With the season just beginning it is important to look at some important storylines and aspects this week to be ahead of the curve and gain an edge on your league mates.
20 Things to Watch: Fantasy Basball
Here are 20 things to keep an eye on this week.
Week 2 Schedule Notes
No teams have only five games this week.
The following teams have seven games weeks:
- Tampa Bay Rays (vs TOR, vs LAD)
- Toronto Blue Jays (at TB, at MIN)
- Chicago White Sox (at CLE, at DET)
- Detroit Tigers (at KC, vs CHW)
- Oakland A’s (at SEA, vs HOU)
- Seattle Mariners (vs OAK, vs PIT)
- Atlanta Braves (vs LAD, vs PHI)
- Miami Marlins (at COL, at LAA)
- Philadelphia Phillies (vs ARI, at ATL)
- Cincinnati Reds (vs STL, at CHC)
- Milwaukee Brewers (vs HOU, vs SF)
- St. Louis Cardinals (at CIN, at CLE)
- Colorado Rockies (vs MIA, vs NYM)
- San Francisco Giants (at MIN, at MIL)
Fantasy Baseball Players to Watch
Brandon Williamson made his Major League debut, throwing an impressive 5.2 innings in Colorado, allowing one run on two hits and two walks while striking out six in a no-decision against the Rockies. Williamson is a former top prospect that has struggled and was traded because he has the propensity to lose his command and control. While this was a very encouraging outing, there is a lot of risk to him especially in the homer friendly confines of Great American Ballpark.
- Give Me Liberatore Or Give Me Death
Matthew Liberatore made his season debut in the Majors with a great start, throwing five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and three walks in the victory over the Brewers. Liberatore is a former top pitching prospect that has struggled in the minors and brief cup of coffee in the Majors, but added velocity this season and his stuff has come up along with it. He is now in the rotation moving forward according to manager Oliver Marmol and will be a top priority pickup this weekend.
- Die Hard With a Vengeance
Matt McClain made his Major League debut this week for the Reds, replacing TJ Friedl who went on the IL. McLain is a really interesting prospect for the Reds who hit .348/.474/.710 with 12 home runs and stole 10 bases in AAA before being called up. He doesn’t profile as a hitter with a huge carrying tool, but is more of a really good overall player. However, in order for that to be profitable in fantasy, he needs to play regularly. He played three of his first four games in the Majors, sitting against the lefty on Wednesday. The Reds face three lefties to start the week, so we will get a real look into whether or not he is a full time player or a strong side platoon bat.
Jared Walsh is returning from the IL and figures to be a big part of the Angels lineup. The slugger has been dealing with a number of injuries the last couple of seasons, but when healthy he can be a 30 homer bat in the middle of a really good lineup. The question is how much playing time will he get? The Angels are a bit more stacked than they have been and Walsh has struggled mightily versus left handed pitching throughout his career. The Angels face two lefties this week, so it is a good insight to his role moving forward.
Stone is coming up from the minors after Dustin May hit the IL with a forearm strain. Stone is one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, but struggled in his first taste of the Major Leagues. He has been up and down in the minors, but the main issue has been the walk rate. If he can keep men off base, he has the talent and team around him to be a very effective pitcher for fantasy.
Mark Vientos made his Major League debut last week, going 1-for-4 with a home run against the Tampa Bay Rays. Vientos is a former top prospect that lost some of his hype because of high strikeout rates in the minors. This year in AAA he has been better, hitting .333/.416/.688 with 13 home runs and a 20.5% strikeout rate. The Mets are in need of pop and if he can make enough contact, he could be an every day player for New York.
Liam Hendriks is expected to return from the IL after five innings of rehab work. Hendriks has recovered from cancer and should be able to step into high leverage work very quickly if not right back into the closer role for the White Sox.
After a slow start to his Blue Jays career, Brandon Belt has gotten extremely hot in the month of May, hitting .378/.477/.568 with a home run. He is walking at a 13.6% rate and barreling the ball at an 18% rate. He is widely available in a lot of leagues and it may be time to grab him especially in daily moves leagues.
Bradley is finally back with the big league club after being demoted to get used to pitching every five days. Bradley struggled in the minors, but has been very good in the Majors in his limited opportunities. He has a pretty tough two start week this week that I would probably avoid, but it will give us a chance to see how valuable he will be rest of the way since he is likely locked into a rotation spot after the Rays lost both Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen for the season.
Kyle Finnegan has been up and down in the closer role for the Nationals. Most recently, Hunter Harvey was given a chance to close out a win for the Nats, but ultimately blew it while Finnegan pitched a scoreless eighth. I think this situation should be monitored as Harvey has really good stuff and could be a high upside play if he can steal this role.
Miguel Castro registered his third save of the year, on Wednesday putting some doubt in the narrative that Andrew Chafin is the man in the ninth for the Diamondbacks. Chafin had pitched on back-to-back nights previously, so it may have just been a usage thing, but this is Castro’s second save in a week and he could take the larger part of a platoon moving forward.
13-15. Steaming Options
Michael Kopech at CLE
Kopech has been awful this season, but he has been much better recently. He does struggle with control and command, but this is a really nice matchup against a Cleveland team that is the second worst in baseball versus right-handed pitching.
Jack Flaherty at CLE
Flaherty has struggled much of the season, but he finally looks like the guy people thought would be a top 25 starter in fantasy. He has a great matchup versus a fantastic matchup versus the Guardians who have the worst wOBA in baseball versus righties.
JP Sears at SEA
Sears has been up and down this season, showing a lot of promise, but also getting destroyed in other starts. He has an underrated start against a Mariners team that has struggled against left handed pitching. There is risk here, but the Mainers have struck out a lot versus lefties and Sears has a lot of strike out upside.
16-20. Two Start Recommendations
Drew Smyly (vs NYM, vs CIN)
I don’t know how Smyly is still available considering how well he has pitched this season, throwing 50.1 innings with a 2.86 ERA, a .93 WHIP, with 46 strikeouts. Smyly is rarely bad when he pitches, but he struggles to stay healthy. That is a problem for later and he should be started until he gets hurt in most formats.
Dane Dunning (at PIT, at BAL)
Dunning has quietly been really good, throwing 37.1 innings and a .88 WHIP this season. He doesn’t strike out many batters, but the ratios are great and there is a lot of runs support for wins in Texas.
Brady Singer (vs DET, vs WAS)
Singer has struggled this season, but has much better in his last couple of starts.. The Tigers are awful versus righties and the Nationals aren’t much better, so he is a pretty tempting two-step.
Mike Clevinger (at CLE, at DET)
Clevinger has been up and down this season, but he has pitched much better as of late. He has a great set of matchups with the two worst teams in baseball versus right handed pitching.
Kyle Bradish (at NYY, vs TEX)
Bradish has been up and down this season, but most recently he has been great throwing two straight outings with a total of 12.1 innings pitched with only one earned run allowed and 11 strikeouts. He has a tough set of matchups, but it is hard not to use him with how well he has pitched recently.
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