Blake Eerie

Welcome to the SP Roundup, my daily fantasy baseball article reviewing every starting pitcher’s performance from every Monday game. I apologize for the jokes written in my delirium in advance. Have questions? Ask me during my office hours on Twitch weekday mornings from 9 am-11 am ET.  

Blake Snell (SD) vs NYM (L) – 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 4 Ks – 14 Whiffs, 27% CSW, 95 pitches.

We haven’t seen a whole lot of Blake Snell this year, but so far, it’s been fine. His three games off the IL haven’t returned more than 3 ER in a start and 18 strikeouts in 15 frames suggested we’d see him budding in June. Well, tonight wasn’t quite that as he went 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 3 BBs, 4 Ks – 14 Whiffs, 27% CSW, 95 pitches against the Mets. Yeah, this wasn’t great.

I dug the fact he pumped four-seamers into the zone, but his slider was incredibly inconsistent, floating up or getting spiked too often, while his curve and changeup did little to help. In short, he had his moments, but overall was inefficient and not locked in.

It’s not a death sentence for Snell. It was a bad day and we have to expect better days will come as he continues to get more time on the bump. There are times we see starters who are completely lost or don’t retain any of their skill from before and that’s not the case here. He’ll figure this out, possibly soon with Rockie Road on the horizon. I’m buying low where I can.

 

Let’s see how every other SP did Monday:

 

Hunter Greene (CIN) vs ARI (W) – 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 0 BBs, 8 Ks – 17 Whiffs, 34% CSW, 87 pitches.

Hot dang, look at you! Does Greene get a CG tag as this one rained out after seven? Greene four-seamer did all the work here to earn a King Cole for the night, sitting 97.4 mph and doing an excellent job spotting his four-seamer up in the zone. I’m not kidding, just a few pitches landed in the lower third across the whole start. If he can command high heaters with low sliders like this constantly, he’ll have nights similar to these even when he isn’t facing the Sneks. The problem is knowing when he’ll pitch like this. Good luck guessing.

Michael Wacha (BOS) @ LAA (W) – 9.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks – 12 Whiffs, 25% CSW, 105 pitches.

Okay, you likely expected me to lead with Wacha, who allowed just one hit after the first inning and cruised through the cursed Angels for a CGSHO, h*ck he earned his final out on just one pitch. Insane. He kept his changeup armside, his cutters glove side, and his heaters…down the pipe, and the Angels hit themselves into outs. I really wish I could be more amped about this, but you know how sometimes you watch a pitcher and say “whoa, it’s already the fourth?” Imagine that for nine innings, that was what Wacha did here. Props to those who went after this one, I’m not picking him up for his start against the Mariners later this week.

Ross Stripling (TOR) @ KC (W) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 0 BBs, 2 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 27% CSW, 56 pitches.

Wow, this actually worked?! And across just 56 pitches?! Jeez, it’s better to be lucky than good. I didn’t see a whole lot to latch onto here — even the 40% CSW slider was a bit…unimpressive — though he could return something similar across 65-70 pitches next time against the Tigers, but that’ll likely be four innings, hopefully of quality. I wouldn’t chase it.

Noah Syndergaard (LAA) vs BOS (L) – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks – 6 Whiffs, 24% CSW, 99 pitches.

I will absolutely take this from Thor after the turmoil we’ve seen across the last few starts. It does spell out the life of a Toby, though, failing to earn more than two whiffs on any of his pitches and relying on his fastballs in play to get through the game. You know that’s not a bet you want to take too often.

Carlos Carrasco (NYM) @ SD (W) – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 0 BBs, 10 Ks – 19 Whiffs, 31% CSW, 105 pitches.

The Padres are terrible against right-handers, but still, this was an impressive outing from Carrasco as he earned a Gallows Pole. His slider and changeup were both excellent in this one, something we’ve rarely seen all year, even featuring a fantastic slider to end his evening with his tenth strikeout. Really excellent spots on the pitches hovering the zone and I hope we see it frequently moving forward. He gets the Angels next and I’m okay starting him there, maybe even excited given how poorly that offense has been over the last two weeks.

Robbie Ray (SEA) @ HOU (W) – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 8 Hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks – 10 Whiffs, 19% CSW, 98 pitches.

What the h*ck was that. Here I am, spouting that Ray isn’t pitching poorly and things simply haven’t gone his way, but Ray had other feelings. So what does he do? Why, he changes from a four-seamer/slider approach to…sliders and sinkers and four-seamers?! He tossed 26 sinkers here for, oh I don’t know, FOUR CSW, and I can’t understand it. The slider was still solid and I guess his heater wasn’t commanded super well, but what on Earth?! He tried to use the pitch to stay away from right-handers and I just don’t understand. That’s not even how you best use a sinker (it’s best used to jam the same-handedness batters). I’m kinda shook. Maybe I’m just dumb and there’s something I’m completely missing but wow, this feels like a complete step back from the direction Ray was heading. I’ll reserve my full judgment after his next start to see what’s really going on but…wow.

Madison Bumgarner (ARI) @ CIN (L) – 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 8 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks – 2 Whiffs, 21% CSW, 108 pitches.

Womp womp. He sat 90/91 and failed to earn a single whiff on his four-seamer in this one — just two total on 108 pitches isn’t the sign of a stud outing. The Phils are next and boy do I not want to stroll down Madison ave.

Cristian Javier (HOU) vs SEA (L) – 3.2 IP, 5 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 4 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 19% CSW, 90 pitches.

Oh wow. Javier went just 13/27 strikes on his breakers and his four-seamer command was rough. That’s two straight poor evenings from Javier, but I’m not ready to close up shop — he gets the Marlins next and hopefully that spells more confidence and a strong day at the park.

Daniel Lynch (KC) vs TOR (L) – 5.2 IP, 6 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks – 9 Whiffs, 20% CSW, 98 pitches.

Lynch had a bit of Careful, Icarus allowing 3 ER in the sixth as the Jays featured a ton of hard contact across this outing. You don’t need me to tell you Lynch isn’t in a place you want him to be to consider him in 12-teamers.

 

Game of the Day 

Graham Ashcraft vs. Arizona Diamondbacks – I know, not the most star-studded game, but I’m super curious to see how Smokey Cheese performs on Tuesday. Will his slider get a ton of strikes again?

But Nick?! Where are the streaming picks? – I’ve moved them to the daily SP Matchups & Streamer Rankings article.

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Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)