RADIO
With week 3 coming to a close, let's recap some players whose stocks might be rising or falling. Now that we're almost through April, we're developing a decent sample size so we can start to see who might be for real and who we should cut.
Stats current as of 9am, 4/24/2015
MLB & Fantasy Baseball Week 2 Player Recap
Billy Butler (1B/DH, OAK)
Between Billy Beane believing in Billy Butler’s bat this offseason and Billy Butler obliterating baseballs, we have a fantasy resurgence on our hands. Alliteration aside, Butler has three home runs with a .992 OPS in the early going. He’s been the beneficiary of some luck, but watch Butler closely going forward as he looks a lot more like the 2012 version than the 2014.
Chase Utley (2B, PHI)
Utley has six hits on the season, two of which of home runs. If you’re Utley, how do you even stay motivated to play? He’s seen the highest of highs, and now he’s forced to play for anemic offense. So I don’t blame him for batting .120, but don’t feel bad enough for him to roster him.
Mike Fiers (SP, MIL)
If you have the roster space, hold onto Fiers for now. His 16 strikeouts in less than 15 innings don’t make up for his 6.75 ERA, but he has talent. I’m hoping that when Milwaukee realizes it’s not spring training anymore, Fiers will rebound as well. Cut him if he has two more bad starts.
Adrian Gonzalez (1B, LAD)
Gonzalez hit his sixth home run in 15 games on Thursday. Expect some regression in the next few months as he’s never maintained a HR/FB rate (26.1%) this high before. The home runs seem to be a bit of an anomaly; he has a 17.4% IFFB and a 26.1% HR/FB rate, meaning that half the time he hits a fly ball there’s either the greatest possible result or the worst. It’s certainly strange to see; consider selling high, or be content with Gonzalez hitting .285 and approaching 30 HR at season’s end.
David Phelps (SP, PHI)
Phelps pitched seven scoreless innings on Thursday against the Triple-A Philadelphia Phillies. Oh I’m sorry, it was actually their major league club. As if the lineup wasn’t pedestrian enough, both Ryan Howard and Chase Utley were off. Don’t expect continued success from Phelps, even if he made you some money in DraftKings with that start!
Manny Machado (3B, BAL)
Two home runs on Thursday after he started off slow, but he’s only 22 and has a ton of potential. There’s a lot to like here; don’t drop him.
Jason Kipnis (2B, CLE)
Kipnis was on my list of players that would rebound in 2015. So far the prediction has been catastrophic, to put it lightly. Kipnis is sporting a .224 average and .501 OPS through Thursday. There’s some things that I like about Kipnis (unlucky BABIP, strong LD%), but his walk rate plummeted from 11.6% to 9.0% to 3.2% from 2013-2015. That’s not a good trend. Monitor it going forward, but don’t cut bait with Kipnis yet.
Alex Guerrero (2B/OF, LAD)
In limited playing time, Alex Guerrero has shown that he deserves to be seeing everyday reps. But is it sustainable? It’s way too early to tell through 20 plate appearances, but I would speculatively add him in all but the shallowest leagues just to see what comes of this. As long as you don’t expect four home runs every 20 plate appearances, he’s worth a flier.
Andrew Miller (RP, NYY)
Dellin Betances owners continued to weep on Thursday as Andrew Miller notched another save for the Yankees last night, pitching the final inning while tallying two strikeouts. With each passing day, it seems as though Miller is solidifying himself more and more as the go-to closer. If Miller keeps getting the opportunities, he’ll be a top tier closer for 2015.
Eric Hosmer (1B, KC)
The entire Royals offense is on fire, including Eric Hosmer. The power isn’t there, but the average is. He doesn’t look to be slowing down.
Devon Travis (2B, TOR)
Travis is putting together a solid first 15 games of his season for his new team. Last week, Travis was moved from the ninth slot to batting first or second. That’s an enormously valuable move for him, as now he has Bautista, Donaldson, and Encarnacion to hit him in. Take a flier on Travis if you need MI help.
Mookie Betts (OF, BOS)
Betts, or the Second Coming of Jesus as he is known in Boston, has had quite the mixed bag to start 2015. His average is below the Mendoza line, but he’s managing two home runs, nine RBI, and five stolen bases. To boot, he’s done just about everything on the field right, consistently making heads up plays to help the Sox.
From what I’ve seen so far, we need to temper expectations on Mookie. He’s shown little patience at the plate, but his counting stats are masking his poor batting average. As long as he stays at the top of the Sox lineup, his floor is high, but his ceiling has clearly come down a bit from offseason speculation.
Wil Myers (OF, SD)
Potentially sound the alarms on Wil Myers. Batting .292 with a .778 OPS through Thursday, Myers is benefiting from a .333 BABIP despite a paltry 12.1% LD rate. He just finished a strong series at Coors Field, tallying five runs and four RBIs in the four game series, but my concern is what happens playing in San Diego every day when the rest of the offense starts to cool off. Myers is making much better contact and striking out less, but his current pace of RBI/runs is unsustainable.
David Ortiz (DH, BOS)
Has 2015 marked the end of David Ortiz? Never. Papi is a streaky hitter, especially in April. He’ll turn it around by the end of May.
Do you have a player you want me to cover? Shoot a message on Twitter to @Silent_Investor
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