.jpg)
.jpg)
DFS PLAYBOOK PRO – An exciting offering from the Alarm is the DFS Playbook Pro. I will be doing a daily breakdown of the hitters – Hitting Coach – while Howard Bender looks into the Pitchers (Pitching Coach). You can find the link to the Hitting and Pitching articles under the DFS Playbook pro tab at the top right of the screen.
OTHER LINKS TO BOOKMARK
ONE UP… ONE DOWN
SEAGER COMING UP
According to Jon Heyman, the Dodgers will call up the best hitting prospect in baseball who isn’t already up in the bigs. It’s Corey Seager time. The details.
Seager is an elite talent. He was ranked as a top-10 prospect in baseball coming into the season by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and MLB.com.
Seager only turned 21 in late April. He destroyed pitching at Double-A pulling his best Ted Williams batting .375 with a .407 OBP and .675 SLG. Seager also hit five homers, drove in 15 and scored 17 in 20 games played.
Seager moved to Triple-A and it hasn’t been as smooth as hoped. Still, his .276/.331/.450 slash line is solid, as are his totals of 13 homers, 59 RBIs and 63 runs scored over 104 games.
Seager has power, plate discipline and an advanced approach. He would seem to be ready to hit major league pitching.
Will he play, or better yet, how much will he play in September for the Dodgers?
Seager has played 359 games at shortstop. That’s his position. He’s tried his hand at third base as well with 20 games played, but he’s a shortstop. The Dodgers have Jimmy Rollins at shortstop. He ain’t great at this point of his career, but he’s a professional on defense and over his last 160 plate appearances he’s been passable at the dish (.262/.313/.436). Hard to think Seager steals much work at short.
But what about third base? The Dodgers traded Juan Uribe. They let go Alberto Callaspo. Alex Guerrero has played some third, but he’s also hitting .167 in 36 second half at-bats. Justin Turner, the regular at third, finally returned to action but he injured his left pinkie Wednesday night when he was hit by a pitch. X-rays show that he didn’t break a bone, but as of this writing it’s unclear how much time he will miss. If substantial, it’s possible Seager could get some run at third base. Still, Seager is 21, isn’t an ace at third base, and Turner will play when healthy – at least against righties. That makes Seager a solid option in NL-only leagues but, while tempting, he’s unlikely to play enough to accrue substantial value in mixed leagues.
Dominate your fantasy football league with the Fantasy Alarm team. This is not your typical draft guide with the same players in every rookies, sleepers and bust columns. Every Coaching System broken down. Every Offensive Line broken down. 30+ winning strategies. 500+ players ranked and updated every day. Check out the Preview Today!
BERRIOS WON’T BE CALLED UP
Jose Berrios came into the year as a top-50 prospect coming into the season according to by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and MLB.com. Just 21 years old, Berrios threw 139.2 innings last season. This year he’s up to 161.3 innings. Will we see the uber-prospect with the Twins this September. No we will not. "Once the season concludes, he's going to go home," GM Terry Ryan said. "I've been thinking about this for a while since I came back from there. But we're going to send him home once the season concludes. He's had a fine year, and I don't want to risk him getting hurt. He's near the amount of innings we wanted him to get to, so we don't want to take any chances with him." Seems like a reasonable position for the team to take with Berrios given his age, but it’s not what some folks in the fantasy game were hoping for. "A lot of people who follow this club are going to shake their heads and say, 'you're in a pennant chase.'" Ryan said. "And we are. But the right thing for the kid is to send him home.”
ODDS AND ENDS
Jackie Bradley Jr. is killing it again. Over his last six games he’s hit .474 with a homer, two steals and seven runs scored. Since being 
recalled on June 25th Bradley has 132 plate appearances. Check out the slash line: .313/.386/.617. He had six homers, 27 RBIs and 27 runs scored in… 33 games. He’s been a monster.
Matt Harvey suffered some dehydration Wednesday night. He should be fine moving forward. Still, his workload is in a bit in question. (1) The Mets would like Harvey to pitch without interruption in the post-season. (2) Harvey won’t travel to Miami with the team but is set to start Tuesday against the Nationals. (3) Even before this most recent setback, Harvey was slated to miss some work moving forward. Adam Rubin, of ESPN, reported the following. “Doctors have advised -- but yet not mandated -- that Harvey toss no more than 180 innings.” In order to make that a reality for Harvey, who has thrown 166.1 innings, the Mets are likely to skip at least one start for Harvey the rest of the way. The club also plans to try out a six man rotation to help to give Harvey, and Noah Syndergaard, a break.
Tim Lincecum is done for the year after undergoing surgery on his hip. His career with the Giants might be over as he enters free agency with declining stuff and production. The once great Lincecum is a shell of his former self. It might be wise for him to try and reinvent himself as a reliever where his stuff might still play for an inning at a time.
Adam Lind has a .533 batting average with eight runs batted in his last five games. What’s the deal with this guy? You know what it is? He’s a heck of a hitter, as long as a lefty isn’t on the hill of course. In 2013 he hit .288 with 23 homers. Last season he hit .321 in 96 games played. This season? He’s hitting .287 with 18 homers and 75 RBIs in just 418 at-bats. When a righty is on the bump he’s been a star for the Brewers: .304/.388/.530.
Glen Perkins has a setback with back spasms Wednesday. He’s been dealing with spasms in his back since August 23rd and thought he was beyond it all. "I honestly don't know what happened," Perkins said. "I pitched Tuesday. That day I would have said I felt 90-95 percent and everything was good, everything was fine. I pitched. I didn't think anything of it after the game and then when I woke up yesterday, I couldn't get out of bed. It completely blindsided me.” How much time he will miss is unknown, but this news firmly establishes Kevin Jepsen as a must add, if he’s not already rostered, given that the Twins will turn to him as long as Perkins is down.
Ryan Zimmerman over his last 10 games has a hit in nine of them. He also has an RBI in nine of them. But it’s way more than that. Zimmerman is batting .359. He has a .974… no, not OPS but slugging percentage. Over those 10 games he has seven homers, three doubles and 19 RBIs. He’s crushing it.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 8 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).