Greetings, friends. We’re now more than two weeks into the 2022 season after a bizarre offseason. We have some early trends, though it’s still too soon to react to much of the slow or fast starts.
On Mondays, since we don’t publish the Daily Opener on Saturday and Sunday, we’ll take a look at what happened over the weekend and some season-long numbers.
Have questions or just want to talk baseball? Feel free to reach out on Twitter @mikeMaher with questions or feedback anytime. And be sure to join the FantasyPros Discord where you can talk baseball (and other sports), get advice from analysts and other fantasy managers, and make your home run calls for the Leading Off Home Run Contests.
Top Stories
Ty France is absolutely ridiculous right now. He went 8-for-15 with 2 HR and 7 RBI over the weekend. Through 16 games, he’s slashing .375 / .459 / .656 with 5 HR and 19 RBI. The early Statcast data is allcaps RED. His .656 SLG is good for 7th overall in MLB right now. You get the point, right? He’s LOCKED in. Am I buying the breakout? Yes. Folks, Ty France has BEEN good. In his first full season in 2021, he batted .291 with 18 HR in 152 games, though the underlying numbers were just OK. Now, I don’t think he’s going to hit 30 home runs, but he should provide solid production all season as long as he can stay healthy.
Joc Pederson is off to a similarly hot start for the Giants. Through 13 games, he’s batting a cool .364 with 5 HR (but only 8 RBI). His roster percentage was below 50% heading into Sunday night, and it’s still at just 41% on Yahoo and 54% on CBS. He isn’t going to stay this hot all season, but he still has production left in that bat. He hit 36 HR as recently as 2019, and the Giants are known for getting the most out of players. Grab him now and see where this goes.
Don’t look now, by Cody Bellinger is doing some things. He isn’t as hot as those first two guys, but he’s showing signs of life after batting just .165 with 10 HR through parts of 95 games last season. It’s hard to belive that Belli batted .305 with 47 (!!!) HR in 2019 because it feels like that was a decade ago at this point. He’s not quite back to that level (duh), but he’s batting .273 with 4 HR and 3 SB through the first two weeks of the season.
There is still some dark blue in his K%, Chase%, and Whiff Rate numbers, but there’s also a bunch of red in his batted ball profile. We probably aren’t ever going to see 2019 Bellinger again, but he’s still 26 years old and could settle into a player who bats .250 with 30 HR and some SBs. If you drafted Bellinger this season, you likely drafted him at a significant discount, and that production would be a steal.
The other big news from the weekend is that Eloy Jimenez is expected to miss 6-8 weeks with a hamstring strain. The White Sox COULD be an incredibly fun young team, but they just can’t stay healthy. Bummer.
Fun!
This is the opposite of fun. Angel Hernandez is the worst, and he was his typical terrible self on national television Sunday night.
Come on https://t.co/ACeaXWiUto
— mike Maher. (@mikeMaher) April 25, 2022
Studs and Duds
Here are some of the best and worst performances from the weekend.
Studs (Pitchers)
- Eric Lauer – 6 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 13 K in no-decision vs. Phillies
- Struck out six straight at one point, lowered his ERA to 2.20
- Kyle Wright – 6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 11 K in win over Marlins
- Through 3 starts: 17 IP, 1.06 ERA, 0.76 WHIP, 26 K
- Gerrit Cole – 6.2 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 9 K in win over Guardians
- Lucas Giolito – 4 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 9 K in return from IL
- Aaron Nola – 7 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 9 K in no-decision vs. Brewers
- Nestor Cortes – 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 8 K
- Austin Gomber – 6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 8 K
- Frankie Montas – 7.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 8 K
- Jesus Luzardo (good Luzardo) – 5 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 8 K
Other strong performances over the weekend:
Studs (Hitters)
- Ty France – 8-for-15, 2 HR, 7 RBI over the weekend
- Through 16 games: .375 AVG / .459 OBP / .656 SLG with 5 HR, 19 RBI
- Paul Goldschmidt – 7-for-14, 2 2B, 4 RBI
- Raise AVG from .146 to .236 over the weekend
- Still 0 HR though
- Michael Brantley – 6-for-12, 1 HR, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 3 BB
- Byron Buxton – 6-for-9, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R (zero injuries)
- Mike Trout – 6-for-12, 2 HR, 4 R
- Trout is leading the AL in SLG at .690
- Cody Bellinger – 3-for-12, 2 HR, 4 RBI
- Through 15 games: .273 AVG, 4 HR, 3 SB
- Joc Pederson – 5-for-7, 2 HR, 4 RBI
- Through 13 games: .364 AVG, 5 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB
- Jazz Chisholm Jr. – 4-for-13, 1 HR, 3 SB
- Jorge Mateo – 2-for-12 BUT 4 SB
- Batting .231 but is quietly leading the league with 7 SB…
Rest of the double dongs from the weekend:
Duds (Pitchers)
- Patrick Corbin – 1.2 IP, 7 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 4 K in loss
- 11.20 ERA through 4 starts.
- We’re done with Corbin, even in deeper leagues, right?
- Sean Manaea – 4.1 IP, 7 R (6 ER), 6 H, 3 BB, 5 K in loss
- Aaron Civale – 3 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 K in loss
- Elieser Hernandez – 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 K in no-decision
- Corey Kluber – 5 IP, 4 ER, 11 H, 1 BB, 3 K in loss
Duds (Hitters)
- Adalberto Mondesi – 1-for-11 with 7 K (but 2 SB)
- Whit Merrifield – 2-for-15
- Hitting .136 with 1 R, 2 RBI, 0 HR, 3 SB through 14 games…
- Jesus Sanchez – 2-for-13, 6 K
- Cooling off?
- Bo Bichette – 2-for-11, 6 K
- Through 16 games: .217 AVG, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 20 K
- Jesse Winker – 2-for-10
- Through 16 games: .154 AVG, 0 HR
- Are we concerned? Yes.
- Yordan Alvarez – 1-for-13, 3 K
- 1-for-19 since hitting 2 HR in his return from the IL…
From the News Desk
We have an incredible news desk at FantasyPros. Seriously, they crush it. If you don’t already, you should sync your teams with My Playbook and check out the Fantasy News and Scores app for updates about your players.
- Luke Voit placed on IL
- Jacob deGrom latest MRI set for Monday
- Alex Cobb to throw off a mound Monday
- Wade Miley will throw live batting practice on Wednesday
- David Fletcher has been medically cleared following Sunday’s rehab game
- David Price tests positive for COVID-19
- Ryan Pressly throws live bullpen session, could be activated this week
- Jonathan India (hamstring) could return Tuesday
- Steven Kwan is day-to-day with hamstring cramping
- Liam Hendriks dealing with back tightness
- Mike Yastrzemski tests positive for COVID-19
- Eloy Jimenez (hamstring) expected to miss 6-8 weeks
- J.D. Martinez (adductor tightness) remains out of the lineup on Sunday
- Owen Miller reinstated from COVID-19 IL and starting Sunday against Yankees
Minor Improvements
Max Meyer Watch
Max Meyer is coming. Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. https://t.co/PpyIheiFaF
— mike Maher. (@mikeMaher) April 24, 2022
Check out all of our weekly fantasy baseball content 
Today’s Starting Lineup
- Small slate today, and this is one of the first day’s since the start of the season that we haven’t had an early game. The only semi-national game is Dodgers vs. Diamondbacks on ESPN+.
- There’s a good starting pitching matchup in Nathan Eovaldi vs. Jose Berrios for tonight’s Red Sox vs. Blue Jays game. The Red Sox are off to a slow start in part because of poor roster construction, and they really need to win multiple games in this series.
- Max Scherzer is on the mound again tonight against the Cardinals. He’ll be opposed by the less exciting Miles Mikolas.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio
Beyond our fantasy baseball content, be sure to check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Baseball Tools as you prepare for your draft this season. From our free mock Draft Simulator – which allows you to mock draft against realistic opponents – to our Draft Assistant – that optimizes your picks with expert advice – we’ve got you covered this fantasy baseball draft season.
Mike Maher is an editor and content manager at FantasyPros and BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive, follow him on Twitter @MikeMaher, and visit his Philadelphia Eagles blog, The Birds Blitz.
