After trading away Marcus Stroman and Eric Sogard on Sunday, the Blue Jays had some room on their 25-man roster, so they called up the organization’s top prospect, Bo Bichette. Bichette singled in his first plate appearance and finished 1-for-4 in his debut. The prospect posted sub-20-percent walk rates in a full season at Double-A and a half-season at Triple-A. He has hit for a little pop with a decent .198 ISO this year before his call-up, but the power should come with age for the 21-year-old. The already established plate discipline is what’s most impressive about him from a fantasy perspective.

Pitching Performance of the Day

Normally, the pitcher in this space gets to double-digit strikeouts, but with only seven games on Monday, no starter got there (unless Chris Paddack went on a run late in his start). But the fact that Jon Gray only struck out six batters does not take anything away from how good he was last night. Gray had an incredibly tough task taking on the Dodgers at Coors Field. To give Gray credit, he has not had significant home/road splits in his career or this season despite his hitter-friendly home park. But the assignment was especially tough against the Dodgers who ranked second in wRC+ vs. RHP entering Monday’s action. Gray allowed only one run and six baserunners over eight innings and earned the win.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jon Gray dropped his ERA to 3.88 tonight. A guy who pitches half his games at Coors Field. With the 2019 baseballs.</p>&mdash; Purple Dinosaur Podcast (@purpledinocast) <a href="https://twitter.com/purpledinocast/status/1156040466317529089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Hitting Performance of the Day

Normally the hitter in this space hits at least one home run, especially if they played in the aforementioned Coors Field. But again, the options were limited with a short Monday slate. Ian Desmond is the pick here as his lack of a home run was the only thing separating him from a cycle. In addition to his three hits, he drew a walk (an intentional walk) in his other plate appearance. Desmond has been an extremely streaky hitter this season with two excellent months in May and June and two dismal months in April and now July. Unlike Gray, Desmond has predictable home/road splits, but he could swing back to the positive side of his streakiness with 17 of Colorado’s next 29 games being at Coors.

While we’re talking about impressive hitting performances, let’s give some shouts to the Miami Marlins. The Marlins rank next to last in team wRC+, but with the Giants off on Monday, the Marlins were the worst offense in action. Despite that, they tied with the Reds for the most runs scored on Monday with 11. It was a complete team effort as no one had more than two hits. One of the two batters with two hits was starting pitcher Caleb Smith. No single player drove in more than two runs or scored more than twice, and no Marlin finished in the top 20 in wOBA for the day. We should probably point out that some bade Arizona defense had something to do with Miami’s production, and the D’back defense is almost as bad as the Marlins Twitter account.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">When you dip I dip we dip <br>When you hit I hit we hit <a href="https://t.co/SYhGkEM9Am">pic.twitter.com/SYhGkEM9Am</a></p>&mdash; Miami Marlins (@Marlins) <a href="https://twitter.com/Marlins/status/1156036967663955970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

What to Watch for Today

Monday was relatively calm before the likely storm as we get closer to the Trade Deadline. After Stroman and Sogard were moved in separate deals on Sunday, the biggest name moved on Monday was Jason Vargas to the Phillies. The Mets may be trading yet another starting pitcher in the next day or two as Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard are both on the block. Syndergaard is set to start in Chicago against the White Sox in what could be his last start as a Met. If you’re playing DFS, keep an eye on his status in case a trade or an imminent trade result in Thor being scratched.