I had a splinter in my pinkie last week. That was somewhat debilitating. Every time I touched anything, a jolt of pain akin to a bolt of lightning assaulted my poor finger. Many tears were shed, most of them by people who have to listen to me on a daily basis. My entire life was ruined for 30 minutes until I could find a tweezer. Then I ignored the tweezer and it came out all by itself. So proud of my little splinter. I even named it Splintie.
If your hand hurts, it’s like impossible to think about anything else. Like carpal tunnel; it drives me nuts when that one finger falls asleep. Imagine, now, hitting with a broken finger at all, hitting a big league fastball? That’s been Freddie Freeman this year. And now it’s all better.
Hitters of the Week:
After a brief time out not for behavior but to rest a hairline fracture in his hand, Freddie Freeman exploded last week. 4 HR, 10 RBI, and a .400 average are the kinds of things head to head championships are made of. Congrats if you have Freddie who looks free to dominate from here on out. Freeman is the 1B hitter of the week.
This time of year, it’s really hard to make up significant ground in the rate categories. Average is one of those rate categories. But hot darn, Luis Arraez gave it the old college try last week. Playing every day, he hit .480 for those seven days. Of course, only 4 runs and 4 RBI resulted and there is zero power behind it (.560 slug, no HR), so there’s of course that. If you are in that battle for a few hundreths of a point, maybe Arraez can put you over. Just hope he doesn’t cost you anything in a tight category elsewhere. Tricky play, this guy.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. was hitting all the right notes for the Yankees in the past week. He definitely played up-tempo, or “allegro” as my piano teacher would have said at age 10. 5 steals in a week for a Yankees team that desperately needs athleticism. If he keeps hitting .476 for the next week, look for him to score many many runs. Extreme impact player.
Dud of the Week:
Max Muncy, you funky Muncy, where did your pop go? Zippo HR last week, only 2 in the past 30 days. He does have a .594 SLG. Maybe his doubles can leave the park. You need Muncy to knock some outta here. The walks are fine, I’m guessing he will be his normal self during the rest of the month.
What in tarnation is this, Rafael Devers? 1-17 last week, and didn’t even have the decency to make it a home run, score a run, or drive in someone with that one hit. He’s fine, of course, it’s just a week, but that really hurts if you’re counting on him to carry a team at the end.
Notes:
Kyle Manzardo is up and hitting .333. Of course, he’s 2-6 and not starting full-time. Get him in a dynasty since he had a .400 OBP in the minors, but ignore for now in yearly.
Speaking of dynasty, or this year even, Junior Caminero looks like the real deal. He’s hitting solid contact and has third base locked down. This is the way, Mandalorian.
Oakland A’s: Did you realize that the A’s are in the top ten in OPS in all of baseball? Of course not. They’re bad, but they do slug some dingers. Seth Brown has been part of that recently with his .640 SLG the past week. 2 HR help! He’s not playing full time on the season but he could be a sneaky pickup if you need a CI with some pop. He’s had some stretches before.
A couple weeks ago I told you not to take Eugenio Suarez because he’s not going to sustain a hot streak. This was not a recommendation to put on the fridge. He’s been great the past month and is up to 23 HR on the season. I still question the approach, and it could end yesterday. Suarez does not walk and is in the bottom fifth of the league in contact rate and K rate. I’ve been proven wrong so far, though; congrats if you ignored me or are one of the legions of readers who take what I say and do the opposite.
I’m not as bullish on Josh Jung the fantasy asset at the moment. Guy does not take a walk. Guys who do not take walks don’t sustain .320 batting averages like he had the past two weeks. For the last 30 days, he’s hitting .260 with an OBP of .267. That’s one walk. I’m thinking they stop throwing him strikes for a while. Count this year as a scratch, then re-evaluate after a healthy offseason. There’s a good player in there yet.
Isaac Paredes has the weirdest profile. He doesn’t make hard contact, but he pulls the ball almost exclusively. He doesn’t strike out much but doesn’t spray the ball around either. Paredes doesn’t seem like a true talent 30 HR 100 RBI guy. His last three months have been for batting average .213, .117, and .157. That’s three really bad months. He is taking walks and getting on base; it might be time to just expect a 20 HR hitter with a .230 average going forward. I think 2023 goes down as his career year.
Everyone say a prayer for Anthony Rendon. He’s playing baseball, poor guy.
Josh Bell emerged from a sorta cool down time to hit .400 again last week. No HR, though. You can move on as soon as something better comes along. Which could be right now.
If you need a deep league guy, Anthony Rizzo has started his first two games back. Realizing he’s hitting behind two hall of fame talents and a guy named Jazz, the RBI opportunities will be plentiful. You could do worse. If nothing else, he makes his first trip back to Wrigley since leaving in 2021; give your teams those good vibes.
Alright, thanks for reading, and good luck in your leagues! I’m in the top 2 in my home roto league and home H2H league, third in a keeper, and let’s just not talk about TGFBI, okay? I didn’t figure out the app until it was too late! You try being in a league with Grey Albright and Dalton Del Don!
