With Carlos Correa , Jose Altuve , George Springer and Aledmys Díaz all injured, the Astros will finally call up Yordan Alvarez for some offensive reinforcement. Alvarez, who will turn 22 later this month, has raked at Triple-A this season. In 253 PA he’s slashing .343/.443/.742 with a 15 percent walk rate and sub-20 percent strikeout rate. He has an eye-popping .399 ISO, and altogether he has been 75 percent better than the average player at the Triple-A level.

Pitching Performance of the Day

Lucas Giolito is here to stay, people. He was the starter of the day on Saturday throwing 7.2 scoreless innings while allowing only five base runners and striking out 11. After a wildly disappointing first full season last year in which he posted a 6.13 ERA with a 4.5 percent K-BB%, Giolito has made significant improvements this season. He started slow allowing 11 earned runs in 16 innings through his first three starts this season. But since he returned to the rotation in early May he has a 1.28 ERA in eight starts. In that time frame he has a 31.5 percent strikeout rate and 5.7 percent walk rate. He’s due for a bit of regression with a low BABIP and high strand rate in this good stretch, but his 3.46 xFIP means he’ll still be plenty good without the good luck.

Hitting Performance of the Day

Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani both homered and had seven total bases yesterday, no one had eight total bases, and then there was JaCoby Jones with nine total bases as the only hitter to double dong on Saturday.

 

 

Jones has been on a hell of a run the last two-and-a half weeks. In 56 plate appearances in that stretch he has a .507 wOBA and 226 wRC+. His strikeout and walk rates have improved in that stretch, so there’s some hope that there’s some level of sustainability to this, but a .548 BABIP is the main driver of his hot streak. Jones is widely available, so he could be worth an add, but be aware that he could be a quick drop once the BABIP evens out unless his plate discipline continues to improve.

Game of the Day

Normally games with multiple or late lead changes end up being featured here, but there were no such games yesterday. Instead, we’ll highlight the only game of the day that was tied or within one for the entirety, the 1-0 Atlanta victory over Miami. Both starters were excellent as Miami’s Trevor Richards and Atlanta’s Julio Teheran combined for 13 innings with only eight base runners and one run allowed (obviously). Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis were the only players to reach base twice, and Tyler Flowers was the “hero” with a game-winning sac fly in the seventh. Below is the game graph courtesy of Fangraphs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What to Watch for Today

Alvarez is probably the story of the day assuming he’s in the lineup, which reportedly he will be. The best pitching matchup of the day is probably Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola against Cincinnati’s Sonny Gray . Gray has been excellent recently with a 2.45 ERA and 2.69 xFIP in his last four starts. Nola has a 4.73 ERA in his last five, but he’s been pitching better than his ERA would indicate with a 3.54 xFIP in that stretch. The pitching mismatch of the day is Cleveland’s Shane Bieber against the Yankees who are having a bullpen day. Bieber has a 30.2 percent K-BB% over the last 30 days, which leads all of today’s probable starters.