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
WHO IS YORDANO VENTURA?
Yordano Ventura has a 7-7 record, 4.82 ERA and 1.31 WHIP this season. He’s missed games with cramps, with a hurt hand that sent him to the DL, has displayed a hot temper (resulting in a suspension), and even was demoted at one point. None of that sounds like a person I should be wasting any time writing about. But…
Ventura throws 96-97 mph – consistently. His heater is an elite pitch.
He’s also allowed a total of two runs over his last two starts while striking out 15 over 13 innings.
Now the bad.
Even though he struck out 15 his last two starts he also walked seven batters. Terrible.
The two previous outings he allowed 11 runs and had a mere five strikeouts over 12 innings.
That inconsistency is, unfortunately, his current calling card. Over his last 12 starts…
Ventura has two games with no runs, two with one run and two with two runs. That means half his last 12 starts he’s allowed two or fewer earned runs. That will play anywhere. Unfortunately he also has two 4-run outings, one 5-run effort and twice he’s allowed 6-runs. The result is a 4.50 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. Add in the 7.94 K/9 rate and his effort has been passable, but with talent like this he should me much better than that.
It could all snap in at any moment, but it mixed leagues of 10/12 teams is extremely difficult to feel a high level of confidence in starting the righty.
UNDERESTIMATING HECTOR SANTIAGO?
Hector Santiago made 23 starts (34 appearances) in 2013. He had a 3.56 ERA and 1.40 WHIP.
Santiago made 24 starts (30 appearances) in 2014. He had a 3.75 ERA and 1.36 WHIP.
In 2014 Santiago has a 2.86 ERA and 1.15 WHIP.
Where did that come from?
While a solid arm, the unfortunate truth is that he simply isn’t deserving of his ’15 ratios.
Santiago has drastically cut his walk rate, it’s down a full batter per nine from his career mark at 2.80, but still not great.
Santiago has an 85.2 percent left on base rate. That’s an elite total, like it would lead the league 98 percent of the time. He’s not holding on to that. The mark the last two years was a still strong 75 percent.
Santiago has a 1.21 HR/F ratio. Even with a mere 9.2 percent HR/F ratio he gives up a ton of homers cause his flay ball rate since the start of last season is 51 percent. A ton of fly balls. Luckily his home ballpark doesn’t favor the big fly.
Santiago has a 4.13 SIERA and 4.52 xFIP for his career. This season those numbers are 4.01 and 4.44. Someone is pitching the same as always despite the drastic dip in his ratios.
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DREW SMYLY – EXPECTATIONS?
Drew Smyly made his first start since early May Sunday in his return from a partially torn labrum in his pitching shoulder. He lasted four innings against the Rangers allowing five runs and seven hits. Can’t say I’m surprised. Smyly has worked tremendously hard to make it back from this injury, and he deserves credit for that. But look at his work in the minors this season: 0-2, 5.96 ERA, 1.46 WHIP with a 3.6 BB/9 mark. About the only impressive number he posted over his seven outings, that lasted just 22.2 innings, was his 10.3 K/9 mark.
I’m a big fan of Smyly, you merely have to read his preseason Player Profile to understand that. However, he’s coming back from a significant injury, hasn’t been particularly sharp, and there are certain questions about how many bullets he has in his arm from start-to-start at this point. I’d only be seriously looking at Smyly in an AL-only league.
HENRY OWENS STRUGGLING
A 6’6”, 225 lbs lefty, Henry Owens entered the 2015 season ranked 19th amongst all prospects by MLB.com, 44th by Baseball America and 
46th according to Baseball Prospectus. It may not be fair to call him an elite prospect, but he’s awfully close. Over the course of 21 outings at Triple-A Owens only went 3-8 but he posted a 3.16 ERA and 1.14 WHIP over 122.1 innings. He has struck out 572 batters over 518 minor league innings, but that mark was down a bit this season at Triple-A (7.6 per nine). Unfortunately he also was saddled with a 4.1 BB/9 rate. That’s always a concern for this scribe.
Owens is, like the other young arms on this list, not someone to trust in mixed leagues. Owens has an impressive 17 strikeouts in 16 innings, no doubt he’s got a big arm, but that’s been the extent of the good through three starts. The 49 percent fly ball rate is troubling, and the 3.38 BB/9 rate, while in line with expectations given his minor league work, is a number that is worse than the average big league arm. Right now he’s the basic hard throwing youngster who struggles with his control. Still, his first two times out he allowed a total four runs before his beating the last time out (seven runs in six innings). A big arm to take a chance on, but be wary of depending on him, or starting him in difficult matchups. Rick Porcello is due to return from a triceps issue next week, and it’s possible Owens could lose his spot in the rotation as a result.
OH MATT BOYD
Matt Boyd killed it in the minors this season. Over the course of 19 starts no one with a bat in their hands stood a chance as he ran through them all on his way to a 9-2 record, 1.65 ERA and 0.86 WHIP. Yep, those batters had no chance.
Traded from the Blue Jays to the Tigers in the David Price deal, Boyd has been given a chance to start for the Tigers. It’s not going so well. Over three starts with the Tigers he’s been saddled with a 4.67 ERA, a 1.50 WHIP and has struck out just 6.23 batters per nine. Yeah, not very good. Also troubling is his mere 31 percent ground ball rate as he’s simply allowing too many fly balls (53 percent). That’s a scary high number and doom, not so-so work but doom, awaits if he keeps allowing so many fly balls. For now the Tigers will continue to run him out there, but like Smyly, he’s a league specific option right now, not a mixed league arm unless we’re looking at streaming options.
MIKE FIERS STILL GETTING IT DONE?
Mike Fiers has made three outings for the Astros. His K/9 rate is 7.94 per nine. That will work. His 3.18 BB/9 rate is about what we normally see from him. Fiers also has a 3.71 ERA and 1.35 WHIP, though to be fair he’s allowed three runs, one earned, over his two starts (he was asked to pitch out of the bullpen in his first outing with the Astros and allowed six runs over five innings). On the year Fiers has a 3.87 ERA and 1.36 WHIP. He’s also struck out 136 batters over 135 innings. The walks continue to be much higher than hoped, his 3.27 walk per nine mark is well above the 2.39 BB/9 rate he posted over 192 innings from May 29th, 2012 through the end of last season. On the plus side Fiers has walked just 10 batters his last six outings. If he keeps that up good times figure to lay ahead for Fiers.
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).