We have made it through another week of the season, and that means we have another set of players to Buy High or Sell Low based on their weekly performances. Based on their recent performances and a full-season outlook, I will choose some options. It is still challenging to get a great feel on a player as many underlying metrics have not had enough time to develop fully, but we are getting closer as we have nearly played a little over a month of baseball. With all of that said, let’s look at a handful of players that you should buy high or sell low.
Buy High
Machado had himself quite the week last week. He hit safely in five of six games with multiple hits in five games and three home runs. Machado also tossed in two stolen bases with a near 20% walk rate. Machado is hitting with power, showing patience at the plate, and stealing bases. This feels like the Machado of old that was an MVP candidate.
Machado is now hitting .381 with seven home runs and six stolen bases. In addition, he is striking out less than 17% of the time while barreling the ball nearly 9% with a 52% hard-hit rate. Sure, Machado has a .424 BABIP, and the batting average is not fully sustainable, but a great season is still in play. I would not be shocked if Machado still hits around .300 with close to 30 home runs and swiped 15+ bases. He plays at a bad third base position and should be a buy now if he’s somehow available in your leagues.
Acuna returned a bit earlier than expected and has not skipped a beat. Acuna hit safely in all six games this past week with two home runs and two stolen bases. He barreled the ball 43% of the time with a 57% hard-hit rate. Acuna is free-swinging, and when making contact, he’s crushing. I saw free-swinging since he struck out 33.3% of the time with a low 73.9% contact rate and 11.9% SwStr. The plate discipline needs some help, but the rest of Acuna’s game seems like a full go. He now has two home runs on the season with four stolen bases. If anyone in your league is still nervous about Acuna’s health, then trade them for him now.
Mullins got off to a languid start to the season. A start had some saying, “See, there’s no way Mullins was worth such a high draft pick after one good season.” However, Mullins is streaking again, and things are almost back to normal. Over the past week, Mullins hit safely in all six games with five extra-base hits, including two home runs. Mullins had a .333 ISO with a 1.024 OPS, which was helped by a 13.6% barrel rate and 63.6% hard-hit rate. Mullins is now hitting .239 on the season with four home runs and four stolen bases, and over the last month, he has been hitting .272. Mullins will be just fine, and if you can buy now before the weather heats up and he starts hitting, I’d advise doing just that.
Cease continued an impressive start to the season with a strong two-step at BOS and vs. LAA last week. He combined for 12 innings pitched while allowing one run and striking out 19. Cease racked up a 35.6% K-BB with a 12.9% SwStr. Cease has been dealing this year and has now allowed only nine runs over 34 innings. Cease has struck out 47 to go with an elite 24.8% K-BB and 14.6% SwStr. The gains we saw from Cease last season have continued, and he is showing fantasy ace goodness. He is a must-have the rest of the season.
My man JoMo has been excellent this season. This past week he made two starts (TEX, @ TOR) and was fantastic. Montgomery allowed two runs in each start, throwing at least five innings and striking out five. He did not allow a walk which was great and gave him a 23.8% K-BB and an incredible 18.4% SwStr. Montgomery is getting the job done with an excellent changeup/curveball combination, and things should not change going forward. There’s a good chance you can swing a deal for JoMo on the cheap, and I would do that before you finish this article.
Sell Low
Seager’s slow start to the season hit a massive roadblock this past week. Seager had one hit over five games with a 23.8% strikeout rate and -35 wRC+. Seager had zero barrels with a 73.3% contact rate and 15% SwStr. Seager struggled tremendously, which has been a trend this season. He is only hitting .231 with four home runs and a 92 wRC+. His contact rates are down for the season, and his SwStr is still a bad 13.9%. Seager will play his home games in a pitcher-friendly ballpark, and I do not see a great season coming ahead. Sell now!!!!!
Chris Taylor (2B, SS, 3B, OF – LAD)
Taylor’s 2022 struggles continued this past week with three hits over last week’s six games. He racked up those three hits with a .429 extremely high BABIP. So what gives? Taylor struck out 59.1% of the time!!!!! Additionally, Taylor had a 55% contact rate and a 25.2% SwStr. That is beyond horrible contact skills. Taylor is striking out 38.8% of the time on the season with a 58.9% contact rate and 19.9% SwStr. These are massive drops from his previous seasons and do not bode well for anything positive coming to the rest of the season.
Gurriel just can’t get it going this season. This week, he hit .143 with a .176 BABIP,095 ISO, and 54 wRC+. Gurriel had a 5.9% barrel rate and a 35.3% hard-hit rate. Sadly, this past week is in line with Gurriel’s season struggles as he is now hitting .196 with a .237 BABIP, .120 ISO, and 65 wRC+. Additionally, his contact skills worsen as he is only barreling the ball 1.3% of the time to go with a 32.9% hard-hit rate. The 37-year-old Gurriel may finally be hitting the age wall or playing through an injury. Either way, he should not be on your rosters, so find someone in your league that still believes in him.
Hendricks is heading into his two-start week in quite the funk (he pitched great on Monday night). Over his last five starts, he allowed four or more runs in three starts. Hendricks allowed six home runs to go with only 16 strikeouts. He had a 6.4% K-BB with a 4.84 SIERA. Hendricks will throw in a good start from time to time, but he is not the Hendricks of all. He is allowing too many barrels, and that’s a problem with the lack of strikeouts. I’d sell him after Monday’s gem if someone in your league still believes.
Yarbrough returned last week and had a two-step out the gates, which got many fantasy players excited about rostering and starting the Rays’ lefty. He started the week on a sour note, allowing five runs in 2.1 innings but did finish with five shutout innings at Seattle. It was a mixed bag from Yarbrough, but in the end, he allowed five runs over 7.1 innings while striking out six and walking four. He allowed a 90% Z-contact and only collected a 7.3% SwStr. Sure, it was only two starts. His first two starts since coming off the IL, but I do not love what I saw, and you should not.
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