Fantasy Baseball July 25 Round Up: Big Games for Pete Alonso & Nestor Cortes Jr. Heading Into Subway Series
Week 15 of the 2022 Major League Baseball season is now in the books but before moving ahead to another week, we need to first take a look back at the top fantasy baseball news and MLB headlines from Sunday’s games. Besides it being the annual MLB Hall of Fame enshrinement day, yesterday’s action saw some big performances four our fantasy baseball lineups. There was “Nasty” Nestor Cortes Jr. returning to his early season ways, the Toronto Blue Jays finishing off a historic series at Fenway Park, and Pete Alonso and New York getting ready for the Subway Series. Plus, we have some updates to the MLB injury report and baseball trade rumors ahead of the 2022 MLB Trade Deadline. Don't forget to check out our July fantasy baseball player rankings and MLB projections before setting your lineups this week. Plus, find the players trending up in the latest fantasy baseball waiver wire targets and fantasy baseball stock watch. Plus, keep an eye on today's MLB weather report and confirmed MLB lineups if you're setting MLB DFS lineups. So before you start another fantasy baseball week, let’s go back and look at yesterday’s top performances plus a couple of my favorite MLB player props and best bets for Monday night.
Fantasy Baseball MLB News from Sunday
Nestor Cortes Jr. Shuts Down O’s
Cortes Jr. looked like the “Nasty Nestor” from earlier in the season as he gave up no runs on six hits and seven strikeouts in the Yankees' 6-0 drubbing of the Orioles. This was the Bronx Bombers' 13th shutout of the season – tying them with the Mets for the most in the MLB. Cortes and his four-seamer were on point with 11 whiffs and a 30% CSW against the Baltimore offense, and he is now coming off two straight strong starts.
Next Stop for Pete Alonso & Mets: The Subway Series
A big night by Pete Alonso propelled the New York Mets to an 8-5 win over the Padres on Sunday Night Baseball. The Mets first baseman clubbed his 25th home run on the season and collected four RBI. His fourth and final RBI of the night gave him 82 on the season and vaulted him ahead of the Yankees' Aaron Judge for the MLB lead. Alonso and Judge will be facing off tomorrow night at Citi Field in the much-anticipated Subway Series matchup between the two first-place New York teams.
Blue Jays Destroy Fenway Park
40-10. Sounds like an NFL game score. But that was the combined score of the Blue Jays' sweep over the Red Sox in Fenway this weekend. The sweep propelled Toronto to the top of the AL Wild Card standings as the Jays scored the 50 runs on 41 hits in the series. Interim manager John Schneider is enjoying a fine start to his managerial career since taking over a couple of weeks ago for the fired Charlie Montoyo. The Blue Jays now return home north of the border to face a weakened Cardinals roster that will be missing Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado (more on that in a second). Raimel Tapia came out of nowhere with six hits and 10 RBI in just two games of this past series vs. Boston.
Paul Goldschmidt & Nolan Arenado to Miss Toronto Series
The Cardinals will cross the border into Toronto without their two All-Stars on the corners. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, along with catcher Austin Romine, have been placed on the MLB Restricted List due to Canada’s COVID-19 federal vaccine mandate for anyone entering the country. Goldschmidt is the midst of an MVP season with home runs in four straight games and a season slash of .335/.417/.619, a 1.036 OPS, 25 HR, and 77 RBI. Arenado is having a big season of his own with a .296/.359/.528 slash and an .887 OPS with 18 HR and 59 RBI. Lost pay from the two stars? Arenado: $384,416. Goldschmidt: $241,758. The Cardinals will obvious miss Goldy and Arenado this week in a tough inter-league series against the hot Blue Jays.
Sean Murphy in MLB Trade Rumors
This is one that fantasy managers may want to keep an eye on as the 2022 MLB Trade Deadline nears. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Athletics are drawing trade interest for catcher Sean Murphy, who would be a big boost to teams like the Mets, Rays or Guardians. Murphy is on a hot streak and it cannot come at a better time as he is hitting .333/.395/.515 with a pair of homers and six doubles in July. Going back to June 1st, the Oakland backstop is at a .291/.354/.454 slash.
Perfect Day for Adolis García
Garcia may not be showing the huge home run power that he displayed last season, but he has become a much more consistent player at the plate. The Texas Rangers outfielder now looks geared for a strong second half finish. A perfect day with the bat sure does help as Garcia went 4-for-4 with a home run, three runs, three RBI and a stolen base on Sunday. The big performance saw his batting average jump up and he is now slashing .248/.292/.460 on the season – all numbers that are higher than his rookie 2021 year.
Season-Ending Surgery for Adam Duvall
The Atlanta Braves received the worst possible news on Duvall’s wrist injury. The veteran outfielder will need season-ending surgery on his left wrist, which was injured when he jammed into the wall while chasing a Shohei Ohtani foul ball. The Braves will use Eddie Rosario and Guillermo Heredia as replacements for now. However, Rosario has not been hitting well and it may put the team as buyers with the MLB Trade Deadline looming.
MLB Best Bets for Monday
Nick Pivetta – UNDER 4.5 Strikeouts
Pivetta comes into tonight’s game against Cleveland with a 7.5 K/9 rate over his last five starts. He gets the worst matchup possible as the Guardians do not strike out often and are also starting to hit. Cleveland is only striking out to RHP at an 18.3% clip on the season and even less over the last two weeks (17%). Pivetta faced Cleveland a month ago and only struck out four over seven innings (98 pitches). As long as the prop stays at 4.5, I will be taking the under here.
Yordan Alvarez – OVER 1.5 Total Bases
Alvarez and the Astros face Oakland and starter Adam Oller, who has been getting raked this season. He has allowed 28 runs on 35 hits, including eight bombs (five to lefty bats), and 19 walks in his 27 innings. Alvarez has 10 home runs over his last 20 games and is an elite righty-smasher with a .425 ISO, .494 wOBA, and .343 average on the split. Love this prop today.
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Player News
Andrew McCutchen went 1-for-3 with a two-run double and walk in a 4-3 win over the Cubs on Wednesday.
McCutchen got the big hit in this one when he squeaked a ground ball up the middle that Dansby Swanson inadvertently kicked into shallow center field. That mishap allowed both Bryan Reynolds and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to score and give the Pirates a late lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. While McCutchen began the season in more of a part-time role, he’s started in 12 of Pittsburgh’s last 13 games and has slugged his way to an .826 OPS overall.
David Bednar allowed one hit and struck out a batter in an inning of work to earn the save against the Cubs on Wednesday.
Bednar has looked like his old self lately. His fastball got up to 99 mph and he was able to command both his splitter and curveball. He’s allowed just one run and five hits to go with eight strikeouts over his last six innings since being recalled from Triple-A. It seems like the Pirates have fully reasserted him as their closer and he’s running with the job.
Cameron Mlodzinski allowed six hits and two runs with one walk and four strikeouts over four-plus innings in a no-decision against the Cubs on Wednesday.
Mlodzinski just doesn’t have a good enough approach at this point to face a major league lineup for a third time. His fastball doesn’t miss many bats and he’s unwilling to mix his secondary pitches enough against left-handed hitters. So, it winds up being a lot of back-door sweepers against them and then hoping for the best. That’s how one winds up with a 6.58 ERA through six starts. His place in this rotation could become tenuous with some exciting pitching prospects in the Pirates’ system.
Dansby Swanson went 3-for-4 with a run scored on Wednesday against the Pirates.
Swanson has really struggled out of the gate this season, so it was nice to see him finally hit the ball well. This was his first three-hit game on the campaign and it raised his batting average by nearly 20 points to finally climb back above the Mendoza Line. He still has plenty of work to do though as one of the more disappointing players in the league to this point.
Matthew Boyd allowed six hits and two runs with three walks and six strikeouts over five innings in a no-decision against the Pirates on Wednesday.
Boyd rode his changeup to a solid start here. The Pirates packed their lineup with eight right-handed batters against the lefty Boyd and he responded by consistently dotting that changeup. It regularly fell down just below the zone and forced plenty of weak swings on pitches that were out of reach. In all, it earned six swings-and-misses and got him out of a few jams. He now has a 2.70 ERA in what was a solid first month of the season. He’s set for a two-start week coming up against the Giants and Mets.
Ranger Suárez (back) will make his season debut on Sunday against the Diamondbacks.
Suárez will join Philadelphia’s rotation this weekend for his season debut with ace Zack Wheeler being pushed back to Tuesday’s series opener against the Reds. The 29-year-old southpaw has been on the shelf since spring training recovering from a back issue. It’ll likely be Taijuan Walker heading back to a relief role next week, unless the Phillies want to stick with a six-man rotation.