As we coast into the all star break we are battling our opponents for one last week. There’s been some encouraging news in regards to injury recovery from several players in the past couple days leading us to believe returns just after the all star break are very possible. On the flip side there’s been a few injuries putting key players on the shelf heading into the second half. In the latest edition of “The Fantasy Baseball Emergency Room”, we’ll take a look at these situations and see where we can be optimistic and where we should have some patience. Let’s begin!

 

Sean Doolittle (CL-WAS)

The veteran closer had a precautionary MRI on his foot Saturday and it’s being reported that he has a strained toe. He didn’t pitch over the weekend and it’s unclear whether or not the Nationals hold him out until the break. It’s a blurry time of year when it comes to injuries because teams often decide to rest their players who are nursing injuries if the break is close when they normally wouldn’t. That may be the case here although this is the case where it seems being optimistic would be wise. It’s not a serious injury and the Nationals want to win now.

Doolittle is fourth in the National League with 22 saves and an insane 16.33 K/BB ratio. His 0.54 WHIP over 37.1 innings has him among the elite closers in the game in his first full season with the Washington Nationals. It’s safe to say that his fantasy owners are counting on him being healthy for the second half.

Carlos Correa (SS-HOU)

The Astros star short stop has been out since June 26th with back stiffness. Correa was placed on the disabled list on June 29th and up until yesterday he hadn’t resumed baseball activities. The good news is that last night he fielded some ground balls and is slowly returning to action. He will still need to swing a bat and show some physical ability before being cleared to return to the lineup but hey, it’s a start. This obviously means that Correa has no chance to return before the All Star break so adjust your rosters accordingly.

Always one of the best short stops in the game, Correa is slashing a solid .268/.352/.480 which are all actually well below his career averages. That just goes to show you how good he really is. Also, isn’t it nuts that he’s still only 23 years old? While Correa has a career high K-rate at 24.4%, he’s also sporting a career high walk rate of 11.7. Getting him back in the lineup will most definitely help your squad, however getting him back at 100% will be much more beneficial to all parties involved.

Stephen Strasburg (SP-WAS)

The hard throwing righty in D.C. hasn’t pitched since June 8th and was diagnosed with right shoulder inflammation. On track to begin a two start rehab assignment with the first one being tonight, Strasburg will be hoping for a clean outing with no soreness and worrying about locating his pitches. If he can get through both starts with no setbacks he will be set to join the big league team the first game back from the break.

Fantasy owners will be looking to reinsert him back into their lineups immediately with his 29.1 K% and 2.96 xFIP in 80.2 innings thus far in 2018. Fantasy implications aside, the Washington Nationals are desperate for his return to the staff as the team is allowing a .271 average, 5.36 ERA and a .357 wOBA, all league highs, since Strasburg went down with injury. The break can’t come fast enough for the reeling Washington Nationals as they have a 3-6 record in July.

Kris Bryant (3B-CHC)

Bryant is scheduled to play in a rehab game at Double-A Tennessee today after playing in one last night. Out with left shoulder inflammation, Bryant has had a slow moving recovery thus far and will be looking to get through this appearances without discomfort. This will be the final step in activating him from the DL either tomorrow before the Giants series finale or in time to start the final series of the first half versus San Diego. Keep an eye on the reports after tonight’s game to get the most accurate information on his possible return.

Bryant is having another solid season with a .280/.383/.481 slash line but only has nine home runs and 36 runs batted in. The shoulder injury likely has something to do with his ISO being 33 points below his career average and his HR/FB rate is considerably lower (by almost 6%) than his career number as well. His fly ball percentage being right on par with his career average tells us that he may have just not been at full strength to get those fly balls out of the park. A fully healthy Bryant should have a big second half as that HR/FB stabilizes.

Yasiel Puig (OF-LAD)

The Cuban Missile strained his right oblique in Sunday’s game and is likely to miss several weeks. This is a huge blow to a Dodgers team that has been on fire as of late. Oblique injuries can be nasty as they linger for extended periods of time and affect a players every move on the diamond. Watching closely over the next week at how he is responding to rest and treatment should go a long way in determining how long he will in fact be out of action.

The injury comes at a terrible time for Puig specifically as he found a groove and was absolutely crushing the ball. In July alone, Puig has a 1.087 OPS, .455 wOBA and a 193 wRC+. On the season, Puig has 11 home runs and a surprising seven steals in just 76 games. He will be missed in the season long and DFS community and even more in the Dodgers lineup. Puig has been a solid play in DFS with his extreme reverse splits as he’s mashing righties on the season to a tune of a .293 average and nine home runs as opposed to .209 and two homers versus lefties.

Shane Greene (CL-DET)

Detroit Tigers closer Shane Greene was put on the disabled list on July 2nd with, as many others in this list have dealt with, shoulder inflammation. We may just rename this article “Inflammation station”. I’ll see myself out. Anyways, Shane Greene had an MRI to discover this inflammation and when dealing with shoulder discomfort the results could have been much worse. Greene has already thrown a bullpen session in what seems to be a very short stint on the shelf. There is a definite possibility of a return before the break, although again as we’ve discussed many times leading up to the break, there’s always the possibility of teams giving an extended resting period for injured players this time of year. Keep an eye on any immediate sessions or rehab starts to give a better explanation as to when he retakes the mound for the Tigers.

Shane Greene has been solid for a pesky Tigers team this season converting 19 of 22 save opportunities with a 3.21 SIERA, much lower than his 4.03 ERA. Increasing his K/BB ratio to 3.82(career 2.48) has been a big part of his success on an average at best Tigers squad. His biggest downfall has been the long ball, giving up seven in just 38 innings thus far. His HR/FB rate has jumped to 15.9%, up 5.7% from last year. Joe Jimenez , who is six years younger than Shane Greene , has taken over the closer role in his absence and was actually named to the American League All Star team so this is another situation to monitor moving forward. Will the team give Jimenez the keys to the car with much more upside to display or leave it in the hands of a seasoned Shane Greene , only time will tell.

Ryan Braun (OF-MIL)

If Anthony Rizzo can start a season eligible at second base then Ryan Braun should be OF/DL eligible to start every season just so we don’t kid ourselves on draft day. It’s automatic. This time it’s a back strain for the veteran outfielder as he was scratched from Saturday’s lineup and will be out through the break and likely several games beyond that. There’s no more information as far as a timetable or game plan to rehab his injury yet so look for his name in future injury reports here at Fantasy Alarm for any updates.

Ryan Braun is batting a very low .235 but has a BABIP lower than any other point in his career at .262 so he’s been unlucky. His hard hit rate of 36.8% and his LD rate of 20.4% are in line with his career averages so it doesn’t seem as though Braun is “losing a step”. Ten home runs and seven steals in only 71 games gives further reassurance that Braun, when healthy, is still a dangerous player in that Brewers lineup. The problem is Braun and healthy in the same sentence isn’t something to bet the house on.

Walker Buehler (SP-LAD)

Walker Buehler ’s two weeks off, (see what I did there) have done him some good. Diagnosed with a right rib micro fracture after getting hit by a come-backer in early June, the Dodgers tried to let him come back quickly on June 28th but it didn’t go as planned. Buehler clearly wasn’t ready as he gave up five earned runs and five hits in one inning pitched. Shutting him down for a couple more weeks has apparently done him some good as he threw a simulated game this past Sunday. The plan now is to allow Buehler to get in a start before the break, likely this weekend versus the Angels. While he’ll very likely be on a pitch count, as he was already on one pre-injury, this is very encouraging news for this future star pitcher.

Buehler has shown dominant stuff this season with a 25.9% strikeout rate, a low 5.7% walk rate and three home runs allowed in 52.1 innings pitched. A heavy ground ball pitcher with big strikeout upside is a tasty combination for fantasy owners. An intriguing part of his game is that he isn’t a splits guy. For example, in his young career, Buehler has a 3.38 xFIP versus right handed hitters (137 batters faced) and an even better 3.13 xFIP versus lefties (118 batters faced). He’s also striking out 24.1% of the right-handed batters and 28% of the left handed batters he facing so far in his big league career. Walker Buehler is the real deal.