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
TROUT DISAPPOINTING?
Just tossing it out there.
Mike Trout went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts Monday. He’s improved his strikeout rate from last season, but it’s still a percentage point above his career mark. Alas, he’s three homers from setting a career best. He’s hitting .294, solid but after hitting over .320 in 2012 and 2013 it’s a bit disappointing. The real down part of his effort has been in the steals department. In 2012 Trout stole 49 bases. In 2013 he stole 33 bases. Last season he stole 16 base. This season just 10. Not only has his SB rate caved to moderate levels, he’s also been caught seven times tying a career worst. He’s not running, and when he does he’s not producing.
Trout is still a star, no doubt, but if he’s just a 10-12 steal guy anymore that has to ding his value bringing others into the conversation for who should be the #1 pick in fantasy baseball in 2016.
AFTER AN INJURY JANSEN IS ROLLING
Kenley Jansen started the year slowly because of a foot injury that required surgery. Look up now and you see a guy with a 2.11 ERA, just below his 2.23 career mark. Then things get bonkers good. Jansen has a 0.70 WHIP. That’s insane and would be a third time in four seasons that he posts a mark below 0.90. He’s striking out 14.55 batters per nine, even better then his all-time great mark of 14.09. The most amazing part of his season? No it’s not his 30-for-32 conversion rate it’s the fact that in 42.2 innings he’s walked five batters leading to a 13.80 K/9 mark.
Putting a bow on it – you really can’t pitch any better. He might be the best reliever in baseball.
MILONE – IMPRESSIVE
Tommy Milone is very blah. You watch him throw a few innings and you think to yourself – not bad. Somehow though he’s really improved this season, Substantially. Through 20 outings this season for the Twins, 19 starts, he’s been a master given that he wasn’t drafted in any mixed leagues, I bet he wasn’t taken in some AL-only leagues. Check out the numbers:
8-4, 3.54 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 6.35 K/9, 2.33 BB/9
The ratios play in pretty much any league. He’s poor in the punchout column, but at least he doesn’t beat himself with the free pass, an important key as he continues to be a fella who is often tagged by the long ball (1.29 per nine this season).
Another set of concerns for me.
He has a 23 percent line drive rate.
He has a mere .266 BABIP (.291 career).
His 1.21 GB/FB ratio is merely so-so.
Milone is “pitching” very well, but his skills don’t impress by any means. Should also be noted that he’s failed to last more than 5.1 innings in three of his last five starts. Been really, really good, but I worry about that finish.
CRAWFORD SLUMPING
Brandon Crawford is an impressive defender who the Giants always thought would turn into a pretty solid hitter. It’s happened this season.
After hitting 19 homers the last two seasons Crawford has hit 19 big flies this season. The odd part of that? Crawford has lost half a percentage point in his fly ball rate this season compared to his career mark. That means he’s hitting fewer fly balls than normal. So how has he doubled his HR-rate? This season he has a 15.8 percent HR/F ratio. Add the mark the last three seasons, 2012-14, and you end up at 17.4. Crawford last hit a homer on August 6th. Makes all the sense in the world to me.
Take away the .340 batting average Crawford had in May and every other month of the season he’s failed to hit .260. Overall his average is down to .257 on the season after hitting .219 his last 27 games. His career batting average is .246. The recent down turn batting average highlights a couple of other things. (1) Crawford has a 0.29 BB/K ratio, below his 0.41 career mark. (2) He has a .293 BABIP, one point above his .292 career mark. (3) His .317 OBP is just barely above his .312 career mark.
The fact is September for Crawford – in a best case scenario – will look like the hitter he was in 2014. Worst case? The slide continues and he keeps hitting like he did in August. He’s barely startable in mixed leagues right now.
STROMAN UPDATE
“My arm felt great, knee felt great. The results didn’t say so but my stuff felt unreal,” Blue Jays righty Marcus Stroman said. “I know people are going to say, ‘oh, he didn’t have a good start.’ But stuff-wise, arm-wise, knee-wise, health-wise—I’m ready to go.”
Stroman has made a miraculous recovery from ACL surgery, and it seems a legit possibility that he could be starting for the Jays against the Yankees Saturday. Everyone is pumped about it, and I’m getting a ton of questions about folks wanting to add Stroman. Some facts.
(1) Stroman only threw 46 of 81 pitches for strikes in his last out at Triple-A. In the three innings he pitched Monday he allowed four runs, eight hits and walked four. Does that sound like a guy who is ready to face big leaguers? “I want to face adversity now. I don’t want my first adversity to come in the big leagues. I had to battle with guys on, I had to pitch from the stretch—it was tough,” Stroman said. “But it was good for me to battle through that and have to make pitches rather than it just going smooth sailing and then facing that in the big leagues.”
(2) Stroman’s fastball averaged 93.6 mph last season. He was mostly 91-93 Monday. He had a lot of trouble location that balls down and way to righties, and seemed to be unable to finish off his pitches. Physically he is healthy, but he’s a bit out of whack right now.
I have a hard time suggesting that anyone adds Stroman at the moment.
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).