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
HITTERS
Xander Bogaerts has been in it to win it for a long while now. He hit .371 in July, .324 in August and .373 in September. That adds up to a .347 average in the second half of the season. He’s used Fenway to great effect with a .347 mark there and he’s destroyed lefties hitting .384 with a .430 OBP. Not too shabby against righties either with a .301 average. He’s been the balls.
Starlin Castro is hitting just .264 with a .660 OPS in what has been a terribly disappointing season. You have noticed he’s been incredibly hot of late though, right? Like out of his mind hot. In September he’s batting .444 with a .480 OBP and .778 SLG. He’s gone deep four times, has 15 RBIs and 11 runs scored in 16 games. Don’t matter what he did the first five months if you’re rolling him out there now.
Khris Davis hit another homer, his 23rd, one more than the 22 he hit last season. He’s also driven in 59 runs in just 109 games (he had 69 last year in 144 games). Unfortunately he’s hitting .244, exactly the same as last year. His K-rate is way up to 27 percent, but since he’s walked more his BB/K ratio is up to 0.39 from last year’s 0.26. Of course, 0.39 is league average so not stupendous. Power is in demand and he has it, but this is a pretty moderate overall game.
Yasmani Grandal hit a two run homer Monday. That’s his first homer since August 1st and he’s batting .113 over his last 80 at-bats. He’s gone from a must start to someone you really can’t be starting.
Brandon Phillips has had one hell of a bounce back season. Did you notice? He only has 66 RBIs and 66 runs scored, and when you toss in the 12 homers it’s a pretty blah season… until you look at the average and the steals. After stealing seven bases the last two years Phillips has swiped 21 this season. The last time he stole 20 bases was back in 2009 folks. The speed has been great. He’s also producing hits with a .321 batting average over his last 61 games. That number is up to .360 in September. How many second sackers have the following line this season: .295-10-65-65-20? ONE. Brandon Phillips.
Mark Teixeira is on the 15 day DL and may not play against this season. He hit 31 homers with 79 RBIs in 111 games. In steps Greg Bird who in 33 games is batting .250 with nine homers and 25 RBIs. The Yankees haven’t skipped a beat with the loss of Tex. Crazy.
Joey Votto is batting .313 this season (career .311). That’s not a surprise. ‘But Ray, he has no power.’ I heard that, probably, 387 times this spring. Well, he has 28 homers. So much for that argument. It’s all about health folks. Last year he wasn’t healthy as he hit six homers in 62 games. This season he’s healthy. Boom, success follows. He also picked up his franchise record 136th walk Monday night and that has helped lead to a .462 OBP. That’s amazing. The effort this season has pushed his career mark up to .423. Amongst players with 3,000 plate appearances in their career that’s the 14th best mark… ever.
THE FANTASY ALARM PODCAST IS AVAILABLE (TUESDAY AND FRIDAY EACH WEEK). MANS AND FLOWERS TALK MANZIEL, COUSINS, BENJAMIN, JONES, WEEDEN AND THE EAGLES HORRENDOUS START.
PITCHERS
Brett Anderson allowed five runs in 3.2 innings Monday to push his ERA up to 3.52 and his WHIP to 1.33. That’s a moderate ERA but the WHIP is worse than the league average. With only 112 strikeouts over 168.2 innings he’s really not been that good. Sorry to let you know. At least he’s been healthy, and that’s a huge plus for a guy who routinely spends half or more of the season on the shelf.
Chris Archer has a 2.92 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 246 strikeouts in 203.1 innings. Killer stuff. He’s just 12-12 on the year and he’s slowing in September. Over four starts in the month he is 0-2 with a 4.03 ERA and 1.43 WHIP. A rough spell or wearing down after a career-high workload? The good news is that he’s allowed only three runs his last two starts though the total of nine walks over 11 innings is certainly troubling.
Jon Gray allowed five runs over 4.2 innings for the Rockies. That’s a 5.53 ERA and 1.62 WHP for the potential star. Elite talent, over the top, but he pitches in Colorado and that’s just not a recipe for success. He does have 40 strikeouts in 40.2 innings, that’s nice, and there’s no way batters continue to have this much success (.384 BABIP).
Jason Hammel has a 3.79 ERA and 1.15 WHIP over 29 starts for the Cubs. He only has nine victories, disappointing given his overall game which includes 165 strikeouts in 161.2 innings, but it’s his performance of late that is the real turnoff. Over his last 12 starts his ERA is up at 5.43 which is why I haven’t been starting him in my own league. Can’t trust him at the moment despite the WHIP and strikeouts.
Shelby Miller leads the majors in shutouts (two)… and loses (16). Since May 17th he’s been winless going 0-15 with a 3.65 ERA. Shame on you Braves.
David Price is 8-1 with a 1.95 ERA in 10 outings with the Blue Jays. He’s also 17-5. The second best lefty in baseball behind Clayton Kershaw.
David Robertson has 31 saves. He has an elite 12.13 K/9 mark and after years of walking people he’s stopped doing that. Stopped it cold. Robertson has a 1.97 BB/9 rate, a batter and a half below his career rate (3.56). He has a 0.96 WHIP as well. So why does he have a 3.34 ERA? Well, it’s deceiving given that his SIERA is 2.06 and his xFIP is 2.30. Someone though he’s been elite or terrible. The guy has blown seven of 38 save chances.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Thursday at 8 PM EDT and Friday at 9 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).