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
SANO SOCKING IT
Miguel Sano had two homers, a walk and six RBIs for the Twins Wednesday night. That effort pushed Sano to a slash line of .284/.397/.552. The batting average impresses, the OBP is superb and the SLG stands out. Add it all up and through 33 games Sano is the owner of a .980 OPS. That’s HOF level stuff. What should your expectations be the final month and a half?
Coming to the bigs Sano had huge power. His power bat was/is on par with Kris Bryant/Joey Gallo. Immense power does Sano own.
Coming back from Tommy John surgery Sano appeared in 66 games at Double-A before the Twins called him up hitting 15 homers with 48 RBIs this season. He struck out 68 times, not a good number, but he also walked leading to a 0.56 BB/K ratio, a solid mark. In his time with the Twins Sano has a 0.51 BB/K ratio was he’s continued to walk. That understanding of the strike zone is huge when a youngster is in possession of it.
Still, let’s not get crazy here.
It’s not possible that Sano will end the year with his current 29.0 percent line drive rate.
It’s not possible that Sano will end the year with his current .419 BABIP.
It’s extremely unlikely, extremely, that Sano will end the year with his current 31.8 percent HR/F ratio.
It’s been a great start to his career, and he’s worthy starting in all formats at the moment, but be realistic and understand that his production is nearly certain to slow… across the board.
JUST HOW GOOD IS PUJOLS?
Albert Pujols has 30 homers, one behind Chris Davis for the MLB lead for guys that qualify at first base. That’s great. However, have we overestimated his production to this point because of the homers and because he is Albert Pujols?
Pujols has 66 RBIs.
Adam Lind has 66 RBIs.
Pujols has 63 runs scored.
Eric Hosmer has 68.
Pujols is batting .258.
Mark Teixeira is batting .259.
Pujols has a .318 OBP.
Joe Mauer has a .333 mark.
Pujols has a .506 SLG.
Adrian Gonzalez is at .519.
Pujols has a .824 OPS.
Brandon Belt is at .838.
The truth is that Pujols is nothing but average if you remove the homers. He’s barely league average in batting average and OBP, barely, and the numbers are six miles from his career levels. He’s just a guy who hits home runs and drives runs in at this point. Elite? Nope. Has he been good in the second half? Not even close as he’s hit .265 with a .301 OBP and .418 SLG. Get over it folks. Look beyond the name and the 13 homer June and realize Pujols is a pretty average option at first base.
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HAMELS BACK MONDAY
Cole Hamels had his Thursday start skipped due to a groin issue, but the Rangers are confident he will return to action Monday against the 
Mariners. While I said two weeks ago I wasn’t worried about Hamels… well, I am now.
Hamels has allowed at least four runs in four of his last four outings. Over those five outings, and that includes his no-hitter on July 25th, Hamels has one victory, a 7.14 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. That’s simply abysmal work. In his defense he has a 9.62 K/9 mark and he’s only walked seven batters, and he’s actually still posted a 47.1 percent ground ball rate. The real issue has been the big fly as he’s allowed six homers leading to a crazy high 1.86 HR/9 mark. That’s almost certainly a sample size issue, but with 17 homers allowed he’s well on his way to yet another season of 24 or more big flies (career 1.00 HR/9 mark). The hits should slow, ditto the homers, but consider me a bit nervous with Hamels making him more of a bottom level SP2 than an elite SP2.
GRICHUK BEAT UP
"I'm trying to get past that," Randal Grichuk said. "It's getting better, but it's still there." Grichuk was referring to a sore left foot that has been an issue for a few weeks now. He’s receiving daily treatments to help with the discomfort, but has continued to play through the pain and figures to do so moving forward. Has his performance suffered the past couple of weeks? Over his last 14 games he’s batting .286 with a .536 SLG and three home runs. Over the course of the season he’s batting .282 with a .556 SLG and 14 home runs. Pretty much the same if you ask me. The guy has been a beast. Through 81 games, and let’s do the old “scientific” doubling thing, he’s on a 162 game pace of 28 homers, 86 RBIs, 84 runs scored and eight steals. Toss in that .282 batting average and do you know what you’ve got? Try on for size Adam Jones.
Grichuk has been great and even with a body at less than 100 percent his production hasn’t slowed.
CAN IT BE – DANKS IS HOT?
John Danks has a 4.58 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and a 6-9 record on the year for the White Sox. Terrible all around. But digging a bit deeper we find some things to like. Over his last six starts Danks has allowed more than three earned runs just once. Over his last six starts Danks has allowed one or zero earned runs four times. Over his last six outings Danks has a 2.75 ERA and 1.28 WHIP. He’s only gone 2-1 and his strikeout (6.75 per nine) and walk (3.75 per nine) ratios aren’t remotely intriguing, but as far as cheap streaming options go he’s actually a viable option right now, as hard as that might be to believe.
HAS SALAZAR ARRIVED?
Danny Salazar disappointed folks last season. As I noted in his preseason Player Profile though, people overestimated how “bad” he was last year. He wasn’t nearly as bad as folks seemed to think. Regardless of what you thought five months ago I think most folks are currently of the opinion that Salazar is a boss. Not only is he 10-6, but Salazar has a 3.26 ERA and 1.08 WHIP this season, both top shelf numbers. He’s also the owner of an elite 10.24 strikeout per nine mark, and his walk rate continues to hover around 2.70, much lower than most people think it would be. Salazar has also added 10 full percentage points to his ground ball rate this season, it’s up to 44.3 percent, and that will go a long way toward him keeping batters off the bases. Homers can still be an issue, he’s allowed one in four of five starts, but he’s working on keeping the ball down in the zone a bit more and that’s obviously a good thing.
A big knock on Salazar has always been that he throws too many pitches, and as a result he’s been unable to go deep into games. Well, check out his last six outings listed by innings pitched: 8.2, 6.0, 6.2, 8.0, 6.0 and 7.1. That leads to a runs of 6-straight quality starts for Salazar during which time his ERA is 1.48 and his WHIP is 0.84. Yep, he’s pretty much dusting batters at the moment, and there’s little reason to think that he cannot maintain the numbers that he has posted overall to this point.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 8 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).