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[email protected]. Get ready to win your league. What fantasy? Because reality? Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Hello there and welcome in to our fantasy baseball today on Wednesday, June 24th. I am Frank Stamford, joy by Chris Towers' Day on the show. We have a temperature check on a bunch of starting pictures. Parker Messick might be turning into a stud right before our eyes. I think we need to talk a little bit more about this juiced ball situation and much more. Let's jump in. [Music] All right Chris, what do you kick us off here? Player of the night. Just mentioned his name. Parker Messick, man, he looks like he might be taking it to another level. Yeah, he looked like he was kind of running out of steam a little bit there at the end of May early June. And no, he has bounced back with arguably the best two-start stretch of his young career. He struck out nine in his previous outing against the brewers. Then he goes out in this one on Tuesday against the white socks. Seven and two-thirds innings, ten struck out ball. Two-earned runs, he sustained the velocity jump from his previous outing, which was notable because he had seven days of rest in between that start and the previous one. This start only four days of rest. He was on a typical five-day cadence and he still had the velocity jump. He had 14 swings and misses between the four seamer and fast or a change-up. And we are almost three months into the season now and Parker Messick has a 267 ERA and a 330-ish XERA. And I think the fit is down to like 320 and he's on pace for 200 plus strikeouts and 190 innings. There's a little room for regression still. I don't think he's a true talent level sub-3 ERA pitcher, but I think Parker Messick's really good. And if we go back to last season, it's now 134 innings across 23 starts where he has a 269 ERA, a 113 whip, 139 strikeouts over a strikeout per inning. He threw 140 innings last season, 130 the year before. I don't think there's going to be any limitations. Which is all to say, I don't think this is a sell-high candidate or anything. I think Parker Messick is someone that you just keep around and you keep riding. Because I don't think the wheels are going to fall off. I don't think he's going to be limited in the second half. I think he's just really good. Yeah, and he's looked even better over these last two starts too. I love the length that he's given us in these last two starts as well. He's gone over six innings in each of the past two. And he had a 10-star stretch from late April to early June, where he only completed six innings one time during those 10 starts. So nice to see that even with this velocity jump that he's had over the last two starts, he still is able to go deeper into starts, maintain that velocity, rack up a bunch of whips on his fastball, and his change up as well. And he's kind of been floating around in that like SP3 conversation, was starting to drop him down a little bit just because again, like you said, he was, looked like he was wearing down, but I think he's kind of, I think he's back up inside that, like top 25-ish starting pitcher conversation with the way that he's looked. You know, some other names that I have right in that range, Kyle Harrison, Gavin Williams, Geraspason, that's 22 through 24. I think Parker Messick is right in that conversation. What do you think? I agree. I was just updating it. I think I'm going to have him at 24. And I think it's a real question, Gavin Williams versus Parker Messick. Williams probably has more strikeout ability, but Messick, Messick just feels more polished, doesn't he? Yeah, Messick might just be better at every, he might just be a better pitcher than Williams, where Williams, you know, we have these trade-offs that he's had to make, where, you know, last year it's, he's generating a lot of weak contact, but the strikeouts were good, but not great. This year, the strikeout rate much better, but he's paying for it by throwing more strikes and getting hit a lot harder. Messick just looks like a really good pitcher. He doesn't have like the standout skills necessarily, and I do wonder if, you know, having good, but not elite stuff may come back to catch up to him at some point, but his command looks really good. He's got multiple pretty good swing and mispitches. He's got a deep arsenal that he can throw consistently to batters of both handedness. I, and he might have an elite changeup, it's a 40% whiff rate on that pitch and a 242x, well, but everything looks really good, especially the, the four seamer and changeup combo. So I, yeah, I think at top 25 pitcher for sure with Parker, Messick. Yep, yep, I am right there with you. My player the night here is going to be Jung Hool-Lee. You heard at the top, the voice of John Miller, the audio's polo top of the San Francisco Giants. Whenever I hear that voice, Chris, it also brings me back to just Sunday night baseball in the 90s. I always think of John Miller's voice. And I believe his voice was in MVP baseball 2004 as well, which is the best baseball game of all time. So just so many memories whenever I hear that voice, man, just one of the best baseball broadcasters of all time in my opinion. Jung Hool-Lee is who we're talking about. By the way, two for three with a walk, a sock and a shoe, his fifth home run, his fifth stolen base. This dude has been on fire since he returned from the aisle for 60 batting average, two homers, 20 run scored five steals an OPS over a thousand, an OPS over 1100, excuse me, tons of line drives during the stretch and a 361 XBA, a 478 X lug during this time. So clearly he is over performing, but the X, the expected stats are still really, really good during this stretch. And we heard upon returning that the Giants wanted him to be more aggressive on the base pass to and he's done exactly that. All five of his steals have come in this 22 game stretch since returning from the aisle. There's not too much actionable here with him, but he's 80% rostered. Could be out there in a few shallower formats. I mean, especially points least Chris, I think he needs to be rostered in all points leagues because he doesn't strike out. And again, he's just racking up a bunch of hits right now. But even on Yahoo, it's 48% rostered. I know a lot of those are three outfielder head Ted category leagues, even if it's just as a hot hand play in a format like that, I think he has to be picked up as hot as young who Lee is right now. Yeah, I agree with that. I think generally speaking, I think he's playing over his head. He's not a 3 30 hitter. He's been more like a 265 hitter throughout his career before this, but the skills were there for him to hit better. And if he hits 2 90 the rest of the way, I think you're going to be happy with it, especially. I think the stolen bases are the big key though. If he's really going to be even a 15 to 20 stolen base guy, let alone, I mean, the current pace is like 40 steel pace over the last 22 games. We're not expecting anything like that. But if he could be a 20 steel, but guy, I think that makes the whole profile look a lot better because then you're talking about basically what Stephen Quatt used to be. Yeah. You know, low double digit homers, maybe high single digits, but 20 to 25 steals a bunch of runs, a great bang average, a really useful player in in roto or points. So I think yeah, junk who Lee 80% rostered probably a little low at this point, given the the speed that we're starting to see from him. Yeah. And again, he's out there and many more Yahoo leagues as well. He's he's roster in less than 50% of Yahoo leagues. So again, I know a lot of those are shallow or formats, head-toed categories, but junk who Lee, one of the hottest outfielders in fantasy right now. So I think you take advantage of that. Let's see where it goes. But I think the prime Stephen Quatt call out is a pretty good one. 290-ish 10 homers 20 steals. That's the pace that it would be. He missed some time. I'm not sure he'll get all the way there. But yeah, definitely doing some things. Good things and the giant lineup in general over the past 30 days. They have been a lot better. A lot better. So yeah, he's right in the middle of all that action. A couple other things I want to shout out here up at the top. Oh my goodness gracious. The Phillies ninth inning. Did you see this Chris? They scored eight runs in the ninth inning alone to come back and win 14 to nine in that game against the nationals. Massive game here for Bryson Stott who was a sleeper hitter for Scott this week. So shout out to Scott for that one. Three for four with a sock and a shoe. His seven
his fifth home or his 15th steal his first home run in June, but he has been hitting pretty well this month. Bryson stock 304 five steals 849 OPS. He was brutal in April. He was solid in May. I think we have a good idea of who Bryson started. He'll probably get to like a 252 60 batting average, you know, 10 to 15 homers, 25 is steals. He's a useful player. He's 58% rostered. I kind of feel like he just needs to be rostered in any leagues where there's a middle in field spot. Yeah, probably not much more than that, but if you want to do a hot hand play and some of the more interesting or exciting second baseman who have come through are not available, I think you can probably get by with Bryson stock if you need some help there. But I think we do know what he is. And it's a pretty boring player, but a useful player. Yeah, let's shift over to Brandon Marsh who also homered in that ninth inning. And he went three for six with his 11th home run. And he is having his best power month yet. So we were getting a lot of batting average early on, kind of empty, but so far in June, he's hitting 309 six homers, 921 OPS in the month. And his overall numbers, he's hitting 315. He's got the 11 homers, seven steals. He's on pace for 22 homers, 14 steals. Obviously, the big batting average, I don't know if he can maintain this power production, but if he could come anywhere close, Chris, now we're talking about, you know, even if you don't think he's a 300 hitter 280 batting average, 20 homers, 15 steals, good turn out to be like a very, very solid season here for Bryson. Yeah. Yeah, I think he's probably going to have the best season of his career. I don't think he'll be as good moving forward as he has been so far. I noticed that the numbers versus lefties keep getting worse. That's the one that, you know, for a couple of months there, it was like, Oh, Bryson, I'm just hitting lefties. Well, now it's, you know, I think he's playing more against lefties and it's come back down to earth. Let me make sure. Yeah, it was, whoo, he had 350 in the month of May against lefties. It's down to 233 in June with 30% strike. I rate. So I think Brandon Marsh is still best used as a platoon bat, but he's a good one for sure. Mm hmm. And I did want to mention while we were on the conversation of lefties, Bryson's not since Don Mattingley has taken over, he has used Bryson's stop more as an everyday player against lefties as well. And it's a small sample, but on the season, um, Bryson's not hitting 300 with one home or 806 OPS against lefties this year. So, uh, his previous years were very bad. It's weird because his rookie season, he was good against lefties. The next two years, he was terrible against lefties. And now this year, he's been good against lefties again. So it's, it's small samples, you know, things like this are very fickle and you kind of, you need a larger sample to really know if a player is good against lefties or not. But the only way to find that out is for them to play against lefties right now, Bryson's not doing that. He's doing it pretty well. Uh, so I think that could be a little bit of a boost to his value as well. Two other names mentioned here, uh, the June Mond stars, Cagsman, he did it again. He keeps on mashing three for five with two more homers, a double-dong three runs, three RBI. He has multiple homers in two of his last three games. And over his last five, five homers, nine runs, ten RBI, massive June. He's hit in 373 nine homers, 1226 OPS in the month. Obviously, he's like playing way over his head. I think in the month of June, but what do you think the upside is here, Chris? Obviously like very high pick in the draft and he was a well-regarded prospect. But this season alone, like what do you think the upside can get to for, for Cags this year? Top 15 Hinner and baseball. Wow. I mean, like that might be an overreaction, but his expected woe by I think is the 11th highest in baseball right now. He does a lot of good things. Yeah. Like he, the strikeout rate is down below 30% for the season. It's about 26% in the month of June. He's been putting up very good expected numbers all long, but they've gotten even better. It's like a 460 expected woe by in the month of June, which is crazy. He's not as good as he's been in June. I think that goes without saying nobody is maybe Aaron judge has had one season or two seasons this close, but he's not that good. But I think he's a lot better than he was the first two months of the season. And I think we're starting to see that. The overall numbers, you know, the expected woe by in the woe by are starting to converge now. I think he's got the actual woe is up to let me and look this up. Let's find it on fan graphs are the only one that updates that during the day. 369, that's a very good mark. It's close to his 377 expected mark. That is like top 25 in baseball to right around where Jordan Walker is. Yeah. I can see 275 batting average 30 plus homeers for Jack Hagley on man. That's a really good player. I think he's really good. Yeah. That would be a very good player. And man, shout out to you know, Sarah. I remember when we were we were out at first pitch Arizona back in November. And this is like the end of the baseball season starting to turn the page over to the next fantasy baseball season. Just starting to get the wheels turning and everything. And you know, throughout the comp of like a left handed junior Caminero, which is crazy to think about. But like obviously the prospect pedigree that it was the bad speed. It was the zone contact. It was the high end exit velocities. And you know what you just described is it's kind of like junior Caminero right? Like I think Caminero because he makes a lot more contact. He's just going to have more game power. Yeah. But he's only at 16 homeers. Check out his already a 14. That's pretty good for Kaguya. How many did Caminero get to last year? Was it like four six or forty forty five forty six? Okay. Yeah. Kags, I think hits the ball in the air to the pull side a little more consistently. But they're both pretty good at it. Yeah. I think that can't make some sense. Yeah. I moved Kags to my number 15 outfielder in Roto this week. 15. Yeah. I mean, part of it. There's just there's a lot of guys hurt right now. Yeah. So like if judge, trout and our resident came back, but if a resident, Ron or Kune if those guys were all healthy, he's probably like 20. But I don't know. Chris is in. I'd rather have Kags than Andy Pahez. Yeah. Andy Pahez. I did write them down in case I needed content. I did obviously. Jarrin Duran or Taylor Ward or Pahez has really slowed down. Yeah. Jarrin Duran had an awesome May, but now his April and his June OPS below 500 in each of those months. So why not be crazy, man? So it's kind of just that like there's a part that many good outfielder's right now. I think there's like a guy I don't really know what to make of Riley green. He's number 14. Michael Harris. I kind of don't really know what to make of him either. He's 13. This is Roto. Kags is a little lower in points. But yeah, it's kind of just that he's doing it right now. I might as well put him there because there's not a lot of guys. I have a ton of faith in. And last point I'll make on Kags here. I love to see from a young left-handed hitter the ability to hit lefties. And again, it's a really small sample. It's only 78 at bats this season. But he's hitting 282 with five of his 14 homers 830 OPS. I just, oh man, there's so much to be excited about with Kagley on right now. I do want to mention while we're talking about June, mon stars, PCA, he homer once again, Chris can be considered a revenge game if you never actually played for that major league team. He was traded away from the meds in their minor league system. But I kind of think it's still a revenge game. Yeah, yeah. That's a pretty good return for a half season of Javier bias. Yes, it is one for three with two walks in the 17th home run. And the updated June numbers for PCA 432 10 homers, six deals of 1434 OPS. The hottest hitter in baseball right now. Before we hit the first break, just a heads up that we will be moving the prospects to stash FBT express episode to Thursday mornings instead. So if you're looking for that on Wednesday, you won't find it Thursday. I guess Thursday afternoon at noon eastern time, it'll drop both in the podcast feed and on YouTube as well. Also subscribe to the FBT newsletter. If you haven't already, if you're watching on YouTube, scan that QR code that will bring you right to the website, CBS Sports dot com slash newsletters where you can sign up for free. And you will get all of Chris's work delivered right to your email inbox. Let's take that break. We'll be back right after this. Welcome back fantasy baseball today. And let's hit the news and notes. We have a lot of royals updates up top. So Bobby would do a junior remain out of the lineup on Tuesday. He has now missed four straight with that grade one MCL spray in his right knee and went through a full gate full pregame workout on Monday. And everybody within the organization, including Bobby with remains optimistic that he will avoid the aisle. But we continue to wait. Michael Garcia was placed in the aisle due to a left hand muscle strain. Maybe a little bit of a reset will be good for him. He's he's off to a slow start this season. Royals, I guess, is it still a start? It's like half the season. He's had a bad season so far.
And Royals manager, Matt Quattraro said Tuesday that Cole Reagan's will likely need some type of elbow surgery, but the specific procedure and potential recovery timeline remain unclear. And it always seemed like he was trending in this direction. I think if your IEL spots are precious and you just don't have a ton of them, Chris, if he needs whatever the elbow surgery is, even if it's like this nano thing to clean up loose bodies, I don't know that he would be backed by the end of the season. So if you need the IEL spot, you could probably just drop Reagan's. If it's the Tarrick's Google timeline, then he's backed by mid August. And there's some time left. I think it had to head points, like you're really bumping up against it. But I mean, that would seem like the absolute best case scenario, right? And a more typical timeline for even a minor elbow surgery, you're probably looking more like eight to 10 weeks, which is getting real close to the end of the season. So yeah, I think if I don't have to drop him, I would prefer not to at least until he has the surgery, but I, I'm basically not expecting anything from Cole Reagan's at this point. I agree. Juan Soto left early after his back locked up on him after the game. Carl Spindosa, Mendoza said that Soto is day to day. And I did, I had a Met's fan tweet, Scott and me, a conspiracy theory. Chris, are you ready? Okay. With Francisco Lendor due back this week, potentially even on Wednesday, Soto gets hurt. I don't think it's a coincidence. It's his term to sit out. They don't like each other and they take turns on the IEL. It's nearly July and they've only played three games together. So he's saying that they hate each other and they tell him to play with each other. Probably like 160 games together last year. That's true. I, I'm going to say that's unlikely. But I know a lot of Met's fans are very normal about Francisco Lendor. So I don't know, maybe I do think there could be something to like, I don't know that they have the best relationship, but I don't think that they're missing time on purpose. That's not how to actually how to avoid playing with each other. You know, look, talented players, whether or not you like each other, you like each other or not. Lots of players in baseball history have not liked each other. If you play together and you win, it doesn't matter, too. Like, I remember Dan Levittard. I want to say he said it about the 97 Marlins that they arrived to the game in 25 different cars. I think it's the way he's put it. And I'm sure that's not the first time anyone like the 70s Yankees with Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin were famously explosive. I don't really think that is a real thing. Nick Lidolo left early Tuesday after taking a comeback or off of his left wrist, X-rays came back negative. And of course, this would happen. The start that he was pitching very well for shutout innings with six strikeouts to one walk. He had nine whiffs on 75 pitches. He did change things up a little bit in this one. I looked like he used a sinker and curve ball a little bit more and both of those pitches were very good. So A, we'll see if Nick Lidolo can make his next start and B, if he can build off of this kind of good condensed start here against the Brewers. Hunter Green. So let us know if you finished the inning. So it could have been worse, I guess. Hunter Green made another rehab start at AAA on Tuesday. He threw four shutout innings with three strikeouts. He had seven whiffs built up to 64 pitches. Velocity was down a little bit fastball down 1.1 miles per hour. The splitter was down nearly two. But the fact that he's already at AAA and he threw 64 pitches, I'm thinking maybe one or two more rehab starts here for Hunter Green. I think a couple more turns and he'll probably be ready maybe one, but that would feel aggressive. But the reds need help, man. Yeah, this is a team that looks pretty bad right now. And as for his velocity being down one, it's rehab starts so to a certain extent who cares, but also remember, that's from 2025 when he averaged 99.5 miles per hour with his four seamer. So he was down 1.1 miles per hour from that you said. That he was up about 0.8 miles per hour from 2024 when he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. So I'm not particularly concerned about that. All right, Kyle Schwarber was scratched from the lineup due to a lower back tightness. CJ Abrams was scratched due to less side tightness. Kyle Tucker was out of the lineup with lower back spasms and will likely remain out for the rest of the series against the twins. Joe Ryan has been clear to start Wednesday against the Dodgers after missing Tuesday with an illness as someone who rosters Joe Ryan in a few leagues. I was kind of hoping that we would just avoid the Dodgers and come back after the illness maybe this weekend. But Joe Ryan's really good. So perhaps he'll have a good start regardless of who he faces. Connor Griffin started a rehab assignment at AA on Tuesday. There were reports that he could be back as soon as this weekend. Jeremy Pania was out of the lineup after leaving Monday with a right hamstring cramp reminder. That was the same hamstring he went on the aisle earlier this season. Edward Cabrera was carted off the field after suffering a left hamstring and a doctor strain. Craig Council said after the game that Cabrera will go on the aisle. It's. He's been a train wreck of a year for Edward Cabrera. And kind of for Cubs pitching pitching in general. So yeah, it's there. They're pretty bare bones still a good team, but they need. They probably need to make a trade for a pitcher and you got to wonder if Moises by a Starros or Mashall will be on the on the move. Hey, man. They still have some names. Terrick's Google probably going to be out there around the trade deadline. So. Hello Tigers are now like the second best team of baseball in the month of June after your Miami, Marlins. So yeah, we'll see there's still a lot of time. I mean, trade deadline is until August 3rd. So teams still have a lot of time to either turn things around or fall off by then. Yuri Perez will officially make his return on Wednesday and a reminder that he only through 51 pitches in his loan rehab start. So do not expect too much out of Yuri Perez. The latest Maritur's piggyback plan is for Emerson Hancock to follow Logan Gilbert on Saturday. So not good for either pitcher involved there for fantasy. Zach Kelloff left early Tuesday night after his hand got stepped on during a play at second base. I saw afterwards that he's day to day. So hopefully nothing too serious. He has been one of the better hitters in baseball over the past month or so. Luis Arise left after falling a ball off his left foot in the first inning. He did stick around until the fifth X race came back negative. They'll see how the swelling is doing on Wednesday. Max Meyer who is on the bereavement list is expected to return and start Friday against the Cardinals. Justin Steele is not expected to join the Cubs rotation this season after a setback in April. It sounds like Steele will pitch out of the bullpen later this year and will focus on being a starter again in 2027. So I have a few spots where I was stashing Justin Steele. It's another one where some in some leagues, I all spots are precious. You might only have three, four, five entries pile up. I don't really see a reason to hold on to Justin Steele. Yeah, that's all. Jared Jones had additional imaging on his right elbow come back clean and he played catch on Tuesday. Though the pirates still don't know if Jones will make his next start in the rotation. Jack lighter underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body from his right ankle and should be considered out indefinitely. Luis Robert looked normal while taking a full session of batting practice in the cages on Tuesday. Apparently, he is symptom free. It's just a matter of ramping back up. I have no idea if we can expect anything from Luis Robert at this point. Chris, are you interested at all in stashing him? Yeah, now that he's making moves towards coming back, we've got almost no updates about him before this. Yeah, he presumably is available on some leagues. He has some upside at least theoretically. It's been a long time since we've seen any of that upside from Luis Robert, but 59% roster. So yeah, he's out there and something. And he, gosh, it's been so long and he played so little. He was off to a pretty good start, right? I just remember that at batting. No, he had like a good week. And then has been terrible since then. That bat against Paul Schienz on opening day where he had like a 10 pitch walk. I was like, wow, Luis Robert, man, totally different player. And then he got hurt. I think it was very good. Logan Henderson is aiming to begin a rehab assignment on Sunday. And he is 70% rostered. Are you looking to re add and stashed Logan Henderson? Yeah, I mean, he's 70% rostered. That's. He's so good. Where does he fit in though? Like, yeah, I'll just ask guys now. And they're all pitching kind of well. Yeah, are they going to push someone out of the rotation for him? This is a guy that the brewers have been weirdly reticent with. So I don't think he's someone that you need to rush out and add. But if he's on his way back and we get some indication that he's going to be in the rotation, absolutely. He should be 100% rostered if he's in the rotation. All right. Next up, D-backs pitching prospect. I meant to watch a video to see how his name is pronounced. It's either Mitch Bratt or Brott. I want to lean Brott just because like sounds good. Reminds me of Brottwurst. It'll be better if he pitched him a walkie. Yeah, right. D-backs pitching prospect Mitch Brott.
Let's go with that is expected to be promoted and start Wednesday in St. Louis 22 year old lefty fifth round picked by the Rangers in 2021 believe it came over in the Merrill Kelly trade last year 11 starts at triple A this season 284 ERA 0.95 whip mostly known for his command very very deeply name an interest in Mitch Brott. And not only for now, but he's not totally without interest. I noticed last week goes reading on fan graph stands of or ski wrote a six prospects who could get called up a piece and it is Brad. It's Mitch Brad. All right, Brad summer. Maybe let's go. It's officially summer right? I that sounds right. Yeah, I think Sunday was the last day spring. It's usually around the side. Right? I never. I never. I mean, second 23rd usually growing up in South Florida. I absolutely have no idea when this those season start because they don't exist right in South Florida. So it's just like, oh, it's hot now. So it was Sunday June 21st at 4.24 a.m. Okay. That's the the equinox or the summer solstice. Solstice. Yeah. So it's Brad summer, baby. No, I think that's Brad could be interesting in a, you know, true talent level 4 ERA, but maybe he runs hot for a little while kind of way. I think he's not totally without interest. Chase Dolander underwent an internal brace procedure on his right elbow on Monday. So he will miss the rest of this season at Jackson holiday has missed restrate with growing tightness and Luke's G. Lita was placed in the aisle with right elbow inflammation. Before we get into some way, Roy, our names from Tuesday, doesn't want to quickly talk about this juiced ball situation because we mentioned it in passing the other day, but there has been a lot of talk about this lately on social media and you know, Sarah's again, who I mentioned earlier, does great work with the athletic and with the rates in barrels podcast. He put out a tweet over the weekend stating that the drag on the baseball is currently lower than any year, other than 2019 when we were in the peak of the juice ball era. And then I also saw a tweet from Sean Zerillo, who does MLB and UFC projections for the action network. He pointed out that the barrel distance has increased by 10.2 feet from April of this season to June of this season. That is the biggest in season April to June jump of the stack cast era. He pointed out that the average jump is usually 4.6 feet. So that has more than doubled from April to June of this year. And he said, even if you take out the Vegas games, that would only take out half a foot of the jump. So it would still be 9.7 feet of barrel jump. Like how far a barrel is going from April to June. And it's reflected in the number like just things that we look at too. From run to fly ball rate, ERA, if you look at last June, 11.7% home run to fly ball ratio, a 412 ERA. So far this June 13.3% home runs to fly ball rate, 4.47 ERA in June. So Chris, what does this all mean for us? The fantasy players. I don't know is the honest answer because it's, I think the biggest thing is we don't know what's going on with the baseball. And this was always the complaint that we had during that 2019 to 2021 run where we weren't quite sure what was happening. It's, I don't really care if they want to juice the ball. Okay, cool. Tell us before the season. It's just, you know, right, like switching midway, if that's what's happened because the other thing we've learned throughout this whole process that's going on, you know, seven years now of discussions about this is relatively seemingly minor changes in the constitution of the ball can make really big differences in how the ball plays. And did you see the video that went viral of Ronald Cooney earlier this month? Yeah. Where he was like sitting in the dugout and he's got two baseballs and he's looking at them and one of them's bigger. Yeah, yeah. That's a real thing that there are ranges that every aspect of the baseball has to fall in, but that doesn't mean that the baseballs are all identical. And maybe Acunia was on to something. Maybe he discovered the first changing balls or maybe that's just a normal fluctuation within a batch of baseballs. Either way, I think my biggest complaint is just, are we changing horses midstream? If we are, that stinks. I hate that because that basically renders a lot of what we do. Impossible because one of the things that we saw in 2019 was it wasn't necessarily the biggest home run hitters who benefited from a change in the environment. It was the 15 Homer guys who suddenly became 20 Homer guys and the 20 Homer guys who suddenly became 25 Homer guys. Aaron Judge doesn't need an extra five or 10 feet 10 Homer's. But Aussie Albies, for example, but Aussie Albies does. Yeah. So that's the thing is it really changes the environment. And ultimately we just don't know. I'm hoping, you know, I think in 2020 in 2019 it was Meredith Willes and Bradford Williams, I think, were the people who first wrote about the changing balls and they actually got a hand of some baseballs and were able to do research on the actual physical changes. And that's how we were able to confirm it because it's not just the way the balls flying because that could be atmospheric effects. That could be, you know, is it unusually hot? This June, I have no idea. I know it is in like Europe. I know they're having crazy hot flashes or whatever, but I don't know if that's the case here. So there's a lot we don't know. It's just frustrating because it makes predicting, predicting is hard enough. When we're dealing with static data, when we're dealing with a completely different offensive environment, it just kind of makes it impossible. So it's going to be really, really tough if this is a real thing. Yeah. I was trying to just figure out is there anything actionable that we could do for fantasy? And I mean, instantly where my mind goes is, all right, look at hitters who have the highest fly ball rates or pulled air rates or barrel rates. But I mean, those are typically the the hitters we look at anyway, right? For power. I just wonder if there are some hitters where, you know, they have barreled it up a good amount of season or the pulled air rate has been good, but they haven't necessarily seen the results that maybe they're due for a really big summer here. So, you know, someone like Esauk Paratus maybe comes to mind or like Spencer Torkelson, someone like that. On the flip side, it's, you know, pictures who give up a lot of barrels like could they see a big jump in ERA over the next couple months? And typically you want to avoid pictures who give up a lot of barrels anyway. Or some guys that, you know, you can live with show to Emanaga comes to mind. He always gives up a lot of fly balls. He's going to give up barrels. He's going to give up homers, but usually it kind of evens out and he goes on a stretch where he looks really good. But, you know, I worry a little bit more about someone like Emanaga if this is the case. Or even like Gavin Williams has the third highest barrel rate among qualified starters right now. I just, I wonder, I am wondering aloud if this is something that could affect them more. So again, we don't know. I just don't think you should react because it's uncertain. Right. Because you know, we might get another batch of baseballs later on in the season. That is completely different. So yeah, it is hard to say, but thought it was a conversation worth having here on the podcast. Let's take a look at some waiver wire pictures here from Tuesday and Sean Burke, second strong outing in a row. This one against the Guardians, really good matchup. Six and a third innings, one run, six strikeouts. He had 14 whiffs on 90 pitches and his velocity was up slightly, not nearly as much as his previous star, but these last two starts 13 and two thirds, one run, 14 strikeouts to two walks. And as of now, looks like two starts next week at the Orioles at the Guardians. I think this is a nice like beat the waiver wire for a very good two star pitcher next week in Sean Burke. Yeah. The velocity was up yet again. Not quite as much as it was in the previous start, but still up. I think about a mile and a half mile, 1.2 miles per hour in this one. Got a decent number of whiffs. This is the best two start stretch of Sean Burke's career. I think it's the first time he's ever really been interesting for fantasy. And yeah, good, good two star matchup next week. I think 46% roster is way too low. Any points league. I think he should be rostering him for a two star week. And even a lot of road o leagues, I think Sean Burke does need to be rostered. Yeah. And his individual pitch metrics too on his four scene curve and slider. They all look pretty good on the season overall. So definitely interested with what Sean Burke is doing. How about Brandon Sprout amazing start here at the Reds? Now look, this is the two starts in a row. He had the same exact pitching line as Brandon Woodruff on Monday, six shutout innings, one hit, 10 strikeouts, which was a career high for Brandon Sprout to zero walks. I don't want to take anything away from him, but is it partially Brandon Sprout being really good? Is this Reds offense is kind of in a funk right now? They did have LED La Cruz back in the lineup, but he did not look great clearly. In this one, 18 whiffs on 80 pitches here for Brandon Sprout. Did you see anything differently? Anything that makes you maybe in a deeper league, want to run out and add Brandon Sprout based on this game? No, not really. If anything in retrospect, it maybe makes what Brandon Woodruff did a little less impressive.
I say that partially ingest, but we've seen a decent amount of Brandon's broke this season. He's been mostly terrible. And this start, he didn't really change the pitch mix much and the movement profiles and all the pitches were very, very similar. The sweeper, I guess, was a little different, but that's about it. So I think you chalked this one up to, he executed against a good matchup and leave it there for now, but I don't really, I don't see much reason to think Brandon's broke, suddenly figured something out that wasn't there before this start. Last thing on this list is Kyle Leahy, who had a strong outing against the D-back, six and a third shut out innings three strikeouts. He is a spark on CBS. I really don't see anything under the hood. Chris, is there anything here with Kyle Leahy? Just a spark. And deep leagues scout team, very deep leagues. Ryan Johnson of the Angels had a great start here against the Orioles, six shut out innings, one hit, one walk, eight strikeouts, 15 whiffs on 90 pitches, very unique pitcher, the way he pitches. It's a lot of breaking stuff too. Even after the start, he has an 884 year in a 171 whip. His numbers in the minors have been very good. So, I have very small sample sizes because he's an angel and he moved really quickly. I don't think there's anything actionable, but just if you play an AL only or like a deeper dynasty league, throw Ryan Johnson on your scout team. Just to got to watch it. Let's take our final break. When we return, I've got some waiver wire hitters. I've got some, let's do a temperature check on a bunch of starting pitchers. We'll do all that right after this. Welcome back, fantasy baseball today. I got some waiver wire hitters here from Tuesday's action and two shallow league names. Well, there was three. We spoke about John Huli earlier. Dalton Varsho went three for six with his seventh home run and in three games since returning from the aisle, five hits, two homers and a steal. He's 78% rostered. So, he might just be out there and like some 10 teamers or points leagues. I don't think we need to do anything with Varsho. Do you disagree? I completely agree. That's way higher than I thought it would be. I think people kind of latched on to last season and the idea of his bat speed being up, but it's back down this season. Yeah, his quality of context has taken a dive back to where it was prior to last season. So, look, maybe he gets it back, but I need to see more. All right. We've got a Dansey Swanson who looks like might be coming around slowly here. Two for three with his ninth home run for RBI last four games for him. Six hits, two homers, seven RBI, three steals. So I had some big games here. He's still basically on pace for 2020, usual Swanson stuff, but the batting average man, just 189. That has been in the tank all season. 65% rostered. Do we do anything with Swanson and Shallor leagues or wait till we see more? Yeah. I mean, I think the thing with him is it seems like it's mostly just batting average this season, Babip. And so I don't think he's a completely different hitter than he's been in the past, but I also don't know if a couple of good games is enough to make him worth adding across the board or anything. All right. And it appears I might be falling for Lars Newbar once again. Full me once, full me twice, full me, I don't know, ten times with Lars Newbar. He might just be the redeemer of hitters, man. He has quietly been really good since returning two for three with a walk and a run scored. Hello to who is that? Was that Liz Lemon who just walked across the screen? Yeah. I made the mistake of I heard a little cough. So I went and checked on her and she was like, Oh, cool. It's time to time to hang out. And it's like, no, it's not time to hang out. It's fine. She's busy. He's he's always welcome. She she's always welcome here. Two for three with a walk and a run scored here for Newbar. 16 games since returning. He's hitting 291 394 OB P two homers 867 OPS. Very small sample. He is hitting the crap out of the ball. 94 mile per hour average EV. Only 25% roster feels way too low for Lars Newbar. I mean, he's always had a great approach at the plate. He's always had great raw power. Yeah, I'm definitely interested in what we're seeing from him. The problem is he seems like he's just a platoon bat right now and obviously, what does that outfield look like if and when Joshua bias gets called up, which has to be soon. But yeah, I think 25% roster to a two low for for Lars Newbar. I think he needs to be roster more than that for sure. Beat the waiver wire for course field next week. Finally, seven games in course field next week. The other week of the season has been split. That's so weird or fully on the road. We haven't had a full week in course field yet. They just not played more than like six games in a row at home yet. They just haven't had more than two homestands at any point. A season that's weird. I guess that is the case, but they have not had a full week at home yet. And so I want to throw a few names out there for you. Willie Castro continued his strong month. He had a six-tone run. And in June, he's hitting 304, four homers, 14 RBI, 958 OPS, 47% roster. He's eligible everywhere except catcher. So I think Castro is in play for next week. And only one left deal in the schedule. So Cole Carreg, TJ Rumpfield, Jake McCarthy. I think all those guys are in play as well. How about Owen Casey? He doesn't play for the Rockies, but he doesn't have four games in course next week. Just hit his ninth home run, three RBI last six games. He's picking things back up. He's got three homers, eight RBI in a steal. He's going to play against right-hand a pitching. Joe Mac has picked things up as well. Two for four with his fourth home run. All four home runs coming here in June. We're sitting 327 with a 993 OPS in the month. So Joe Mac hit pretty well in the minors. And I think it took some time, but he's starting to come around. And Chris here in Owen Casey or Joe Mac who get four games in course field next week. So you know what's kind of annoying about the Rockies? I mean, lots of things, but a lot. Bren Doyle and Jordan Beck both started their rehab assignments today, I think. So let's just keep those going for like three or three seasons. There's a chance that those guys are back and make that outfield frustrating again. Because remember early in the season, nobody was playing every day. Mickey Moniac was the closest, but not really. Moniacs back to by the way. Yeah, Moniac came back earlier this week. But like Jake McCarthy's been playing pretty much every day and he's been pretty good. And Col Carrick has shown us some stuff. And I just don't know what that playing time is going to look like when, if and when everybody gets healthy. So that's the one concern I have. Casey and Mac, I think are both. Interesting in deep leagues. Mac is kind of your prototypical number two catcher, but with with Liam Hicks on the IL. I don't did the Marlins call up a backup catcher. I didn't see what the roster move for Liam Hicks was. So I didn't see him actually play a ton. He's been pretty good as far as especially defensively. So I think he's going to play every day. Have somebody named Brian Navarito on the. Okay. There you go. And then Owen Casey. I mean, the problem is three lefties on the schedule. Yeah. He doesn't really play against lefties. So that's that's the thing. Well, that and the strikeouts are holding on Casey back. So I actually think Joe Mac is probably the more prominent pickup right now while we're talking about catchers. Francis go Alvarez has quietly hit well since returning. He hit his six home run 11 games since coming back. He's sitting 300 with two homers. He's 42% rostered. We've talked a lot lately about, you know, one catcher options for a place. Minsters that have been so many injuries at catcher recently. So Chris, how would you rank? Let's say Alejandro Kirk, Cabe Ruiz, Francisco Alvarez, Kyle Teal. How would you rank those four? I have Francis go Alvarez ranked at the top of that list. If you want to put Kyle Teal ahead, I think that's reasonable. Cabe Ruiz is doing some interesting stuff this season. He's hitting the ball a lot harder. His bat speeds up a little bit, but I still think he's last on that list. So I have Francis go Alvarez. I guess you said Marano. No, I didn't put Marano in there. OK, because yeah, I do. I have Francis go Alvarez ranked 13th at catcher. I still think there's plenty of upside there. Yeah, I think I would go Alvarez Teal Kirk Ruiz in that order. The need for speed. Chris, do you ever play the need for speed video games? I must have. Yeah, but I have no real recollection of it. Need for speed underground. That was a banger right there. If you need speed, we talked a lot about Nassim Nunez. He just continues to hit, which is crazy. He had two more steals. His updated June numbers, 407 batting average with nine steals here in the month. He is 36% rostered. Anthony Volpi has quietly been OK. He picked up his seventh steal. He's sitting 278. He's got a 381 on base percentage. He started eight of the past nine. And Samad Taylor, three for four with a walk, RBI, and his fifth stolen base. He's done all that. The five steals in just 15 games. He's 95th percentile sprint speed. 24% rostered. I think Nassim Nunez far ahead if you need speed in particular. Do you have any other interest?
to say like all encompassing Volpe and Ensemod Taylor. What do you think about those two? So you said anti-Volpe has been pretty good. I believe was the word you used. He's been pretty good. Are you allowed to be a Yankees fan and say that? No, actually. If every Yankees fan has convinced themselves that if only Anthony Volpe was off the team, they would win every game. And he is responsible for everything that's gone wrong. Probably the World Series. And then when you actually look at it, he's on like a four-win pace this season. He's actually been a really good player. He's getting on base a ton. His base running has been good. His defense has rated out well. I know there have been a couple of-- but like, man, I saw some like a throw he made to first base at Ben Rice. That Ben Rice just didn't scoop. And everybody was blaming on Anthony Volpe. It's like, we're getting a little delirious here with Anthony Volpe. Because it was clearly Ben Rice's fault. The arm strength is not great for a stop. He's a flawed player. But there are flawed baseball players in the world who don't generate the kind of iron that Anthony Volpe does. I think he's OK. Yeah. I think he kind of like Doug Agrave last year. And it wasn't really his fault. He was playing through a shoulder injury. And he had surgery for after the season. But you know, when he's been at his best like a 2020 bat, I think he's looked a little bit better overall this season. I think the power's not there right now. And I don't know if it's going to be. He's kind of changed his swing. He's kind of changed his swing where he's like, it's kind of more of a line drive approach. Yeah. We heard that before. But he's-- But we'll see. He's drawing a bunch of walks. He's getting on base. He's doing stuff when he gets on base. I think Anthony Volpe's an OK player. Probably 27% rostered. Maybe a little too low. With the way he's getting on base right now. Smaat Taylor, it's harder to say just because we don't really-- like this was not a guy on our radars coming in. And he's kind of a journeyman. Don't really have a track record there. But he was really productive at AAA this season. He was hitting 319, getting on base a ton, not striking out. I think you probably just look at him as a source of steals and anything else you get from him is a bonus. But he's been productive so far. A 528 bat, but helps. Yes, for sure. Did want to do a temperature check on these starting pictures here. We're kind of up against it. So got to do this a little rapid fire. But Sunny Gray, he dominated in-course field. Seven innings of one run ball, 11 strikeouts. That is a season high for Sunny Gray. Through his sweeper more, even in course field. And it was amazing. Nine starts since returning on May 6, 236-ERA, 114-Wip, right out of strikeout per inning. Chris, where are you at right now on Sunny Gray? I have no idea, dude. I think it's a top 50 starting pitcher. He just leave there. But he's just been like a completely different pitcher almost every time out. He had in April, he had like an 11% strikeout rate or something crazy. Then he had a run where he's getting a bunch of strikeouts. Last couple of steps before this, I'm pretty sure he didn't get any strikeouts. Not literally any strikeouts, but the strikeout rate had gone back down. So I really have no idea what to make of Sunny Gray. I think you just take the total package and you expect something like a mid-3's, ERA and decent strikeout numbers. But that's the thing I'm most skeptical about this season. It's just the strikeouts have been so inconsistent. So I really can't figure him out. But I think you start him. It is the way to look at it. Robbie Ray had a huge bounce back here against the athletics, eight innings, one on and run, six strikeouts did walk for 13 whiffs on 102 pitches. And uneven start here, Chris. The velocity was up, the whiffs looked good, but four walks. They were just 58% of his pitches for strikes. Also nine hard hits allowed. He's kind of a tricky one for me. He had that stretch where he was completely unusable. I think a lot of people dropped him as well. I dropped him in a few leagues as well. What do you think right now on Robbie Ray? Me? Yeah, he feels like 60-ish pitcher, but not someone I'm excited to have, I don't think. He's tough because you can't even really play the matchups. It's just kind of a Robbie Ray thing. If he's on, he's going to be pretty good. But he has these starts where like if it's not, I mean, it can melt down really, really quickly. Does he have big home road splits this season? That's the one thing I would think. Because maybe you just throw him out there. Yeah, 293 R.A. at home entering this started looks like. Strike R.H. been lower. But yeah, maybe that's the answer is you just start him at home and he's got a wider margin for error there at least. Sandy, I'll find the clip and I'll pull it up. But another quality start against the Rangers. Six and two thirds, one run, four strikeouts to three walks, 11 whips on 109 pitches. The three walks here, obviously you don't love that. But entering, no, in June, it's a 289 R.A. a one whip and before this start, it was only three walks for the month. So the control, the location has been much, much better with Sandial Contra. Does he climb back into your good graces here? Yeah, I don't think he'll ever be the ace he was, but especially in a point, he's still a very good pitcher. In Rodo, you just don't get very, very straightouts from him. At this point, I don't really think that's going to change. He has remade himself as a pitcher. I was marveling before we started talking. He's turned seven different pitches now. He's a guy who for the most part has turned four or five pitches throughout his career. Now he's added a sweeper and a curveball. Yeah, I think he's good. He just, he relies too much on contact on getting outs via his defense to ever be great consistently. But I think you just leave him in your line up and you're going to get great volume and good enough ratios, I think. It really was just a terrible may for Sandial Contra. Is April, 357? Oh, he's incredible. 357, er, a 121 whip and in June, it's 260, er, a 104 whip. And obviously that may was was pretty bad. You're going six innings pretty much every time. Yeah. Yep. And Jesus Lazardo, man, what a weird start at the nationals. This is the most, Jesus Lazardo start of his career. It really was. Six and two thirds, five runs, three walks, but had 13 strikeouts, 19 whiffs on 104 pitches. His sweeper was incredible, but he gave up hard contact. He obviously walked three. We were so close to him getting the ERA under three as under four as well. And now it climbs back up to 439. This is who he is, man. It's like I genuinely think, you know, we were talking yesterday about how some pitchers just don't pitch to their peripherals. And I generally don't think you should bet on that. But Jesus Lazardo, we've been doing this long enough that he is mostly very, very good. And then occasionally he's just really bad. And in this one, it was weird because he didn't allow an extra bass hit. If you watch this start, his, I believe it was the fourth inning. It was a mess, dude. He had two infield hits against him. He had a two RBI hit to the eighth hit. It's like Jose Tena, who was only in the game because CJ Abrams wasn't playing. It was just like things kind of unraveled for him in the fourth. And I think, but as often as it happens for him, I just don't think you can do the like, well, but if this doesn't have, because it's just, it does keep happening. And I think you just have to view, Jesus Lazardo, especially in a roadily, because I think in a point, till he gets just, who cares, right? Every five or six outings, he just has a bad one who cares. In a roadily, I do think you just have to take, you just have to think that this is a guy who's going to get a ton of strikeouts. And for the most part, he's going to be really good. And then occasionally he's going to have an awful start. And this was a matchup against the national team that has been best line from baseball against lefties. But even then, I don't think that explains why he was bad, because it was such a weird start. It's just, he has weird starts, man. I don't, I think we just got to take that at face value with Shane, with, Jesus Lazardo, that he's just closer to a four year A. Petra than you'd like. And a bad defense behind him too. It doesn't help. It doesn't help the cause. It reminds me a little bit about Carlos Hordon a couple of years ago when he first joined the Yankees where if one thing went wrong, things would just kind of snowball for him. And I kind of feel like that happens sometimes with Lazardo where it's just one or two things doesn't go his way. It's just kind of like mentally things start to fall apart here for Jesus Lazardo. Well, look, it's June 24th, predict his end of season ERA in Whip. Jesus Lazardo. 397, 121. That's pretty good. I'll say 381, 20. Let's walk to Shane O'Mac, Shane McClanahan, a mixed outing as well. Six innings, six runs allowed, three homers allowed, but only two earned runs. So three homers to start. Three homers allowed only two earned runs. Yeah, you won't see that off. That's a very interesting one. Four strikeouts to one walk, but I believe he didn't even complete five innings in either, each of his three starts before this one. And it was nice to see the six innings, but he was just incredibly efficient. It was still to 75 pitches. So I think I'm at the point where I had Shane O'Mac like right on the border of my top 40 starting pitchers. I think he's got to drop down a little bit. I think he's probably closer to like 50 or just outside the top 50. Yeah, he's looking like a less effective version of Jurisimus in last year. Yeah. Where the limitations are what they are. They're just not going to let him throw 90 plus pitches almost ever. He got to six innings today. It was the second time all season, I believe.
finished six innings. Yep. Only 75 pitches though. And the whiff rate has been going down. I think he's an OK pitcher at this point, but I don't think McLeanahan is especially in a points league. I don't think Shen McLeanahan is a great pitcher anymore. And the last game on this list is George Kirby, who turned in a quality start at the pirate. Six innings, eight hits, two runs, one of those earned five strikeouts, only eight whiffs on 91 pitches. Velocity was up around one mile per hour on one mile per hour on all his pitches here. I don't really know what else to say about George Kirby at this point. Yeah, I haven't had a good read on him all season. He's just a flawed pitch. Like he's not the same pitcher he was. Like clearly his four seam in his curveball are not nearly as effective this season as they have been in previous seasons. And it feels like he has been searching. His sinker has been OK. His sweeper has been pretty good. But without his four seam in his curveball, I kind of just think he's going to be a-- I know the underlying number say he's better than this, but I think he's kind of just going to run a higher 3-ZRA with like a-- I think the whip will get better. But let's say kind of similar to what we just said about Lozardo, like a high 3-ZRA, 120-ish, 125 whip for George Kirby. Yeah, I think maybe the whip will be better. But this is something that we talked about all season. The walk rate is still really good. It's not elite anymore. And he hasn't made up for it with more strikeouts. And so yeah, he's just a less effective pitcher than he was. And he was never like a sub-3-ERA guy. So I think something in the mid to high 3's good volume, maybe not-- maybe a better version of Sandi Al Contra, but not a significantly different one is kind of what I'm thinking. I think that's fair. And last two names, they can't keep getting away with it. He can't keep getting away with it. He won, Mom. Maybe they will. I don't know. And Water Rodriguez has this time at the Cardinal, 6 and 2/3, shut out innings with five strikeouts. He had 10 whiffs on 95 pitches. And he has the ERA down to 227 on the year. He also entered to start with a 7.6% swing strike rate and a 492 XERA. Two-er and runs are fewer in 12 of 16 starts. And Justin Robleski, a strong outing at the twins, 7 innings, two runs, three strikeouts to two walks, 9 whiffs on 92 pitches. One thing that has stood out for him is the velocity has been up. Basically, four starts in a row. His fastball has been up over 95 miles per hour in each of those. So I think that has helped the cause here. To they just remain-- I don't know how many times we could tell people, maybe we just do it every time. So high candidates for ERA and Justin Robleski. I can't imagine anyone's going to give you anything for Water Rodriguez. So I guess you just ride it out until the wheels fall off. Then trade him. Yes, for anything useful. But I'm not expecting that. So is there anything that you see with either two in the numbers that might explain why they are-- With Rodriguez for me? With Rodriguez, absolutely not. He's got like a 380 expected boba on contact, which is below average. His K-Motor's Walk stuff is terrible. Yeah, he's got like a 9.5% walk rate and a 17% strike rate. There's nothing here with that water Rodriguez. This is a guy who had an ERA over five. Each of the previous two seasons, his ERA estimators are close to that now. I don't see any reason to think that what I'd rather Rodriguez is doing is real at all. Robleski-- I do think he's a pretty good pitcher. The question is not-- is just a Robleski a good pitcher? It's just a Robleski 271 ERA pitcher. And I think the answer to that is clearly no. At least moving forward. I think it might be like 370. And lately, he's been getting more whiffs in the strikeout rates a little healthier. And so yeah, you can put it all together and see a version of just a Robleski that looks pretty interesting. But it's not an ace. It's not a must-start pitcher, even. I think you're hoping for-- gosh, I'm trying to think of a good comp for him-- a typical Merrill Kelly type season. I was thinking-- I think it would be that guy. Like a Seth Lugo season, not Seth Lugo's great season, but Seth Lugo's 371 25 whip type season, with not many strikes. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. But with-- What are Rodriguez? No, I don't see any reason what's-- like he's not limiting hard contact. He's not getting strikeouts. He's not limiting walks. It's just sometimes this happens. And maybe it'll happen for the rest of the season. And if you keep-- and Rodriguez in your lineup the rest of the season, and he ends up with a 3-ERA, that's awesome. Great. Good for you. There's no reason to expect that to happen, except that it happens sometimes. That's baseball season. Shane Bieber made his return. It was a rough season debut against the Ashows. Three and two-thirds innings, nine hits, four runs. Three homers allowed in this one. Chris, what did you see under the hood? This first start here from Shane Bieber. Nothing positive, really, to say about this one. Velocity was down about half a mile per hour, to a mile per hour, crossed the board. He got 13 whiffs. Oh, no, no, he didn't. Sorry, I was looking at the wrong one. Six whiffs. Six whiffs. Lots of hard contact, too. Lots of hard contact. Give up a bombed Taylor Tramble, which is not a great sign. It was like a 500 level. So his rehab starts were really bad, too. His rehab starts were rough. Remember, he came back from Tommy John Surgery, pitched about 60 innings last season, and then dealt with forearm fatigue/sorness that lingered until, like, May. Or he didn't pitch until May. So I just-- I'm open to being wrong. I hope I am. Shane Bieber has been a very good pitcher in the past, but there aren't very many positive signs. So at the very least, I don't think there's any reason to add him after this. How long is the leash, just holding on to Shane Bieber? If you stash him for a while? I wouldn't drop him for Brandon Sprout. Would you drop him for Sean Burke, who we spoke about earlier? I'd definitely be open to it, yeah. I might. Gage Jump is rostered in less leagues in Bieber. I would make that swap. Not that-- I don't want to give up on Bieber right away, because Bieber, when he's on, he has a proven track record of being a really good pitcher. We have not seen that in any of the rehab starts. We clearly did not see that here. He still could get to that level, so I don't want to prematurely just drop. If it's just OK last year-- Right. And I mean, really, we haven't seen-- when was the last time we saw two good months from Shane Bieber in a row? You're probably talking about 2022? Because he wasn't great in 2023 if I remember correctly. He barely pitched in 2024. It's been a long time since we've been able to really rely on Shane Bieber because of injuries, sure. But yeah, I don't know. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it seems pretty unlikely based on what we've seen. Some hitting left over is Brandon Nimmo, heard us yesterday, and he went two for five with his eighth home run. Another home run on the road, though. Seven of his eight home runs have been on the road. And he's just pitched much better outside of Glowblyfield this year. Miguel Vargas, homeward, but he has been slowing down, hit his 17th homemer. Previous nine games before this. He was 4 for 32. That's a 125 batting average. The underlying stuff still looked pretty good when I dug in during that rough stretch. So I think it was a little bit unlucky. Willia Abreu had a big game two for four with a sock in the shoe. His 10th home run, his sixth stolen base. Boba Shett hit his ninth home run and updated June numbers for him. 346 for homeers 16 RBI 951 OPS. Fernando Tati's junior hit another home. It was his third of the season. And over his last 27 games, he's hitting 366. Three homeers, we still want more. But we'll take it six steals and an OPS over 900 during that stretch. And jazz Chisholm went two for four with his 12th home run, two RBI. Chris, have you been following the Lollipop gate with jazz Chisholm here? Stupid. Everything about it. So stupid. It's like, what's even the point of saying it? Like just this. You bring a Lollipop out of the field. Like my first thought with that was just like, oh, that's a choking hazard. But like, why would I get mad at it? They chew gum. How is that different? He's not like holding it like a baby. And he just had an as mouth. I'm not like who cares? I don't know, man. It feels a little bit disrespectful to the other team to like, I don't know. Just have a Lollipop in your mouth while you're playing a major league sport. Like, I don't know. I can't. How is that like, how's the different guys chewing gum? While running the bases. It doesn't, it's the same thing. I like, what if you're just fiddling with the Lollipop and you don't have to like your hands when you have something, right? He was just, he just had an as mouth, right? That's that. If maybe he was like taking out and like doing big licks like the, the owl in the Tootsie Pop commercial, but I don't think like I, it's, I think the distinction is that one has a stick attached and the other doesn't. I don't, I don't see any, I don't see any problem with it. The funniest part of all of it is that Aaron Boone was on talking Yanks earlier today on Tuesday. And that's what I, that's what I'm referring to. I'm afraid he, I'm pretty, I'm pretty, I'm saying. He got pretty angry.
He's like, no, like, I know. I got it. We got to talk to him about this. This game happened. Why are you getting mad? And then he homer'd in the game. He pulled out the box of lollipops and showed it to the camera. After the game, they were playing lollipop by, I guess that's a little Wayne, in the clubhouse. And they're all dancing to it. And then Aaron Boone was making jokes about it after the game. So it's like, are you mad or are you not mad? Like, make up your mind. It's, I don't know. I think it's, I think it's a little out there. But yeah, jazz, the numbers have picked up the counting stats in the batting average. Still pretty bad. Yeah, it's really just the batting average. The counting stats, I think, are because of the batting average. But the homeruns and steals are pretty much exactly where you hope for. I guess you'd like more power. He's on pace for 24 homers and 47 steals this year. You'll take that. Yeah. Yeah, definitely need a little bit more, batting average for four and a little bit more power. But you know, whether he's up, juice baseballs, we'll see what happens. Call it to the bullpen for the Mariners. Andres Munoz shook out the side for his 14th save. For the Yankees, David Bednar got the final four outs for his 15th save. Since that blowup against the Metz in the subway series, he actually has been really, really good, David Bednar. For the nationals, Clayton Beater entered with two outs in the eighth, basses loaded. A four run lead, he allowed a basses clearing double. And then he got the final out of the eighth. Brad Lorde got the ninth inning with a two run lead. And he was charged with six earned runs on a walk in five hits, two homers load. Bad Lord, am I right? Yeah, yeah, I am Lord. For the Brewers, Abner Erebae, clean eighth inning, Trevor McGill got the ninth, and he picked up his 10th save of the year. For the White Sox, a one run lead, Sean Newcomme got through two and two thirds, hitless innings to pick up his second save. And it was a much needed day of rest for the rest of this White Sox bullpen. They have been reeling as of late. For the D-backs, Paul C. Well, it got the ninth with a four run lead. He allowed three runs on four hits. He was relieved by lefty Brandon Garcia, who got the final out for his first save. And for the Giants Caleb Killian got the ninth with a two run lead. He allowed a hit and a walk, but picked up his fifth save of the year. To stream or not to stream on Wednesday, we have Griffin Jacks against the Royals, Aronola at the Nationals, Mike Burles at the Blue Jays, Shane Drowin at the Reds, Ret Louder against the Brewers, Matthew Lubertoire against the D-backs, Martin Perez at the Padres, Sean Maniah against the Cubs. I feel like I liked this more when we talked about it yesterday. I don't know what changed, but I guess Jacks versus KC is pretty good, assuming he can avoid Jack Haggley ongoing deep twice, which he's done three times in his past like 14 games. Sure. The Martin Perez at San Diego is okay and Sean Maniah versus the Cubs is okay. I don't really like either of the latter two though. I would agree. I would choose those three as well. On Thursday, we have Seth Lugo at the raise, Ian Seymour against the Royals, Baba Chandler against the Mariners, Landon Roup against the Athletics, Kate Cavali against the Phillies, Michael McGreevy and Zach Allen are up against each other. Lana Roup agreed. And I think Cavali is okay. Cavali's okay. I could see a good start for me and Seymour, or Baba Chandler, but I don't trust either of them. So just those two, I think. Seth Lugo, maybe. I don't know. Roup Cavali. I'll say Michael McGreevy as my third option there on Thursday. We are gonna wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Vs Ball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Appler's Spotify. And we will be back in tomorrow. Bye-bye. Car amount podcasts. What are you sending us? This is a fun one. On July 23rd, boldly go. One step closer to where it all began. What we are about to do cannot be taken back. Stream the new season of Star Trek, Strange New Worlds, July 23rd, one paramount plus.
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