It’s already Sunday and another week comes to an end for MLB baseball. Before Week 9 closes though we need to take a quick look back at the top fantasy baseball news and headlines from an explosive Saturday of MLB offense which included double-dong games by Aaron Judge and Mike Trout, a back-to-back-to-back Nationals home run derby, and a Jared Walsh cycle. Do not forget to check out our updated June fantasy baseball player rankings before setting your lineups today plus the latest MLB Injury Report and fantasy baseball waiver wire. So let’s look back at the top performances and key injuries from Saturday plus a little look ahead at today’s slate of MLB baseball games…

HITTING

The Angels Offensive Explosion 

After just experiencing the longest losing streak in franchise history and the firing of their manager the Angels are back and making teams suffer. They destroyed the Mets 11-6 last night for their second win under interim manager Phil Nevin. The game was an offensive highlight reel by three players:

 

Mike Trout - A double home run game. In his first game back after sitting three days with a tight left groin Trout ended with three hits which included two home runs and three RBI.

 

Shohei Ohtani - His 13th home run of the season and finished with three hits and three RBI.

 

Jared Walsh - With all of the fireworks displayed by Trout and Ohtani, Walsh quietly hit for the cycle. This was his first cycle at any level of baseball and he became the eighth different player in franchise history to complete the rare feat and the first since Ohtani did it in June of 2019. Walsh broke out of a 3-for-20 slump with his first four-hit game of the season and is now slashing .260/.309/.474 with 11 Home runs and 28 RBI.

The Bronx Bombers Continue to Bomb

The Yankees have now hit an MLB-best 94 home runs. Twenty-one of them has come in the last eight games. Last night they hit a season-high six bombs and helped Jordan Montgomery cruise to another win over the Cubs.

 

Aaron Judge led the barrage with another double-dong game. His 24 home runs are tied for third-most in Yankee history through the first 59 games and check out the company that he keeps- Babe Ruth had 26 in 1928, Micky Mantle had 25 in 1956 and Ruth had 24 through 59 games in 1921 and 1930. The Yankee slugger is now hitting .312/.389/.679 with 24 home runs, a 199wRC+, and a 3.6 WAR.

 

Giancarlo Stanton hit his 13th home run but even more impressive was that it went out at 199.8 MPH- the 4th-hardest-hit home run tracked by Statcast. Who are the other three? You guess it- Stanton twice (121.7 in 2018 and 121.3 mph in 2020) and Judge at 121.1 mph in 2017. 

Career Day for Adley Rutschman

 

Orioles phenom was starting to catch a little flack for a slow start to his MLB career. Entering yesterday he was hitting just .153 with a .220 slugging percentage. A quick look under the hood, though, did show that things would get better with an xBA of .222 and xSLG of .323. He had been hitting the ball hard but right at players but it all came together yesterday.

Rutchman had his first three-hit game in the majors. It was also his first multi-extra-base hit game and he also hit the hardest-hit ball of his career- 110 mph. He finished the game 3-for-4 with two runs scored and there will be plenty more to come as the season moves on.

Luis Arraez a Power Hitter?

 

Luis Arraez’s emergence from a minimal power contact-hitting platoon player to one of the best hitters for average in the major leagues has been well documented this season. He has drawn comparisons to former Twins legend Rod Carew and after going 3-for-5 yesterday he now leads the majors with a .367 batting average. It was his seventh three-hit game and 12th multi-hit in his last 19 starts.

Has Arraez now turned into a typical power-hitting first baseman? He hit a career-best 403-foot grand slam off Shane Baz yesterday and that comes just a couple of days after hitting a bomb off Yankees ace Gerrit Cole- two home runs in three days? He now has three home runs on the season so maybe the comparisons to Aaron Judge may just have to wait a while.

INJURY NEWS

Walker Buehler Placed On 15-Day IL While Clayton Kershaw Returns

 

Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler left his start against the Giants on Friday with right elbow discomfort. He underwent an MRI yesterday and was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right forearm strain. The team expects him to be out for three months.

 

With the bad news of Buehler hitting the Dodgers clubhouse at least some positive news came with it as Clayton Kershaw was back on the mound after a month-long absence. The Dodger great allowed two runs and struck out four over four innings in the Dodgers 3-2 loss to the Giants. 

THE LOOK AHEAD

Pitching

Today’s MLB slate features three high-end arms. Justin Verlander, Kyle Wright, and Tarik Skubal. Each pitcher offers plenty of upside with ERA’s in the low twos and strikeout rates around 28%. 

 

Verlander is the top overall pitcher as he has the top K/9 on the slate for the past 30 days and facing a Miami offense with a lot of swing and miss. Wright is a big favorite and with a 27% strikeout rate, he faces a Pittsburgh offense that has the second-highest strikeout rate and second-fewest runs in all of baseball. Skubal has probably the best overall stat base but has the most difficult matchup by far against the Blue Jays. I would rank them Verlander, Wright, and then Skubal today.

 

Jeffrey Springs of the Rays is a top-value pitcher. His 26.8% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate are close to the expensive studs but you get him with a significant discount. He is carrying an ERA of 1.32 over his last five starts and with a 3.58 SIERA is in a good spot against the Twins today.

DFS Stacks

Braves/Phillies/Yankees

All three teams are on absolute rolls at the moment. The Braves have won ten games in a row while the Phillies have won nine games. All three teams are ranked in the top 5 in team wOBA and OPS in the month of June. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Aaron Judge are arguably the top two bats on the slate while the Phillies hitters are still too cheap.

Nationals

The Nationals broke out over the last couple of days against good Brewers pitching. Today they get a little break and face fill-in starter, Jason Alexander. Juan Soto is a top bat with a .278 ISO/.402wOBA against RHP this season and he is surrounded by two hot hitters in Josh Bell and Nelson Cruz. 

 

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