DFS PLAYBOOK PRO – An exciting offering from the Alarm is the DFS Playbook Pro. I will be doing a daily breakdown of the hitters – Hitting Coach – while Howard Bender looks into the Pitchers (Pitching Coach). You can find the link to the Hitting and Pitching articles under the DFS Playbook pro tab at the top right of the screen.
OTHER LINKS TO BOOKMARK
NOLA UP
Aaron Nola has been called up by the Phillies to start Tuesday. Everyone is going to want to add him if he hasn’t already been rostered in pretty much every league. For my thoughts on him there are two spots to look: (1) see the Daily Trends report from July 8th, 2015 and (2) There will be a video up at Fantasy Alarm as well, the Big 3, July 21st.
HEANEY CLEANING UP
Andrew Heaney pretty much bombed last year with the Marlins posting a 5.83 ERA and 1.33 WHIP over 29.1 innings. This season over five starts with the Angels he’s been the star that his pedigree suggested he could be going 4-0 with a 1.57 ERA and 0.82 WHIP. Obviously the ratios aren’t sustainable, nor the record, but there are still some positives. Most obvious is the fact that he doesn’t beat himself. Through 12 big league outings he’s walked a total of 11 batters. I’ll take that any day. His 7.08 K/9 rate this season ain’t gonna excite, but if you keep that up over 190 innings you end up with a nearly passable 135 strikeouts. As for the big fly which dogged him last year (six total) Heaney has kept the ball in the yard this season (three). Still, his 1.00 GB/FB ratio suggests his homer rate could go up a bit, and there is 100 percent certainty his 92.4 percent Left On Base percentage will fall precipitously (check out his SIERA which is double his ERA at 3.39). Heaney is pitching fantastically but there will be regression, hopefully slowly and not all at once.
RENDON CLOSE?
Anthony Rendon has been out since June 24th, this time with a quadriceps issue. He’s back to playing as he went three innings at third base Monday in High-
A ball. He’s set to play again on Tuesday and hopes to be back in action for the Nats at some point this week. He’s still got a nice bat, and dual position eligibility, but with all the starts and stops this season he’s impossible to trust. Also can’t think he’s going to be running much which really hurts his value since he just isn’t a big time power bat.
PISCOTTY UP FOR CARDS
The Cardinals promoted Stephen Piscotty Tuesday. Though he’s spent his time as an outfielder, the organization has recently been giving Stephen reps at first base with the assumption being that if he hits he could see a good deal of time there given the big league club’s struggles at the position (Matt Adams might be done for the year with his leg issue and Mark Reynolds has a .683 OPS and 86 strikeouts in 249 at-bats).
Who is Piscotty? A top-40 prospect in baseball, the 24 year old has a great hit tool. He can spray the ball all over the field, is athletic, and has a good idea of what he is doing at the dish – he’s got an advanced approach to hitting, and though he’s gone deep 11 times in 87 games at Triple-A this season scouts think he’ll develop 25 home run power even if that stroke isn’t evident at the moment. He’s worth immediately rostering in all NL-only leagues if available, and those in 15 team mixed leagues should also be adding. If you’re in a 12 teamer you could add him, depending on your roster makeup. Keep an eye on the box scores and see if he’s regularly being run out there at first base.
WHO IS DIETRICH?
Let me quote myself from this morning’s DFS MLB HITTING COACH piece.
“Derek Dietrich hit a homer Monday and has a hit in eight of his last nine outings. In fact, over his last 10 outings he’s hitting .524/.565/.810. He’s also been extremely impressive on the road this season (.353/.421/.676).” Yeah is right. Hot as anything right now is he. Alas, perspective. (1) He’s not going to maintain a 21 percent HR/F ratio. (2) His .360 BABIP speaks to obvious regression. (3) His 27.8 percent line drive rate is obnoxious. Here are his numbers through 494 career plate appearances: .235/.311/.424 with 18 homers and 75 runs. He has no base stealing speed, the power will regress, and the average just hasn’t been there other than a hot 10 games. Ride until the production wanes which will likely be very soon.
MATT HARVEY STRUGGLING?
Matt Harvey has a 3.19 ERA and 1.10 WHIP. So why are people upset? Because their expectations were too high. If you had told me that those were his numbers this season before the year started I would have said – success. If you had said that he had made 18 starts and thrown 118.1 innings by July 21st I would have said – success. If you would have told me he has walked just 2.28 batters per nine I would have said – success. If you had said he had a 8.52 K/9 mark I would have said – success. Harvey had a 2.27 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 1.56 BB/9 and 9.64 K/9 rate in 2013 so, again, most look at his effort to date and are disappointed. Shame on you. That one’s all on you. In his first season back from Tommy John surgery Harvey has pitched great, even if you all don’t agree with that statement. Things have been rough over his last three starts with a 4.26 ERA, 1.58 WHIP and 6.16 walks per nine, and that has the yellow flag a waiving on this end. As I said months ago… heck, I’ll quote myself.
“I don't hate Matt Harvey. I'm just trying to pump the brakes on the prevalent presumption that a guy has Tommy John surgery and not only is he fine, but that he can return to pitch at all-star levels with absolutely no level of concern.” Keep a close eye on his next couple of starts… is Harvey running out of gas?
OH MATT MOORE…
Another guy coming back from TJ is Matt Moore. Why everyone wanted so desperately to add him this season is beyond me. Here we are with Moore holding a 7.23 ERA and 1.88 WHIP through four starts. Sometimes I wonder if anyone listens to me. We might disagree about a 21 year old call up of how long a guy can hold on to a .350 BABIP, but history is littered with guys, the overwhelming majority, who simply fail to consistently show up in their first year back from Tommy John surgery (Harvey is different because his recovery time was longer than most). As such I’m not one bit surprised at Moore’s struggles. Why are you?
OH EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ...
I wrote this about Eduardo Rodriguez on May 29th. “ Despite how good he looked last night his secondary offerings aren’t crisp, he can elevate his fastball (in a bad way), and on the nights his fastball isn’t popping he can struggle to get outs… The negatives, if you re-read the above paragraphs, are also evident. I would hesitatingly add Rodriguez in a 12 team league and certainly wouldn’t drop a solid arm to do so.” So where are we two months later? Rodriguez has a 4.64 ERA that is terrible. He has a league average 1.27 WHIP. His 2.42 K/BB ratio is barely league average. Ditto his 1.11 GB/FB. He’s also been a very annoying, ROOKIE, own. In 10 starts he’s been great seven times allowing two or fewer runs. In his other three outings we’re talking 22 earned runs in 10 innings. Read that again. He’s been obliterated in three of his outings for an ERA of 19.8. And you thought that Shane Green was bad… Eduardo is impossible to trust and simply not an enticing option in any format at the moment.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).