Pitching Performance of the Day
While Adam Wainwright and Tyson Ross , who haven’t been fantasy relevant since 2015, both had throwback performances on Sunday, Merrill Kelly is getting the highlight spot here today. There’s a decent chance you’ve never heard of Kelly given that he made his major league debut a week ago today. He had a respectable maiden allowing three runs over six innings, but he was much better the second time around as he held Boston to one run over eight innings while striking out nine and walking none.
Kelly was drafted by the Rays in 2010 and progressed as far as Triple-A in 2014, but he’s been pitching in Korea ever since. He excelled there and found some added velocity that he lacked when with the Rays. Arizona signed him as a free agent this offseason, and it’s looking like a savvy move as the 30-year-old rookie has a 12:1 K:BB ration and a 3.52 FIP through two starts. Kelly is owned in only 2.5 percent of ESPN.com leagues and is a name to know, at the very least.
Hitting Performance of the Day
With all due respect to Gary Sánchez and his three-bomb day, we’re going with Daniel Vogelbach here. Vogelbach went 3-for-4 with two home runs and a walk, and his wOBA for the day was actually higher than any hitter who had more than one plate appearance, even higher than Sanchez’s. Here’s a video clip of his second homer of the day, which was impressive, but the bigger takeaway is how jacked the dude is.
A Vogel-Bomb by @DanielVogelbach It's another HR for the @Mariners in Chicago. Vogelbach now has 5 RBI on @ROOTSPORTS_NW. #RefreshingPlays #WHEREiROOT pic.twitter.com/gCWNQosCHg
— ROOT SPORTS™ | NW (@ROOTSPORTS_NW) April 7, 2019
Vogelbach has only started five games so far this season, but he now has home runs in three straight appearances. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him earn a bit more playing time, and he is owned in less than one percent of ESPN.com leagues.
Game of the Day
Given that only one game saw a lead change after the sixth inning, it’s pretty easy to pick the best game from Sunday’s action. Houston beat Oakland 9-8 in comeback fashion. Normally, the Astros fan author of this article would have seen the entirety of this game on an overcast Sunday afternoon but for the fact that his wife decided he needed to spend three hours pulling weeds in the backyard. But I digress, here’s the game chart courtesy of Fangraphs.
Over half of the scoring took place in the first two innings with 10 of the 17 total runs on the board as the game went to the third. A Chad Pinder double scored two for Oakland in the first, and Houston responded with five in the bottom half with the highlight being a three-run home run from Aledmys Díaz . A Robbie Grossman two-run homer in the second got Oakland back to within one, and the Astros chased former Astro Mike Fiers in the second when he walked in a run with two outs and the bases loaded. Unfortunately for Oakland, this would not be the last run they walked in with the based loaded.
Oakland took the lead in the sixth with a two-run homer from Josh Phegley , but Houston got things back to level with two runs in the bottom of the eighth. Oakland went to Blake Treinen for a five-out save, but he technically blew the save in the eighth allowing a sac fly to score the tying run. He metaphorically blew it in the ninth when he walked in the winning run by throwing four consecutive inside fastballs to Jose Altuve , which were pitches 25-26-27-28 for Treinen.
What to Watch for Today
Atlanta is visiting Colorado this week, so the Coors game unsurprisingly has the highest over/under of the day opening at 10.5 runs. Julio Teheran will face off against Kyle Freeland in that one. The lowest over/under of the day belongs to the San Diego-San Francisco game, and that total is also driven by park factors with the Giants hosting the Pads in their hitter-friendly home park. Eric Lauer will take on Madison Bumgarner , who has 13 strikeouts compared to three walks in his first 13 innings this season.
The premier game of the day is the only nationally televised game as the Yankees and Astros will be featured on ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball. The two teams had very similar starts to the season with both teams losing each series they played in the opening week. However, they’ve righted the ship as they each completed a sweep in their weekend series. Justin Verlander will go for Houston against Masahiro Tanaka for the New York.
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.