Tampa Bay Rays outfielder slash hearth throb slash not-the-brother of Brandon slash master platoon extraordinaire Josh Lowe continued his hot hitting with his fourth and fifth home runs Friday night off Luis Ortiz going 3-for-5 with four RBI and leading the Rays to their third win in a row. The first tank went over 400 feet and left the bat at 105 mph. Smoked it, yessir! Is that a hawk tua? Did I use that right? The second was another 400 foot oppo field-o shot-o that stretched the Rays lead even further. Yes, thank you, and more please. OK, that one was def a hawk tua. JLo is now batting .318 with three home runs, five runs scored, eight RBI and a steal over the past week. That line is a million times better than Atlas. Even Ben Affleck is impressed. Josh was a trendy pick for a big breakout this year after slashing .292/.335/.500 in 2023 with 20 homers, 83 RBI and 32 steals. I like all of the numbers in that last sentence. No wonder he was so popular, so what happened? A oblique injury (it’s unclear) kept him on the shelf for all of April and he reinjured it at the end of May, but since then he’s showing all signs that the injury is in the past and he’s really starting to hit his stride over the past few days. Not his brother, Brandon Lowe has also seems to have found himself lately with two homers in the past week. Both were BUYs and it seems like the Rays highs tend to come and go with their Lowes. If either have found themselves on your waiver wire now could be the time to snatch ’em up. That’s Lowe hanging fruit! Josh has a 16.4% barrel rate which would be tops in the league if he qualified (he doesn’t), but still fun to point out! That means he’s making great, hard contact and the homers could surely follow. That’s the Lowe down, time to take the Lowe road and buy Josh wherever you need outfield help. JLo’s a Lowe key masher and that love like that don’t cost a thing!
Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:
Shota Imanaga – 3.0 IP, 11 hits, 10 ER, BB, 3 K, 2nd L. Well, that ruined my weekend. I guess he ran into the buzz saw that is Mr. Grimace’s Mets. With his velocity down a tick, that mid-90s fastball he can place wherever he wants turns into a low-90s fastball he can place wherever he wants, and seems opposing hitter can place it wherever they want as well. His ERA jumps more than a run from 1.89 to 2.96 with the start. He’s been mostly on but when he’s off, hoo boy, watch out! 17 earned runs in his two worst starts this year, eight runs allowed in the other 12.
Jose Quintana – 6.1 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, BB, 8 K, 3rd win. Back to back wins for JQ and he’s got three quality starts in his past five! Pick him up if you hate yourself.
J.D. Martinez – 2-for-4, HR (9), 4 RBI. Hitting .400 with three homers in the past week. Just Dong because Grimace doesn’t tolerate losing.
Francisco Alvarez – 1-for-3, HR (2). Hitting .450 in the past week with a cute little five game hitting streak. Mashed this one to center, too. Call that the Grimace shake! Anyone sick of the Grimace stuff yet? Me neither. If anything, the world needs MORE Grimace in our daily lives, not less.
Ryan Pepiot – 3.1 IP, 3 hits, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K. I am so over you I am about to add Aaron Civale.
Trea Turner – 2-for-4, HR (3), 3 RBI. Speaking of Grimace shakes, Treat Urner gets a cookie putting this baseball through the blender! His hardest hit ball of the year and first dinger since April 17th! Welcome back, old friend.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. – 2-for-4, HR (10). Left this one with an elbow boo-boo (that was the medical term from the trainer), but did not require x-ray so I assume all’s well? I’m not a doctor. At least I hope all’s well because he’s in the midst nice little streak.
Joc Pederson – 2-for-4, HR (10). BUY. Hitting .429 in the past week including this tank! OK now I’m sure he put the hawk tuah on this one! Joc just seems like a hawk tua kind of guy!
Jordan Montgomery – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, BB, 5 K, 6th win, ERA at 5.71. Notched his third win in a row as he’s still building up that pitch count. The “missed spring training” excuse is only going to work for so much longer, JoMo. But he seems to look a lot better than he did last month.
Jack Flaherty – 5.2 IP, 5 hits, ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 5th win. That’s four in a row for Jackie boy, and yes I’m as surprised as you the Tigers have won that many games this month. Flaherty is rocking some elite ratios, 2.92 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, not to mention a 108/13 K/BB. Mhmm, yes please. Real pretty numbers on a real ugly team, one would think he’s a prime trade candidate and his fantasy value could only get better wherever he ends up.
Erick Fedde – 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, BB, 3 K, 2nd L. Three quality starts in the row! He about to get Fedde Wap’d?
Tommy Pham – 2-for-4, HR, (4), SB (4), slashing 282/.353/.410. The slam & legs in Chicago is served with neon relish and no one ever questions how it got to be that color, but wait–this game was in Detroit! I guess that means they put the pizza sauce on top of the cheese? Sounds like someone forgot a step early on and is trying to play it off like they didn’t. Pham could be a popular trade target if he wasn’t such a toxic presence, but hey, it worked for Kyrie! Sort of.
Chris Sale – 5.0 IP, 1 hit, ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 10th win. Sale absolutely dominated the Yankees Friday night, making Soto and Judge look bad, just look at the slider to outside corner! That sure was purdy. Now that’s a pitch. Also primo cheesemo heremo. Yes. How can you not get romantic about baseball watching Yankees strike out so hard. His fastball hit 98, which is the fastest he’s thrown a pitch in over a year and he’s carrying the Braves staff right now along with Lopez. How’s Vaughn Grissom doing?
Carlos Rodon – 3.2 IP, 11 hits, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Between watching Sale make Yankees look foolish, I managed to see some highlights of Rodon looking, well, sweaty, mostly. He looked more uncomfortable than watching the Boys with your parents. He’s now given up 12 runs in his past two starts and the Yankees are reeling, ya’ll! Thankfully a start with the Blue Jays is on tap and they look even worse.
Austin Riley – 2-for-3, HR (7), 2 RBI. Matt Olson (12) and Ozzie Albies (6) also homered. Watch it fly! Batting .500 in the past week with three bombs raising his OPS almost 150 points in that stretch! One of the hottest potatoes in all of potato land. Not even that window A/C unit could keep this buy low window from slamming shut.
Jarred Kelenic – 2-for-5, run, RBI. BUY. Kelenic is hitting .321 with two homers and a steal in the past week and is leading off for a potent offense. JK is still available everywhere and shouldn’t be for much longer, I’m not even just kidding!
Andrew Abbott – 5.2 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, BB, 10 K, 6th win, ERA at 3.40. The 10 Ks tied a career high. He’s a fly ball pitcher in a tiny ballpark and his peripherals along with the 60/25 K/BB are underwhelming but he’s getting it done and gets a Pirates next week. I’m considering the prospect of maybe thinking about mulling over the possibility of contemplating whether or not I should review the option of potentially picking him up. I still don’t know for sure though!
Kutter Crawford – 6.1 IP, 5 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 7th L, 3 HR. Kutter gives up more homers than the robots at the batting cages, but he almost always goes his six innings. He is a reliably scary starter. He gets another easy match up next week with Toronto but I also thought Cincinnati was an easy match up so start at your own risk.
Jeimer Candelario – 2-for-4, 2 HR (14). The Candelario is liiit! Jeimer attended the Kyle Schwarber school of June Buggin’ and is now slashing .347/.351/.736 in June with 8 homers, 17 RBI and 3 steals. I told you to grab him last week. Hey! That was pretty okay advice I gave that one time.
Jarren Duran – 2-for-4, HR (7). I don’t need to sell JD to you, Triston Casas has already done that. Someone needs to get this guy a show. He’s got a charisma for days!
George Kirby – 7.0 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 5 K. Take me to dreamland, Kirby!
Carlos Carrasco – 6.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, 7 K, 3rd win, ERA at 5.40. 2017 called, they want their starter back. They also said you may have left your fidget spinner at the bar, thought Wonder Woman was great, and recommend you invest heavily in crypto.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 2-for-4, HR (8). Talk about due! His first bomb since June 6th. His eight home runs is good for third on the team, and also good for keeping you out of the fantasy playoffs.
Nathan Eovaldi – 6.0 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, BB, 6 K, 4th win, ERA at 3.14. The ratios are nice, as is the 70/25 K/BB, and he’s got two quality starts in his past three. He gets the Brewers or Orioles next week, the latter of which would probably keep him on my bench.
Wyatt Langford – 2-for-4, 2 RBI. Hitting .333 over the past two weeks with six steals. He’s been actually valuable over those weeks even if all that values comes from the speed. He also has 11 RBIs (ELEVEN) in that stretch. Dare I say he’s a buy low, or am I blinded by the rookie shine?
Grayson Rodriguez – 6.0 IP, 9 hits, 7 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 3rd L. GrayRod always goes hard, and that goes for his losses as well. I’ll take the 8 Ks though! Outside of two starts where he’s given up 14 ER, Grayson’s been the Ace I’ve always dreamed he would be. He also has 15 Ks in the those starts. Yes, he still loves me.
Gunnar Henderson – 3-for-5, 2 HR (24), 3 RBI, SV (13). Golfer’s would call this a chip shot. I call it GONE! I am sending Gunnar a personal referral to my chiropractor during the All Star break because of how hard he is carrying my team. Back hurts. Team. So. Heavy. He leads all players in WAR, and it’s not that close. He’s just four away from tying his homer total from last year, but I’m thinking bigger. You know what’s cooler than 28 home runs? 48 home runs! Make it happen, Gunnar! My whole team is counting on you.
Adley Rutschman – 5-for-5, 2 runs. Following a mini-slump where he went 1-for-17, Adley busted out of it in a big way and has got his average back up above .305. Sketch would say special players make special plays! So keep being special, AR!
Anthony Santander – 3-for-5, HR (20), 3 RBI. O’s scored 11 runs on 18 hits in what I can only assume was a grudge match for what team wears orange the best. Where my Marlins at!?
Joey Loperfido – 3-for-4, run, 2 RBI. The Astros scored 14 runs on 14 hits in an all out barn burner. Slug fest? Doesn’t matter. I figured Joey F. would be called up last week when Jose Abreu was cut and here he is! He might be in a platoon to start but as long as he’s slashing .372/.413/.512 that shouldn’t last long. He was a BUY, he’s the ‘Stros top prospect and he could be the spark they need to get back in this thing. Same goes for your fantasy team. Add him everywhere!
CJ Abrams – 3-for-5, 2 runs, RBI, SB (11). I need so many more steals from you CJ for me not to get egg on my face when I’m fixing my morning victory omelet with Corange Juice.
Lane Thomas – 3-for-6, 2 runs, 4 RBI. Nats scored 11 runs on 19 hits. Everyone was hitting baseballs last night around the league and seems like it was a very bad Friday to be a starting pitcher. Heat waves been fakin’ them out maybe? Also, can we stop with the heat please? Earth? I’m over it.
Luis Garcia Jr. 2-for-5, HR (6), SB (10). The slam & legs in Colorado is served on the coldest mountain possible, in a glass so cold you can’t hold it for more than a few seconds without permanent nerve damage. That’s rocky mountain cold, folks!
Nolan Jones – 2-for-4, HR (2). NoJo, I’m so glad you decided to play baseball again. I don’t want to tell you what kind of draft capital I’ve invested in you so I’m just going to stroke your ego since the cussing hasn’t worked. Since returning from the IL he’s actually been amazing when he’s not hurting himself again. He’s batting .438 since his return, I’d tell you to buy low but he could be one swing away from another IL trip, so I’ll just say nothing.
Tyler Soderstrom – 2-for-2, run, 3 RBI. BUY. Four homers in the past two weeks hitting over .300. Commenter last week said he’s the new David Fry and that seems about right. Nothing not to like about a fantasy catcher who’s not actually a catcher. It’s like you’re tricking the system!
Shea Langeliers – 2-for-4, HR (14), 3 RBI. Go-ahead 2-run home run. Not going to make a Sia joke, not gonna make a Sia joke, just going to make extra sure I spelled his name right this time.
Dylan Cease – 4.2 IP, 5 hits, 4 ER, 2 BB, 10 K. Makes you wonder why a team even trades for a top starter when they can just draft one in the 10th round or later or better yet just stream them off waivers! Wait, the Padres aren’t in my fantasy league are they.
Luis Arraez – 1-for-5, HR (2), 2 RBI. OK, now this was one of the best trade acquisitions I’ve seen in some time. He’s hitting .324 since the trade. That’s value you can reach out and touch! Caress even! Pet your precious value.
Jake Cronenworth – 5-for-5, 4 runs, HR (12), 2 RBI. Manny Machado was 4-for-5, 2 runs, RBI. For what it’s Cronenworth, everyone was hitting baseballs last night all over the country and the P-Dres were no exception. That’s back to back homers for JC, which means he’s primed for a 1-for-20 stretch any day now.
Jackson Merrill – 2-for-5, RBI. I almost wrote my lede about him last week and I’m sorry I missed Jackson because he’s hit two bombs since then! With Shota ruining entire weekends, Jackson is making his way into ROY conversations. Yeah, you should probably add him!
Landon Knack – 5.0 IP, 2 hits, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. Landon’s got a knack for limiting damage, throwing for soft contact and getting dem outs. Where do the Dodgers get all these guys? He’s absolutely worth a look if he gets another chance to start, he’s on the Dodgers for JC’s sake! They have that one guy!
Shohei Ohtani – 2-for-2, HR (22). Yup. This guy. Lol, how could I forget his name? It’s tattooed across my forearm.
Chris Paddack – 4.2 IP, 5 hits, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K. If you can’t trust him versus the A’s when can you trust him? The answer is you can’t!
Willi Castro – 2-for-5, HR (6), 3 RBI. Hitting .417 in the past week. You can pick him up, but he’s going to stop hitting as soon as you do.
Royce Lewis – 1-for-4, HR (10). That’s 10 homers in 16 games! Sweet sassy molassy! Watch it! Tank! Did you watch!? How even! That’s 27 homers in 86 games for his young career. He’s got more games with homers this year than without. It’s more unusual if he doesn’t homer in a game. That’s a 90+ home run pace. He is almost top five in history for most homers through 86 games, and is already top three in at bats per home run! In ever! Like the list is Ruth and McGwire, and freakin’ Royce Lewis! Let’s not forget he is grand slam god as well. He’s basically one of the best players in the league but no one knows who he is because he’s always hurt. I don’t know how you buy this guy who might go on the IL tomorrow cause he doesn’t do that whole “slump” thing, but if he can ever stay healthy the Twins are a wagon, ya’ll. For me, I’ll just enjoy every day with a Royce Lewis home run cause that’s a good day in my book!
Thanks for reading! Questions? Problems? Complaints to management? Advice, small gifts or large bribes? Please leave it in the comments below. Join us next Saturday for another Friday recap as fantasy baseball continues next week, all week long!
