THIS AND THAT

Starlin Castro has a career best 17 homers as he’s driven in 56 runners with 52 runs scored. Considering that he’s played daily for the Yankees this season that’s a disappointing line given that he’s also hit a mere .263 with a .298 OBP.

Chris Carter has been exactly as advertised for the Brewers hitting .224 with a .321 OBP since his career marks are .218 and .313. He’s also brought his trademark power and with three homers his last four games and six in August to push his season long total up to 30 homers. He’s hit 21 of those homers at home this season.

Welington Castillo has produced 10 RBI his last eight games to give him 12 homers and 47 RBI this season. Those aren’t great numbers, but when coupled with his .275 batting average marks him as someone you can start with confidence at the catcher’s spot. The same can be said for Cameron Rupp who has virtually identical totals this season (.276-14-43). Rupp has been quite the producer since June 1st as he’s hit .285 with a .357 OBP and .542 SLG in that time. Those are big-boy numbers folks.

Adam Duvall has 28 homers, 82 RBI and 68 runs scored off the waiver-wire. Fantastic work. Alas, the guy has a .296 OBP which is just dreadful. You pay a price for that power whether in an OBP league or in a traditional setup (.245 average).

Avisail Garcia has been activated from the DL after missing a couple of weeks with a sprained right knee. With Justin Morneau performing so well it’s likely that Garcia could be limited to DH work – in a platoon. In 335 at-bats against lefties in his career he’s hit 10 homers with a .272/.335/.412 slash line… and that’s his better half. Disappointment they name is Garcia.

Quick… who leads catchers in homers after hitting his 21st last night which just so happens to be the 14th he’s hit since July 1st, a span of just 37 games? That’s right, it’s Yasmani Grandal who has a mere .233 batting average, but who also owns a .347 OBP which is just nine points behind Jonathan Lucroy.

Howie Kendrick has had a disappointing season hitting just .277 with eight homers, 34 RBI and eight steals. However, he’s been on his game since the All-Star break batting .325 with a .394 OBP and .512 SLG. That’s an elite line. The guy always hits, always, so this is just a normalization for the long standing solid hitter.

Nick Markakis has hit .316 since the All-Star break with four homers and 22 RBI. He’s a very moderate performer overall with a .271-9-69-48 slash line, but he’s performing better than that at the moment.

Jose Peraza had four hits last night, a third straight game with at least two hits. He hasn’t stolen a base in nine games, but he does have significant speed and could make a difference there if he keeps playing. With the Reds going nowhere, it would behoove them to just let this kid play, especially since his performance to date warrants it: .301 average, 10 steals in 103 at-bats.

Scott Schebler has produced five hits his last three games and is hitting .333 over his last 27 at-bats. He’s getting regular time in the Reds outfield but he’s just not able to really gain a foothold. He’s hit a mere .195 with a .611 OPS against righties this season, and until he does he’s not worth much of anything in fantasy leagues.

While everyone is talking about Corey Seager… what about his old brother Kyle Seager? The third sacker is having the best season of his career as he’s already up to 24 homers, 83 RBI and 72 runs scored. More impressive than those numbers is his slash line which is excellent: .288/.366/.518. He ain’t sext but he is always a great pick on draft day.

Yasmany Tomas hit another homer Monday night pushing his season long total up to 26. That’s five homers in eight games for Tomas and he’s hit nine homers in August. All those homers have pushed his HR/FB ratio to an unsustainable 27.1 percent, and that speaks to some concern with his homer total as his fly ball ratio is below the league average at 31.8 percent. What I’m saying is that as quickly as the homers came they could disappear.

The last two weeks Mark Trumbo has seven homers, 15 RBI and 10 runs scored. His last seven hits have been home runs.

Chase Utley has 11 homers, 41 RBI and a .260 average. Really blah work. He does have 65 runs scored though which is, rather amazingly, three more than Matt Carpenter and just one less than Jonathan Schoop. Speaking of Schoop, he’s really fighting it right now with a .239 batting average and .260 OBP since the All-Star game.

DFS DIAMONDS

*The following list of players are guys that Ray recommends as daily plays.

CATCHER: CC Sabathia has a .297 BAA in August along with a 6.94 ERA and 1.63 WHIP. Righties are batting .268 against him this season with 13 homers. Mike Zunino has hit three homers with eight RBI the last four games.

FIRST BASE: Lefties have torched Archie Bradley with a .328/.424/.475 slash line. Torched him. Freddie Freeman, the last nine games, has five homers, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored.

SECOND BASE: Enrique Hernandez, or Kike Hernandez to some, has one claim to fame – he can hit Madison Bumgarner. In 16 at-bats he’s produced 10 hits including three homers and four doubles leading to a 2.063 OPS. Wow.    

THIRD BASE: Jhonny Peralta has six hits his last two games and a hit in 4-straight outings. He faces Jon Niese who he has hit .350 with a .831 OPS against (21 PAs).    

SHORTSTOP: Alexei Ramirez has hit .375 in 16 at-bats against Jake Arrieta. He’s also been on his game in August batting .306 with a .859 OPS over 36 at-bats.

OUTFIELD: J.D. Martinez has two hits in each of his last three games and the run includes two homers and five RBI. Moreover, he’s gone .441/.486/.809 with six homers in August. He’s also 8-for-19 with a .421 average, two homers and 1.266 OPS versus Kyle Gibson.  

OUTFIELD: In nine August games Randal Grichuk has hit three homers with nine RBIs as he’s posted a 1.091 OPS. Know that he doesn’t hit lefties well, but when that lefty is Jon Niese, why not? Niese has allowed righties to bat .295 with a .352 OBP, .480 SLG and 21 homers this season.  

OUTFIELD: The last three times Jon Gray has taken the hill, he’s been brutal allowing 19 runs over a mere 12 innings. Brutal. Keon Broxton has gone .351/.456/.614 with four homers and nine steals in August.  

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 11 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).