Greinke is suddenly walking everyone. The Pirates have three young pitchers, two who have pitched very well this season. How about some health updates as well with Ian Kinsler and Ketel Marte?
JUST NOT RIGHT, BUT…
Zack Greinke has walked four batters in each of his last three games. He didn’t walk four batters in a single start last season. The last time he walked that many men was when he issued five walks on August 15th, 2014. Though his walk rate this season of 2.33 is just off his 2.19 career mark, a run of 12 walks over 18 innings is just illogical for Greinke. Oddly, he’s tossed three straight quality start despite all those walked, and believe it or not he’s only allowed 12 hits in those 18 innings. He’s pitching to success even when he’s not “right,” and that’s what separates a true “pitcher” from a thrower. He’s pretty much just battling to finish out what has been a down season on something of a high note.
NOT GREAT BUT REALLY GOOD
Chad Kuhl has been really effective this season, despite being light years behind fellow rookies Tyler Glasnow and Jamison Taillon who arrived in the bigs with tremendous ballyhoo. Kuhl has made 12 starts for the Pirates. He’s posted a 3.73 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. Those numbers play in any league. Kuhl has kept the ball in the yard with allowing just six homers over 62.2 innings and he’s also avoided beating himself with a 2.44 BB/9 rate. His 46 percent ground ball rate is merely passable, not at all exciting, and the same thing could be said about his 6.46 K/9 rate which is actually a bit underwhelming. Still, look at his consistency. Over his last nine outings the ERA drops to 3.10 and he’s held the opponent to three runs or less in each and every outing. That means he’s tossed seven quality starts his last nine outings though, oddly, he’s only thrown more than 6.0 innings once (6.1 on August 25th) as the Pirates have clearly been looking to limit his workload. By the way, he’s only had one poor outing when he allowed three runs over two innings (the 9th start, August 30th, he allowed three runs over five innings).
Speaking of the other two youngsters…
Glasnow made two starts for the Pirates but he’s returned from injury to pitch out of the bullpen. In three September outings out of the pen he has allowed two runs over seven innings. He can’t stay healthy, or for that matter stop from walking people (eight walks, 15.1 innings), and though his future is bright, those are two huge issues to overcome.
Taillon has pitched very well, around time on the DL and some rest of course. Not surprising at all though. As I’ve noted many times with Taillon, he didn’t throw a pitch that counted in 2014 or 2015 due to two significant injuries, so it’s pretty remarkable that he’s held up as well as he has this season. Jameson tossed 61.2 innings pf dominance at Triple-A batters before his promotion to the big leagues. He’s made 16 starts covering 93 innings in the bigs with a 4-4 record, 3.39 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. He’s walked a total of 14 batters in 16 outings leading to an elite 1.35 BB/9 ratio, and his 53.1 percent ground ball rate has led to an elite 2.07 GB/FB ratio. He’s pitched extremely well and his outlook for 2017 is exceedingly bright.
HEALTH UPDATES
Ian Kinsler continues to miss time with a concussion. He is feeling better after running around Thursday, but he has to be symptom free for 24 hours before he can play. He will therefore miss both games of the Tigers doubleheader Thursday but he sounds likely to return Friday night (he last appeared on September 18th). 
He had been having a solid September with a .296/.339/.463 slash line, this after a down August (.229/.314/.400).
Ketel Marte has had a down season, no way around it, when you look back to expectations in March (not this guy though as you will remember I was likely lower on Marte than most sources). Marte has only two extra base hits in September, and his slash line is a pathetic .232/.254/.268. Marte says he is still getting over his bout with mono. "When you lose 22 pounds, especially for me, a skinny guy," he said, "it’s not easy. But not just me. Anybody. If you lose 22 pounds, it’s not that easy. It takes time. You just progress. You eat, but you still feel like your energy level is down." Healthy or not, his .289 OBP and .328 SLG for the season are just terrible numbers, something you simply cannot live with unless you’re getting more than the 11 steals he’s produced in 111 games. He’s shown very little to engender faith next season.
DFS DIAMONDS
*The following list of players are guys that Ray recommends as daily plays.
CATCHER: J.T. Realmuto is batting .306 with a .823 OPS in September. He’s also hit .328/.366/.447 against righties this season. He faces Josh Collmenter who was sharp in his last outing, his first in the bigs in a month.
FIRST BASE: Mike Napoli has a .375/.474/.812 slash line against Jason Vargas in 38 plate appearances. He’s also hit four homers. Napoli has an .841 OPS against lefties with a .370 OBP.
SECOND BASE: Scooter Gennett is batting .315 with a .973 OPS in September with three homers, 10 RBI and 11 runs scored. He’s also a .296 hitter in his career against righties. Ryan Vogelsong has allowed a 10.19 ERA and 1.98 WHIP over his last four starts.
THIRD BASE: This one just seems too easy. Start Nolan Arenado who has two homers and seven RBI his last five outings. He takes on Brett Anderson who just stinks. Arenado is also 5-for-10 with a homer against Anderson.
SHORTSTOP: Andrelton Simmons has hit .296 over his last 59 games. Moreover, he’s been really impressive in September with a .293/.359/.534 slash line. He faces Mike Fiers who has been just a guy this season with a 4.46 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and .280 BAA.
OUTFIELD: Brad Miller has 27 homers in 419 at-bats against righties. He’s also posted an impressive .520 SLG. He hit two homers last night and he has four hits and four RBI his last two games. He takes on Luis Cessa who has allowed nine homers in five outings.
OUTFIELD: Jackie Bradley Jr. has a .285/.369/.555 slash line against righties. He’s at .286/.368/.492 in September. Junior has a homer and a .973 OPS versus Chris Tillman over 14 plate appearances.
OUTFIELD: Adam Morgan has allowed nine homers his last nine starts and a whopping 21 big flies over 103.1 innings. Yoenis Cespedes has had a slow September (.637 OPS), but he crushes lefties with a .342/.465/.646 slash line.
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 9 PM EDT PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).