Things That Make You Go “Hmmmm…”
According to Adam McCalvy, Jimmy Nelson has resumed throwing. Nelson suffered a small set back recently in his return from off-season shoulder surgery that shut down his rehab. He will likely not appear until the second half, but at least is back on track.
Daniel Murphy is expected to return to the Nationals “fairly soon,” according to manager Dave Martinez. Murphy is recovering from off-season knee surgery and began a rehab assignment on Saturday. It appears that he should be back sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Ronald Acuna was placed on the 10-Day DL after injuring his ACL while trying to beat out an infield single. The injury looked much worse at the time, but he appears to have avoid significant injury. He is expected to miss 2-4 weeks with the sprain and should be back before he All-Star Break.
Shane Bieber will make his Major League debut on Thursday. Bieber, who is not related to Justin Bieber, has been fantastic at AAA since being called up there at the beginning of May. He had a 1.05 ERA in 34.1 innings with over 8s K/9. He has always had great walk and home run rates throughout the minor leagues and appear like he could translate very well to the Majors with a good fastball and a plus curve. He also sports plus command and a usable slider and change. He gets a bad White Sox team at home for his debut.
According to manager Bruce Bochy, Madison Bumgarner will make another rehab stint on Thursday in San Jose for their single-A club. He also said that it is the plan “right now,” which is leading to speculation that the Giants may decide to activate him from the DL instead of having him pitch another rehab start. Be ready to activate him if they go that direction.
That Happened?!?
Christian Yelich had a huge day versus the Cardinals. He swatted a homer and stole a base, bringing his season totals to .310/.374/.485 with six homers and six stolen bases. Yelich was overhyped coming into the season after the trade to the Brewers, but is starting to put it all together.
Yairo Munoz hit his first Major League home run on Monday versus the Brewers. Munoz struggled in his first cup of coffee up in the Majors, but this one has started off successfully with a .450/.500/.600 line in 22 plate appearances. With Paul DeJong on the DL with a broken hand, Munoz has a really shot at every day at bats for a while.
Gorkys Hernández hit his sixth home run on Monday. Here is a list of some of the players that he has more home runs than:
And many more…
Hernandez is an interesting guy in NL Only, but is starting to creep into mixed-league relevance considering he has been leading off for the Giants.
What We’ll Be Watching Today
Robbie Ray will have an MRI today on his injured oblique. The exam is purely a follow-up to see how he is progressing, but that means we should get an update on his status today.
Luis Castillo vs Zack Godley . These are two pitchers headed in opposite directions. Over the course of May, Casillo has been great, throwing 28.2 innings with a 2.83 ERA and over a strikeout an inning. Godley has been awful, throwing 27.1 innings with a 5.27 ERA.
Who closes games for the Rays, Blue Jays, and Pirates. The ends of these games will be important if they can illuminate the leaders for saves on these teams.
Can Matt Carpenter keep it up? After struggling early on this season, Matt Carpenter is absolutely crushing it right now. Over the month of
May, he is hitting .291/.364.582 with four home runs in 88 plate appearances. He appears to finally be healthy, but that is also hard to trust.
Kyle Gibson vs Danny Duffy . Both have struggled recently, but can they turn it around? The Royals are awful versus right-handed pitching and the Twins are not good versus lefties. Duffy is only $4,000 on DraftKings.
Baseball. Lots of baseball.
Player News
Kyren Paris hit a two-run homer in Wednesday’s win for the Angels over the Blue Jays.
That’s the first homer for Paris since April 9 when he went deep twice against Tampa Bay and caused everyone to lose all sense of rational thought. The 23-year-old did also single and walk to improve his on-base percentage to .311,, while the homer bumps his slugging mark to .378. There is long-term upside in Paris with flashes that suggest he can be a fantasy option. Fantasy managers should still absolutely looking elsewhere for options up the middle.
Jorge Soler hit a three-run double in the bottom of the ninth to give the Angels a 5-4 win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday.
Trent Grisham went 1-for-1 with a game-tying two-run home run in the eighth inning of a 4-3 win over the Padres on Wednesday.
While the Yankees won this game on a walk-off in the 10th inning, Grisham’s game-tying home run in the eighth was the biggest moment. He came on as a pinch-hitter for Jorbit Vibas against the usually stout Jason Adam and smashed a two-strike changeup into the right field seats. This clutch shot will only continue to push Grisham’s playing time in the right direction after he just started eight of the last 10 games, hit either first or second in each, and already has 10 homers in 31 games played this season.
Jeff Hoffman blew a save and picked up a loss Wednesday against the Angels.
Devin Williams struck out three batters with one walk and hit another in a scoreless 10th inning to earn the win against the Padres on Wednesday.
The Yankees entrusted Williams with the all important 10th inning and the inherited ghost runner on second base after their dramatic comeback. While he loaded the bases and had some tense moments, he left the inning unscathed and opened the door for them to win it right after. It should be noted that Luke Weaver came on for what were the most important outs of this game at the time, after Ian Hamilton walked two to begin the eighth inning and Weaver allowed both of those inherited runners to score. He was called upon as the fireman though and will likely get the next save opportunity. Still, this was a massive step in the right direction for Williams.
Max Fried allowed five hits and one run with no walks and eight strikeouts over seven innings in a no-decision against the Padres on Wednesday.
Fried’s excellent season continued as he set down the Padres easily besides for a mammoth solo home run by Jackson Merrill. It was no matter though, as they rarely threatened otherwise and Fried continued to find his strikeout stuff. This was his fourth outing of the year with at least seven strikeouts, a mark he only hit 10 times last season in 29 starts. Fried with a strikeout rate that’s better than league average – which is where he’s at right now – is a clear top-10 pitcher in fantasy baseball. He’s set for a two-start week coming up against the Mariners and Mets.