While the exploits of Shoehei Ohtani continue, overlooking the performance by José Berrios on Thursday evening would be short sighted. Berrios fell one pitch short of 100, but fired seven shutout innings with 11 strikeouts limiting the White Sox to three hits. He also did not issue a walk. Berrios featured his curve inducing 11 of his 17 swinging strikes with the pitch and pounded the strike zone with 17 called strikes as well. This is the Berrios fantasy owners signed up for when targeting him in drafts. Consistency’s been an issue in the past, however, his arrow’s pointing up moving forward.

That Just Happened

As the Rockies await the pending suspension announcement regarding Nolan Arenado and featuring lineups without Charlie Blackmon , DJ LeMahieu ’s on a tear to open the season. Many owners under appreciate the fantasy value of LeMahieu’s batting average and he’s hitting the ball really well. Last night, LeMahieu went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two home runs pushing his homer total to four. He hit his fourth home run on July 7th last year. This marks the second multiple home run game of his career and he drove in four of the five runs scored by Colorado. His hot start could push Blackmon to second in the lineup upon his return, but it’s purely speculative. By the way, LeMahieu’s average exit velocity to start the year, 92.9 MPH, ranks 26th in the majors.

It’s hard to ignore Ohtani, mentioned above. He only recorded one hit on Thursday, but it happened to be a three-RBI triple. During his triple (with an exit velocity of 106 MPH), Ohtani sped around the bases in 11.03 seconds. Here’s a list of the players who’ve hit at least three home runs, a triple and won two games in the same month:

  • Babe Ruth, June of 1919

  • Bob Lemon, July of 1949

  • Earl Wilson, August of 1966

  • Rick Wise, June of 1971

  • Shohei Ohtani , April of 2018

Byron Buxton stole his 27th consecutive base dating back to last season. He’s up to four on the season with two in the game Thursday.

Tigers second baseman Dixon Machado hit his major league leading (tied) seventh double of the season. He’s widely available and could hit leadoff sometime soon.

Windows to buy low on Francisco Lindor will be closing rapidly. He went 2-for-4 with three runs, a double, home run (1) and three RBI yesterday. José Ramírez also homered, breathe folks, it’s April.

Speaking of which, Gary Sánchez only recorded one hit, but it was a three-RBI double. He’s going to be fine.

A triumphant return from Tommy John surgery for Nick Tropeano of the Angels who turned in 6.2 shutout innings in Kansas City last night. Tropeano allowed six hits and two walks with six strikeouts. He also generated 10 swinging strikes of his 88 pitches with 18 called strikes as well. Often pitchers returning from Tommy John struggle with command, Tropeano did not in his first start.

Milestone alert. Joe Mauer notched his 2,000th hit, a two-RBI single. He’s the third player to don a Twins uniform when accomplishing this feat. The others? Kirby Puckett and Rod Carew, cheers Joe.

Howie Kendrick ’s on a 10-game hit streak and no one seems to notice. At a time when owners need a batting average boost, Kendrick’s off to a fast start. He’s hitting .349/.378/.558 with a home run and six RBI. Plus, in 91 games last season, he accrued nine home runs and 12 stolen bases.

A Cardinal may have just walked again. All kidding aside, St. Louis racked up 13 runs in Cincinnati last night. After back-to-back home runs by Jose Martinez and Yadier Molina , Reds pitching issued five straight walks. No, Rick Vaughn was not on the mound.

Paul DeJong hit the third longest home run in the Statcast era by a Cardinal. His dinger traveled 464 feet last night. Hopefully this kick starts him again.

Speaking of buy low targets, Dexter Fowler . He’s hit 15 balls with a 19-to-39 degree launch angle without results. However, Fowler finished 2-for-5 last night with three runs atop the Cardinals lineup. Positive regression kids.

Jose Martinez truthers unite. He launched his third home run, hit two doubles, walked and drove in six runs. He’s hitting .364 (tied for third in the National League), second in RBI (14) and carries a 1.056 on-base plus slugging percentage entering game play on Friday.

Remember when Yadier Molina would not repeat his power? He launched his fourth home run this year as well.

Could the Cardinals bullpen be taking shape? Mike Mayers , finally deployed, worked three innings for his first save giving up two hits and a walk with two strikeouts. He may slot in as the multi-inning reliever for St. Louis.

Chris Stratton fired a one hitter over seven innings allowing three walks with four strikeouts. Somewhere, Justin Mason’s smiling. On the other side, the Bryan Mitchell experiment may be coming to a halt. He walked five in only three innings and 14 in 13.2 innings this season.

Craig Kimbrel did close out his fourth save, but he’s still working with his fastball two miles per hour below last year. He did not get a full spring training workload in, but still something to monitor.

Last but not least, Mark Melancon received a stem cell injection to his forearm on Thursday. He’s slated to resume throwing in two weeks, not holding my breath.

On Tap

San Francisco seems to be mimicking the Dodgers use of the 10-day disabled list along with shuttling players up and down from the minors. Could Mac Williamson and Steven Duggar be next?

Texas promoted Ronald Guzman and not Willie Calhoun , our own Craig Mish likes Guzman.

Many await the potential promotions of prospects on Friday the 13th. Will Ronald Acuna land in Atlanta? Nick Senzel in Cincinnati?

Stay tuned and check back on Fantasy Alarm to stay ahead of the competition.

Statistical Credits:

MLB.com

BaseballSavant.com

Fangraphs.com