Batter’s Box: Great Scott!

Man has Scott Schebler had a nice recent streak of games or what? Over his past four games, the guy is batting .400 with four home runs and eight RBIs. That’s a nice streak. And Wednesday night was probably the best of all of them, as he went 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI. Now yes, granted, all of his offense came from his two home runs, but that’s what Schebler is good at: home runs. If you look at his numbers on the season though, it’s a bit more disappointing, as he’s batting just .186 on the year so far. Certainly his 23.1% strikeout rate doesn’t help that, but Schebler has always had a strikeout problem. I don’t necessarily think there’s much here unless you’re in a deep league or an NL-Only league, as I wouldn’t expect Schebler to do much more than 20-25 home runs with a .240ish batting average. Nowadays, you can get that just about anywhere.

Let’s take a look at some of the other performances from Wednesday’s games:

Joey Votto (1B, CIN) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Joey Votto hits a home run, no news there. As an aside, don’t worry about the average, it’ll pick up, he’s Joey Votto, he’ll be fine.

Adam Duvall (OF, CIN) – 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. I never really thought the good average would keep up with Duvall, but it’s nice to see him coming on a bit more lately after a pretty rough streak. If there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s hitting home runs, and he did it again on Wednesday.

Orlando Arcia (SS, MIL) – 2-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI. Fortunately for Orlando Arcia, he had his best game of the season on Wednesday, but unfortunately for fantasy owners, there’s really not much here as of now. Arcia is young, and he’s talented at shortstop, so he’ll be in the lineup, but until he figures things out, there’s nothing here worth owning.

Avisail Garcia (OF, CWS) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. It’s highly unlikely that Avisail Garcia is going to keep this kind of hitting up, but enjoy the streak while it lasts, cause he’s been incredibly hot.

Leury Garcia (OF, CWS) – 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB. A nice game for Leury Garcia, but unfortunately basically  nobody owns him, and in all honesty, there’s no much reason to as of yet. He’s been hitting well but there’s little reason to think he’ll keep it up. However, he has drastically improved his plate discipline, so it may be worth monitoring lightly.

Michael Brantley (OF, CLE) – 2-4, 1 R, 3 RBI. I’m glad to see Brantley playing well and staying healthy, here’s hoping he can keep it up.

Carlos Santana (1B, CLE) – 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI. The power has been there as much as I would like it to for Santana so far, but it’s early yet and I would bet he’ll pick it up. In the meantime, the runs and RBIs have been great.

Aaron Judge (OF, NYY) – 1-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI. Aaron Judge just keeps hitting home runs. He’s pretty good at it.

Tim Beckham (SS, TB) – 3-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI. This was the first time in Beckham’s career that he’s had more than one home run in a game. He’s been hitting relatively well, but unless he can bring the strikeouts down, it’s gonna come crashing down sooner rather than later.

Martin Prado (3B, MIA) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Good for Prado on the home run. He’s always been a high-average and little else kind of guy, but he’s been playing too infrequently this season to really consider him in anything but deep leagues and NL-Only leagues.

Maikel Franco (3B, PHI) – 3-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 4 RBI. Franco had a nice grand slam on Wednesday night. We all know about Franco’s power, and he’s hit a fair number of home runs this year, but he’s really been starting slow with the batting average. But don’t worry, he’s got a .155 BABIP that will climb up soon and the average will level out. At least he’s gotten you a bunch of RBIs so far.

Michael Saunders (OF, PHI) – 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. A nice night for Saunders, but overall, between the mediocre production and the injury concerns, there isn’t much here.

Freddy Galvis (SS, PHI) – 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. It was nice being a Phillies hitter on Wednesday as the runs kept rolling on in, and Freddy Galvis was part of that. Galvis suddenly was batting at the top of the lineup on Wednesday, and if he keeps that up (and hits well), he might be a decent matchup play in certain leagues.

Anthony Rizzo (1B, CHC) – 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 4 RBI. Anthony Rizzo is good, moving on.

Josh Harrison (2B, PIT) – 2-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI. Josh Harrison is hitting .391 over his last seven games and has put some pretty nice numbers up on the season right now. The Pirates are desperate for offense, so Harrison will keep playing. I’d ride the streak while it’s happening, you could do worse at second base for the time being.

Josh Bell (1B, PIT) – 2-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI. Josh Bell is hitting .316 over the last week and I’m sincerely hoping he keeps it up. The guy is supremely talented and has had a rough start to the year to say the least.

Jarrod Dyson (OF, SEA) – 2-5, 1 R, 2 SB. Jarrod Dyson is pretty fast, that’s not news. He’ll get you stolen bases and a handful of runs, but that’s just about it.

Nelson Cruz (OF, SEA) – 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. Nelson Cruz hits a home run, nothing shocking there.

Guillermo Heredia (OF, SEA) – 2-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. Just the second home run on the year for Heredia whose playing has been fairly infrequent. Nice night, but nothing worth looking at unless maybe you’re in an AL-Only league.

Tyler Flowers (C, ATL) – 2-4, 4 RBI. Hey, good for Tyler Flowers. He’s had a nice batting average on the year so far, but there’s just nothing else there unfortunately, and I think that has a lot to do with the Braves offense rather than Flowers’ play.

Delino DeShields Jr. (OF, TEX) – 2-3, 3 R, 1 RBI, 2 SB. If you had DeShields in an OBP league, you were very happy with him last night, as he not only had two hits, three runs, and two stolen bases, but three walks as well. The average is gonna hurt, as is the infrequent playing time, but DeShields can definitely steal some bases.

Shin-Soo Choo (OF, TEX) – 3-5, 1 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI. Nice night for Shin-Soo Choo, but unless you’re in an OBP league, he’s really not worth looking at. However, his RBIs and runs have been good enough that, coupled with his .380 OBP so far, he’s worth a look in OBP leagues.

Ryan Rua (OF/1B, TEX) – 2-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 4 RBI. Ryan Rua smacked a grand slam on Wednesday night, which is great and all, but there’s nothing here worth owning.

Trea Turner (2B/OF, WSH) – 3-5, 1 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI. Ahhh it’s nice to have Trea Turner back in the Nationals lineup.

Ryan Zimmerman (1B, WSH) – 3-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI. He’s still hitting the ball hard, and good for him, but like I’ve said before, the streak will end and it’ll end hard. Enjoy it while it lasts though and sell high if you can.

Daniel Murphy (2B/1B, WSH) – 2-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI. Hey, Daniel Murphy’s been killing the ball, but that honestly should be expected at this point.

Erick Aybar (SS, SD) – 2-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB. Good for Erick Aybar, but he’s been difficult to own this year to say the least. Don’t bother.

A.J. Pollock (OF, ARI) – 3-5, 2 R, 1 SB. Man, A.J. Pollock has really been turning on the stolen bases this season, that’s great to see. It’s looking like a 35 steal season might be happening this year.

Paul Goldschmidt (1B, ARI) – 3-4, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 SB. I don’t know much about him, but I hear this Goldschmidt guy is pretty good.

Yonder Alonso (1B, OAK) – 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI. Alonso’s turned things on this season so far, with a good RBI total and a decent amount of power. I’m not expecting much rest of the season for Alonso though, so enjoy it while you can.

Matt Joyce (OF, OAK) – 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. Man, remember Matt Joyce? Yea, well don’t think about him anymore, he’s sporting a .182 average on the year on a team that’s not that good offensively.

Cameron Maybin (OF, LAA) – 3-4, 1 R, 3 RBI. Maybin hasn’t done a whole lot so far this year and has been playing relatively infrequently, but if he can raise the batting average, he could go right back to being the borderline useful fantasy player he’s been in the past.

Corey Seager (SS, LAD) – 2-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Seager had a solo home run on Wednesday night along with another hit which gave him a nice little line for the night. He’s good, but you already know that.

Christian Arroyo (SS, SF) – 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. The Giants prospect hit his first major league home run Wednesday night. He’s worth a flyer if you’ve got the roster spot, just based on talent alone. He might not do anything, but you never know.