CODY REED TO BE CALLED UP
Cody Reed will be called up by the Reds and is set to make his debut Saturday against the Astros. Reed, a 23 year old lefty, is a big fella at 6’5” and 225 lbs. In 11 outings this season at Triple-A Reed went 6-3 with a 3.20 ERA and an 8.77 K/9 rate. He’s also walking less than 2.4 batters per nine leading to a 3.71 K/BB ratio, nearly identical to the 3.75 mark he posted last season at Double-A. With the mess the Reds have on the bump this season it’s completely possible that Reed will stick in the rotation. The #2 prospect with the Reds according to Baseball America (behind Robert Stephenson), can easily hit 95 mph with the heater with a high of 99. His velocity is elite. The pitch, in addition to the heat, has extremely late, hard cutting movement that can cause hitters fits. The slider he owns is also a plus pitch, and from his three-quarter arm slot the pitch can be complete death to lefties. Those two pitches should allow him to succeed, with little question. The real issue is will his changeup, which lacks anything remotely resembling the upside of either of his other two offerings, develop to the point that he can be a top of the rotation arm or if he will settle in as a 4th starter type in the big leagues. He’s an NL-only add immediately and if he looks sharp in that Saturday outing those of you in deep leagues should consider adding him off waivers Sunday. You could add him right now if you want to in mixed leagues, the stuff is strong, but he only has 324 professional innings and seemingly only has two pitches he can fully trust at the moment.
Did you catch my Willson Contreras Player Profile?
THE DREAM IS DEAD
Glen Perkins will miss the rest of the 2016 season as he’s been diagnosed with a torn labrum in addition to rotator cuff concerns. Surgery is on the table, in fact it seems likely, for the former star reliever who has been out of action since April 13th. Ugh. Perkins was 28-for-28 in the save column to start the season last year before things fell apart as he posted a 7.32 ERA in the second half last season. He entered spring with his velocity down and it’s been all downhill since then for the former star closer.
What do the Twins do now?
Kevin Jepsen was turned to but he was just 7-for-10 in the saves column and with a 5.40 ERA and 1.76 WHIP he’s not going to be seeing the 9th inning unless the Twins are desperate – something they aren’t at the moment.
Fernando Abad is a 30 year old lefty who has a 3.46 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 7.74 K/9 rate for his career. This season has been magical though as he’s posted a 0.79 ERA and 1.01 WHIP with a K/9 rate of 8.74. Can’t see that keeping up though he has been murder against lefties limiting them to absolutely nothing (.100/.125/.125 to 32 batters). Righties though, they are hitting .292 against Abad this season. Adad, by the way, doesn’t have a single save in 285 career outings.
Brandon Kintzler is the man to own in this bullpen. The nearly 32 year old righty, who has 190 career games on his ledger, has a total of one save in his career. Kintzler has a 2.65 ERA and 1.12 WHIP, standout numbers, but numbers that don’t match his career work (3.32 and 1.27). He also doesn’t strike anyone out – his current mark of 5.82 per nine is awful and well below his 6.59 career mark. More striking is the fact that that Brandon has cut his 2.41 rate per nine mark for his career down to 1.06 this seasons. Simply not going to hold on to that. His ground ball rate is elite at more than 64 percent since the start of last season. Hey, Brad Ziegler and Mark Melancon have had success in the 9th inning with similar stuff, though it’s far from ideal to have a 9th inning arm with those skills.
A Brian Wilson gnome shares his thoughts with you about Sonny Gray, Bud Norris and Drew Smyly. Pretty smart little garden gnome.
JUNE NUMBERS
.500: The league leading OBP in June of Joey Votto. The first sacker has scored 13 times in 14 games while hitting .333 with a .563 SLG. He’s back folks.
.512: The league leading BABIP of J.D. Martinez. JDM is batting .411 on the month and all of a sudden his overall mark in the batting average category is up to .287, ten points above his career mark.
6: The league leading steals total of Rajai Davis and Eduardo Nunez. Neither player is batting .270 in the month and their wOBA marks are fairly average at .331 and .319.
7: The league leading homer total of Wil Myers, Evan Longoria, Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Jones. Speaking of Jones, do you wanna see a Buster Posey bobble head talk about Freddie Freeman, Adam Jones and Jayson Werth? I think you should check it out.
65.2: The league leading pull-rate of Brian Dozier. It’s working for the second sacker who is suddenly tearing it up with a .321/.429/.528 slash line in June.
UPTON IS BACK
Justin Upton has been a total let down. Zero doubt that statement is true. However, he’s finally starting to produce. Seriously. Over his last 14 games he’s hitting .278 with a .361 OBP and .481 SLG. Know what his career numbers are? How about .269/.348/.467. Yep, the last 14 games he’s been the “same” Upton he always has been. Upton has also gone deep twice, scored nine times, stolen two bases and driven in 12 runs in that time. He’s back folks. Seriously.
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 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).