Fair Jordan

I’m sure there are going to be a good amount of people chasing Jordan Yamamoto after last night’s 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 2 BBs, 7 Ks, marking two starts of seven frames without a single earned run in his short MLB career. 25% strikeout rate! .064 WHIP! Yeah, yeah, yeah. .156 BABIP and with 0 ER to his name, the absolute extremes of LOB rate and HR/FB as well. I’ve watched both of his starts now and I just don’t buy this. He faced the weak Cardinals lineup both times and I’m not loving what he brings to the table. It’s not like his 91 mph fastball is super well commanded, his slider & curveball have moments but aren’t ridiculous breakers, and his changeup is fine. It’s all just fine and I don’t think the middling contact he’s induced that far is sustainable. Now he’s set up to face the Phillies and I think a lot of people are going to forget about him following that start. His stuff simply isn’t that good and I stick to the nickname I gave him last week – Fair Jordan.

Let’s see how every other SP did Tuesday:

Logan Allen – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. I watched a lot of this outing and my quick impression is…good, not great. Loved seeing him pump 96/97 out the of the gate – MLB debut! – but he’s more of a 93/94 arm. Slider took some time to get going while his changeup had moments. The best thing that happened here was the BABIP. Double plays galore, swings in hitters counts turning into outs, mistake pitches not taken advantage of, etc. 27/90 CSW is fine, but 2/30 whiffs on the slider tell you a lot. Still, this was the Brewers and while his fastball command is far from spectacular, Allen is very much worth the pickup as he gets the Orioles next as there are very few strong options on the wire. Take it one game at a time right now.

Homer Bailey – 7.2 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Oh cool, that’s back-to-back 0 ER games for Bailey against the Tigers and Mariners. His velocity is up slightly to 93/94 from 92/93, but just 10 whiffs on 121 pitches – yes 121 pitches, it’s Homer Bale, not some prized prospect – as I don’t see something here that makes me risk the floor.

Clayton Kershaw – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. Aces gonna ace. Kersh got the Giants and did exactly what he should have.

Brett Anderson – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. Sure, whatever Brett. But Nick! That’s a 2.70 ERA across his last six games! And his strikeout rate and SIERA? 12% and 4.87 in that stretch. I SAID WHATEVER BRETT.

Anthony DeSclafani – 5.1 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. That’s three starts of 1 ER including this game against the Astros and it looks like he’s earned a spot back on The List. I guess. It’s hard to get pumped when Tony Disco had just 5 whiffs and 21/86 CSW, but there it is.

Cole Hamels – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 8 Ks. Hamels’ changeup is just so dang good right now. 25% swinging-strike rate in this one on the pitch, 32% CSW overall and life is good as a Hamels owner.

Ivan Nova – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks. This is Ivan going Super Nova. Yep, that includes earning just one strikeout – HAISTFMFWT?! You don’t want none of this, Dewey Cox.

Michael Pineda – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. That split-changeup is back and was 5/11 for strikes. Meh. It was fine, his fastball was a steady 93 mph (not the near 95 mph we saw before) and sliders went 5/27 on whiffs. It was all good but not great, yet that’s totally fine against the Red Sox. I wouldn’t be excited to own Pineda, but I can fathom riding him over other options off your wire. Maybe that changeup really does help for keeping guys off the heater.

Zach Plesac – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 5 BBs, 6 Ks. So the walks arrived that I thought eventually would with Plesac’s cross-body mechanics, but honestly, this wasn’t a super wild start as he was just not great at nibbling the arm-side edge. Which makes perfect sense as Plesac excels at hitting the glove-side edge. At any rate, the walks don’t matter when you still hold a 1.00 WHIP with just 1 ER and we can all be happy. Kinda. 26/102 CSW is a bit blegh as his secondary stuff just isn’t performing like I want it to. Sidenote, Savant is classifying his changeup as a Forkball now – not even a splitter, a full-on humptastic forkball – and it’s been a while since I’ve seen that. I wonder if there was a change for Plesac. Too bad the Texas camera angle is terrible and you can’t properly understand vertical movement. It didn’t look like a legit forkball to me, FWIW.

David Price – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks. Price was cruising in this one, though 91 mph is a little on the lower end. He got the early hook to protect him after his short start last time and yes, you can be upset. This had the makings of 7+ strong frames. Welp, so it goes.

Antonio Senzatela – 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks. Whoa, Senz-A didn’t hit the mat hard in this one, though that WHIP certainly stings. It’s just a Birthday Party and nothing more.

Tyler Skaggs – 7.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 0 BBs, 6 Ks. Lovely line there, Skaggs. There’s a hint of Blame on the Jays here, especially when Skaggs went 21/87 CSW. Womp womp. Still, around 15% usage of changeups is a bit welcome and he did a good job pounding the zone, albeit a little too much in the middle. This isn’t the Skaggs that would normally dominate, but his stuff was good enough to get through 7+. We’ll take it and hope he takes advantage of a meh Cardinals lineup next time out while taking a step forward.

Ryne Stanek – 1.1 IP, 1 ER, 1 Hits, 1 BBs, 0 Ks. The Fratty Pirate Ryan Yarbrough followed and gave three shutout innings. Yay. Hope you enjoyed those innings for his weekly roster spot.

Jacob deGrom – 8.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 10 Ks. Aces gonna ace. Those two longballs in the ninth were dumb and made me sad. SAD! Really good not only to see 7/25 whiffs on his slider, but also an average of 94mph on the pitch. Now teach what adjustment you made to Syndergaard and Wheeler, okay?

J. A. Happ – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks. Happ is a Toby and this is what Tobys do. It’s a little comforting for this to be so neatly understood, in the same way that banging my head on the wall upset I drafted him for his potential 25% strikeout rate is supposed to hurt a little bit.

Mitch Keller – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. I’ll take this after 12 ER across the first games of his career. 15/93 whiffs is lovely and his fastball sat at 95mph and earned nine whiffs while sitting up in the zone constantly. There’s still a little polish left on his slider and curveball – 7/28 CSW combined – but give him time. I’m buying here as the Pirates can’t force the kid to go sinkers, thankfully. High four-seamers are back in Pittsburgh!

Daniel Norris – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks. 19/84 CSW with fastballs sitting under 90mph. That’s like a diner giving you the specials and mentioning their fish of the day. No thanks, next!

Shaun Anderson – 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks. This doesn’t help. At all. Yeah but- Nope. Sure, he got the Dodgers and you’re not starting Shaun-A there, but still. He’s okay for an occasional stream in the right matchup, but that’s it.

Jack Flaherty – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. Yeah, I’ll definitely take this from Flaherty. The two homers did him in as Flaherty looked dominant otherwise. As he should. It’s the Marlins. Still not seeing anything as a third option, but a 35% swinging-strike rate on sliders is all I ask for him to be solid.

Adrian Sampson – 3.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Awwww. I was thinking that his last start against the Sawx was more of a product of facing a super good lineup and maybe the easier Indians would allow his slider to shine. Nope. Streaming Record: 50-28. You’re safe to drop him now.

Marcus Stroman – 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. It’s super boring and at least that WHIP is nice n all. That’s the story of Marcus – meh with sprinkles of being kinda cool.

Justin Verlander – 7.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 8 Ks. Three HRs allowed? Verlander, that’s two straight games of three dingers and that’s not cool. Everything else is fantastic – 1.00 WHIP, 8 strikeouts – so stop acting like a ragged coffee cart and serving us these Dusty Donuts. 41% CSW and 21 whiffs for a Gallows Pole, by the way, so yeah, he’s still dope and you still feel dope owning him.

Brandon Woodruff – 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. This wasn’t Brandon’s day as he needs to earn more than five whiffs on 57 fastballs. His slider earned him strikes, but didn’t do enough when the lineup turned over a third time. But hey, if this is the floor, we’re all happy. Keep on starting Woodruff.

Merrill Kelly – 6.0 IP, 5 ER, 8 Hits, 0 BBs, 5 Ks. We were hoping for his curveball command to return in this one and despite the line, it actually did – 50% CSW and 19/20 for strikes n all. Problem was that his fastball, a pitch we’ve seen during the good days around 92+, sat at 90.3 mph and was hammered, along with his cutter. He gets the Giants next so don’t cut him quite yet.

Yusei Kikuchi – 5.0 IP, 6 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. If Kikuchi couldn’t handle the Royals, who do you trust him against?

Julio Teheran – 4.0 IP, 6 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. It was a Vargas Rule as we knew his 0.81 ERA with a 5.50+ SIERA over his previous eight starts was sure to crumble soon. Now it’s the Cubs are you’re scared. You should be scared.

Gabriel Ynoa – 5.1 IP, 6 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks. Ynoa what I’m going to say before I even say it.

 

Today’s Streamer

 

For those unaware, I’m forced to make my Streamer picks under the condition of sub 20% owned in Fantasy Pros’ consolidated ownership rates.

 

Daniel Poncedeleon vs. Miami Marlins – I stared at this day’s slate for ages before settling on Poncedeleon as he gets the Marlins. There’s just nothing else.

 

Tomorrow’s Streamer

 

Jose Suarez vs. Toronto Blue Jays – I think Suarez has decent stuff and could run away with a solid outing against a meh Jays lineup, Vlad Jr. + Cavan n all.

 

Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer

 

Cal Quantrill vs. Pittsburgh Pirates – A little risky, I think Quantrill’s start in Coors should be ignored and he can pick up where he was prior.

 

Game of the Day 

 

Andrew Heaney vs. Toronto Blue Jays – Is it going to be like the first three + his changeup? I have a good feeling about this.

 

(Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire)