell .183 BABIP. Struggles lie ahead making Wisler an NL-only option.
Steven Wright has made five starts this season. He has thrown five quality starts. He’s also allowed no more than two runs in any outing. Knuckleball be damned, that is some serious pitching. Until he gives you a reason not to believe you should be buying, realizing that the ratios aren’t likely to ultimately be any better than league average when the season is completed.
DFS DIAMONDS
*The following list of players are guys that Ray recommends as daily plays.
CATCHER: Jonathan Lucroy has hit .600 in 10 at-bats against Alfredo Simon. That effort includes two homers. Righties are batting .375 against Simon this season.
FIRST BASE: Alfredo Simon has allowed five homers his las three starts which have lasted a total of 7.2 innings. In comes Chris Carter who has four homers in four of late.
SECOND BASE: Ian Kinsler has hit .368 over 19 at-bats, with a homer, against Trevor Bauer. Kinsler has hit .309 at home with a .848 OPS and he’s hit .339 with a .913 OPS at night this season.
THIRD BASE: Chase Anderson has no clue as to how to get righties out at the moment with one of the worst slash lines in history (.418/.451/.718). Eugenio Suarez will benefit from that as he’s also posted a 1.064 OPS in 15 home games.
SHORTSTOP: Jonathan Villar faces… there is that name again… Alfredo Simon. Villar has a hit in 4-straight games in which he’s produced six hits, four runs, three RBI and three steals.
OUTFIELD: Gerardo Parra has 65 plate appearances against Matt Cain and he’s had lots of success hitting .300 with a .354 OBP. That’s impressive. He also has a hit in nine of his last 10 games. Lefties are batting .339 with a .813 OPS against lefties.
OUTFIELD: Carlos Gomez faces Wade Miley who is flat out average. Miley is way worse than that against righties this season allowing them to hit .315 with a .351 OBP and .443 SLG. Note that Gomez has five hits, including four doubles, his last three games.
OUTFIELD: Christian Yelich has had a great start, and he’s been phenomenal against lefties (.438/.571/.500). He faces lefty Robbie Ray.
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).