Fantasy Baseball Today - Eury Perez Dominance, Gavin Williams Promotion & Worry-O-Meter! (6/21 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

Eury Perez continues to dominate but is now the time to sell-high (1:25)? ... Reid Detmers just had one of his best starts of the season (10:05). ... Nathan Eovaldi's velocity was down quite a bit (14:35). ... The Guardians plan to promote pitching prospect Gavin Williams on Wednesday (18:11). ... We had a bunch of pitching duels on Tuesday (24:12). ... Kyle Bradish is doing interesting things (33:08). ... Just check to see if Nolan Jones is available (36:00). ... News (44:35): we have an update on Aaron Judge. ... Let's fire up the Worry-O-Meter for Tyler Glasnow, Justin Verlander and others (46:52). ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (53:53). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Bid on fun FBT experiences as part of the Fantasy Football Today Draft-A-Thon, supporting St. Jude. Here's a spot in one of our 2024 FBT listener leagues: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374754477549?hash=item57411b85ed:g:5p8AAOSwy8lkiJds Bid on a guest spot on Fantasy Baseball Today: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374754456105?hash=item57411b3229:g:P0MAAOSwA~JkiJg3 Bid on a 2024 pre-draft zoom call with Scott White: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374754554172?hash=item57411cb13c:g:b-IAAOSwNLNkiNXc Bid on a 2024 pre-draft zoom call with Chris Towers: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374754517228?hash=item57411c20ec:g:gpgAAOSwObJkgO26 Bid on a 2024 pre-draft zoom call with Frank Stampfl: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374754521463?hash=item57411c3177:g:IjMAAOSwOkNkgO14 Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hello, and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, June 21st. Frank Stample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

Today on the show, we have yet another prospect for my. motion and his name is not Christian and Carnacian Strand, a bunch of pitching duels, the Wariometer, and much more. Before we get started, please like this video and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, download, follow, and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We really do appreciate it.

Let's jump in. In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened. Well, let's start with Chris because you want to talk about a pitcher who it might be impossible for him to do what we want him to do this year. Well, is it improbable? Let's find out. Yes, I think to both. It's certainly impossible for Yuri Perez to live up to the highest of hopes the rest of the season. But, man, he's been just about as good as you could possibly have asked for so far.

a lot of really interesting rookie pitchers so far this season. And he might be the best of the bunch. He lowered his ERA to 1.549 strikeouts and six innings against the Blue Jays. And the good news in this start was, yes, he pitched six innings and we're always concerned about the innings limit. However, a thing that teams always talk about with these things is we don't just have an innings number, right? We don't just say, well, he's 50 innings above what he did last year. We got to stop pitching. it's stressful innings.

And Yuri Perez has not had a lot of stressful innings. He only threw 80 pitches in this one to get through six innings, nine strikeouts, career high. The youngest pitcher since Felix Hernandez in, I believe, 2007 to have nine strikeouts in a game, which is pretty impressive. Yeah, 19 swinging strikes, at least three with every pitch, three with the four seamer, seven with the slider. He threw, he had 10 swings on his changeup and curveball combined. 10 swings with those two pitches. Nine of them were swings and misses in this game.

It's just bonkers. That's a 90% wiff rate. Yeah, 90% whiff rate. That's pretty good. Between those two. Just absolutely bonkers what this guy is doing. All four of his pitches look legitimately like they are good to plus major league pitches. And the only concern.

and I've seen a lot of people talking about how hard they're having a hard time they're having selling Yuri Perez is everyone knows there's an innings limit here. The Marlins haven't said what it is, but everybody covering the team has talked about it. There was the thoughts that they were going to send him down recently to try to manage his innings. I don't know how a team that's 10 games up over 500 for the first time since 2009 can possibly send maybe their best pitcher, down at any point, but they're going to have to. I don't know if it's send him down. I don't know if it's a Phantom IL stint, but you start to crunch the numbers,

and we're really running up against it. He's up to 72 innings right now. His career high in a season is 78. Last year he threw 75. If you average five and a half innings per start and you bump him up to 122, that gets you like nine more stuff. That's really tough to make work.

Maybe, you know, you got the all-star break coming up. Maybe you make him, you get them two starts and then you shut them down for a couple of weeks, bring them back after the all-star break. Maybe you skip a start here or there. Maybe you push it a little bit to like 135 innings. I just went through the schedule. And if you do all of that, you skip a turn in the rotation, you put them on the eye out, the beginning of July, get them through the all-star break.

I can get him to about the middle of September, maybe the second week of September before you're like 60 innings up on his career high. It's just, it's real hard to make the math work on Yuri Perez moving forward. There's going to have to be a point where they shut him down. And it's unfortunate because he looks like a legitimate difference maker for fantasy moving forward. He looks like one of the better young pitchers in baseball. And I don't really think there's, if you. can find someone who overvalues him because they just for some reason aren't aware about the upcoming innings limit, maybe you sell him. I think Yuri Perez probably has more value to your team

just holding. Scott, do you feel the same way? Because I'm sure you guys have been receiving the same questions that Chris was just talking about. It's, you know, should be trying to sell Yuri Perez now in redraft leagues and fantasy because of this fear that he's going to be shut down at some point or just have his start skipped and his innings manipulated. Would you be trying to sell? Do you think it's possible to do? No, I don't think you'd get enough for him. I mean, this was his second six-inning start,

and something I harp on a lot is, no matter how good you are, inning for inning, it's hard to be particularly useful in fantasy if you're not able to go six with regularity. And so I just don't think he's, as impressive as some of the underlying numbers look as, you know, well as he's pitched, frankly, in the windows that he has pitched. I just don't think that impact in fantasy has been quite enough to create this fervor for his, for his services in fantasy.

And yeah, there probably is that lingering idea of an innings limit for Yuri Perez. that's probably it's probably overinflated I would say I feel like I feel like we worry about this every year and then the time comes

and it it ends up being not that big of a deal I'm not saying they won't skip Yuri Perez starts here and there maybe pull him early at times maybe he will be shut down the couple weeks before the all-star break and coming out of the all-star break

they will find ways around it, but, you know, I think people imagine a scenario where... Oh, uh-oh. Scott, your mic has gone out. Yeah, your mic just randomly, I don't know if you hit something or what it might be. You know what it reminds me a little bit of Chris with Yuri Perez is Steven Trosburgh early in his career, where he had, it was back in way back in... That was a...

Sorry, am I back? Yes. Go ahead, finish your thought. Sorry. I was just going to say on Steven Trosberg back in 2011, he threw 44 and a third combined innings. And then the following season, through 159 and a third, as the nationals were, you know, competing for wildcards, not a wildcard spot, but just a playoff spot. It just reminds me a little bit of that situation. And what I was saying when I had the technology

failure is we have, we don't, people, people fear that. People fear a team slamming on the brakes on a young pitcher like that. But we don't really see that anymore. Like I don't think there's going to come a day where, you know, except maybe very, very late in the year. late September where like Yuri Perez is just done pitching and you might as well drop him because he's not going to make another start like that's I think that's I think teams have moved away from that in part because that's such an infamous case Steven Strausberg you know we're we're going through this with with Spencer strider last year he was also he had 95 innings I think was his high in the minors he only through one minor league season and um he did have an IL stint as some point in the second half. So we don't know how it would have played out if he didn't. But there never came a point where the brave slammed on the brakes with him. Yeah.

And I think that's why like if that comes, it comes. You know, like if you have to, if you reach a point in September where Yuri Perez has been shut down, I think you just deal with it. I think you'd rather have him on your, like if you could turn him into Tyler Glass now right now, Okay, do that. That's fine. Other than that, like, I'm not going to try to move him for a non-difference maker just because I'm worried that he's going to be shut down because so many things can happen between now and then. You know, like, that's, it's the kind of thing where he might just get hurt, in which case,

it's a moot point either way, you know, and that's, that's the thing that he's a young pitcher. It happens. I'm not saying I, I certainly don't want. it to happen, but it's a young pitcher. So it's within the realm of possibility. And so it's a concern. It limits his upside. It limits his chances of reaching his full potential, which we are seeing is immense. And we might be talking about Yuri Perez as a top 25 starting pitcher in drafts next season. But right now, I think we all understand that there's a limit on how good he can be, but I think it might, there might be more of a limit in how he's perceived than

what you're actually going to get from him. And it might just be better to just hang on. All right, Scott, let's slide over to your player of the night from Tuesday. Okay, I'm going to go with Reed Detmer's, who had his best start of the season against the Dodgers. Pretty good offensive club. Reed Detmer's went seven innings, allowed two hits, no runs, walked one, struck out eight. It was his best. best start of the year in many respects. But what I'm going to focus on here is the fact he went seven innings. It was the first time he'd done that.

And it was only the third time he had gone even six in a start this year. And that's been one of the issues with Detmer's. So Debtmers has been, Debtmers, like we really emphasized the bat missing potential coming into the season, particularly once we saw his velocities were up in spring training. I mean, most of us liked him even before. then, but when the velocities were up too, it's like, holy moly, how many strikeouts is this guy going to get? And he has done a, he has lived up to our hopes in terms of missing bats, but that's really the only way he's lived up to it.

He's like a 13% swinging strike rate on the year or actually it may even be a little higher. But he's been so inefficient. I mentioned how early his hooks have been in games and also the walks have been consistently high for him that it just hasn't even mattered. Like he hasn't, all the whiffs in the world's not going to make up for that. He does seem to be trending a better direction here. So I mentioned this was his third start of the year of six plus innings.

That includes two in a row. He went six innings in his last. last start at the Rangers, another good offensive team. And, you know, so maybe, maybe he's starting to turn the corner, but even in that last start, the Rangers won.

He had three walks and six innings, you know. It's just, it's such a high walk rate that I, I remain concerned about Detmer's. I'm not suddenly like, this is it. This is the turnaround for him. I hope it is, but there are a lot of issues Detmer's has to overcome, I guess, is my point.

One thing I noticed with Detmer's in this start is that his slider velocity was down two miles per hour. But I wonder if that was, maybe that's something that helps him execute the pitch better. Maybe he's been like overthrowing the season and that's why it's been harder for him to throw strikes. I noticed it back in spring training, like, yeah, the velocity was up, but he was even walking a bunch of guys in spring training too.

So just wonder if that's something that maybe helped Detmer's in this out. He was getting more vertical break on the pitch than he had been this season. So lowering the velocity does seem to have just been, I can't say for sure that it was a conscious decision, but it sure seems like it was to generate more break. And that could be something that makes the pitch more effective one way or the other, whether it's harder for batters to square up. Maybe it gives him more swing and miss potential.

But, you know, It does seem like there was a decision made there. Okay. So with Reid Dettmers, he's 58% rostered. The early look at next week's schedule is he might be a two-star pitcher up against the White Sox and Diamondbacks. That's what it looks like. As of now, I guess they would have to have seven games

because the Angels have the six-man rotation. I mean, that's part of the issue too. And I'll note that Reed Dettmers is one in five on the year, in part because he is so infrequently pitching deep into games. And when you stack all that up, like he rarely makes two starts. He has trouble going deep into games that makes it difficult for him to get wins,

which is still generally the most valuable stat a pitcher can get. If he is in line for two starts, he'll be somebody to consider. But I think the potential of imparting your whip in roto leagues will make him less than automatic. I think that's going to depend on how they, like if they decide to skip someone in the rotation, then he could make two states.

starts next week, but right now it's, he's slated to pitch Tuesday, which would not make him a two-star pitcher. Okay. So they would have to skip Jaime Baria in the rotation, which is doable, but not necessarily something they do regularly. Mm-hmm. Well compared Detmer's to other waiver wire pitchers in just a little bit. Oh my goodness gracious for me is Nathan Avaldi. And on the surface, it was just kind of a blast art for Avaldi at the White Sox. innings, four runs, four strikeouts. He allowed two homers in that outing. He still had 11 swinging strikes on 92 pitches. But what stood out for me was the velocity down, big time, across the board. Fastball down 1.9 miles per hour. Splitter down 1.2 miles per hour. The cutter

down three miles per hour for Nathan Avaldi in this start. He averaged 93.8 miles per hour on his fastball. His previous season low in a start was 94.8. And he's been averaging 95.0. seven all season long. So just something that kind of sounds the alarms for me. And I had him as part of the Worryometer for later on. So I don't know. Let's just kind of fire it up right now. Scott Woreometer, 1 to 10 on Nathan Avaldi.

And this big decrease in velocity on Tuesday. Well, it is an isolated event here. So I don't want to overblow it. We've seen other pitchers have blips like this where the velocity is just randomly down one start. I haven't seen any explanations for what happened here. But what would elevate the concern in Avaldi's cases, he has an extensive injury history.

So I guess you add that all up, and it comes out to maybe a 3.5 on the Wariometer for me. Fair enough. Chris, not the same question, but would you, is this something that automatically, again, with Avaldi's injury history, you're like, let me just try and, you know, sell him for his top 25 SP value while I can. I think you should be thinking about doing that no matter what. And I think you should have been thinking about doing that, you know, as soon as he started looking like a top 20 starting pitcher because starting pitchers are volatile.

And Nathan of all these career has been very up and down. He's dealt with a lot of injuries. And so it's a classic sell high. That doesn't mean he won't be good moving forward. It doesn't even mean he won't be a sub three ERA moving forward. He clearly there, there appear to have been some. improvements that he's made that could make that viable. But just playing out the likelihood, it would make sense to try to trade him when his value is at the highest it's likely ever been as a starting pitcher in fantasy.

So even if he had average 95 with his fastball and had a good start today, I would be saying sell high. I would probably be saying sell high more if he had a good start today because it would be another opportunity to sell high. I'm not necessarily like, I can't predict injuries. I have no ability in my, no faith in my ability to do that. So I'm not going to try. I will say that he likely has more injury risk than most pitchers. And a big velocity jump or drop is it's a red flag. That's all.

All right. That is Nathan Avaldi. We'll get to a few other players on the Wuriometer a little bit later on. One other note here at the top, the Reds, 10 in a row. and I saw this interesting stat. They became the fourth team since 1900 to go on a 10-game winning streak one season after losing 100-plus games.

And there's actually been two teams that have done it two years in a row. It's the Reds this year and the Orioles last year. So, again, it's four teams since 1900, and it's now happening back-to-back year. So it's pretty crazy stuff. Have an elite shortstop prospect, and you will turn your season around.

Yeah, yeah. Or I guess Adley Ruchman definitely helped last year. here with that too. Let's quickly talk about, I guess not quickly. We'll give him his due. Gavin Williams, getting promoted by the Guardians on Wednesday. And it's just crazy. Another Welsh Wednesday, another big prospect debut. It's can't make the stuff up. I guess mark your calendars next week on the 28th. That's when Christian and Karnasian's trend will get called up. Why is this happening? Well, Trista McKenzie is shut down from throwing for, quote, several weeks due to a UCL sprain in his right elbow.

So they do need the help. Gavin Williams, a first round pick back in 2021. 12 starts this season between AA and AAA, a 239 ERA, a 0.98 whip, 81 strikeouts, over 80 and a third innings pitched, has struggled a little bit here in June. Scott talked to me about Gavin Williams, what to expect from him is he must add in fantasy,

and are we taking him over like Emmett Sheehan and A.J. Smith Shaw and guys like that. Hmm, that was a lot of questions thrown at me all the once. Let's see if I can remember them all. You're a professional, Scott. I have faith. I remember the last one first. So I'll answer that one.

Yes, I moved Gavin Williams ahead of Emmett Sheehan and A.J. Smith-Shawver. It was a pretty close call with Sheehan, who obviously had a great first start, no hit the Giants over six innings. But ultimately, Gavin Williams is the better prospect. does seem like he's going to have some runway here with Tristan McKenzie out for who knows how long. And I mean, I would call him the best pitching prospect remaining in the minors. I think he was once Yuri Perez got called up.

But then Grayson Rodriguez got sent down in the meantime. So I guess I would put Williams behind Grayson Rodriguez as far as pitching prospects go. But still, a really impressive pitcher, throws very hard, it gets a lot of strikeouts. The concern with, okay, how is he going to transition to the majors is that he was walking a lot of guys since moving up to AAA, his walk rate, which started out great. His three starts at double A who wasn't walking anybody. But 4.1 walks per nine in his nine starts at AAA. still had a 293 ERA, still had 11.9K per 9.

There's clearly a lot of upside here and pitching, the pitcher position being what it is, like everybody can use another pitcher, especially in sort of the sort of pitching-starved environment we're dealing with this year. But even in years where there's plenty of pitching, everybody could use another.

It's not like, it's not like, you know, oh, gosh, I can't roster a third shortstop. You could always use another starting pitcher. So when one gets called up who is this, has this kind of pedigree, this kind of upside, even if you do have some concerns in the short term, oh, is he going to walk too many guys? You know, just pick them up. Just pick them up and see what happens because, you know, I had reservations about Bobby Miller when he got called up. And obviously that's gone well.

I wrote a kind of deep dive on him when he got called up today or when they announced the call up today or when it was reported, however I want to phrase that. And the thing that I found really interesting was baseball prospectus had him ranked as their 26th prospect coming into the season. Fangraphs had him 81st overall. And I think the key, well, I think there's a key there. And it's just they disagree on his fastball

because that's going to be the main thing for him. I don't know if it's going to be Bryce Miller-esque, but he has thrown his four-seem fastball 62% of the time so far in AAA based on stack has data. And Fangraphs has it as a 60 grade on the 20 to 80 grading scale, which is a really good pitch. Baseball prospectus has it as a 70 grade pitch. And that's a kind of a difference.

And I think that's going to tell us what the floor is going to be. How good the fastball is, I think, is going to establish the floor. If it's a Bryce Miller-esque fastball, and there are a lot of similarities in terms of, you know, the way those two get talked about, you know, then I think that's going to be, He's going to be very good. However, he's given up a 92.6 mile per hour average exit velocity on the four-seem fastball at AAA,

which is pretty concerning. I mean, that's AAA hitters don't tend to hit the ball that hard and a 33% ground ball rate with the four-seem fastball. So there are going to be times, I think, when home runs are an issue for Gavin Williams, when the fastball isn't quite as effective. but both the curveball and slider have been really good. The slider has a 29% whiff rate. The curveball, let me see.

Curve ball whiff rates even higher than that. So a couple of good secondaries. So yeah, I think there's a lot to like. But there's some risk between, you know, a fly ball lean and some walk concerns. But yeah,

I'd rank him ahead of MS-Shehan, certainly ahead of AJ Smith-Shawver. and probably already in like the 70 range at starting pitcher is my guess. All right. Again, that is Guardians top pitching prospect, Gavin Williams, who will be promoted on Wednesday

to make his debut against the Oakland A's. He's 47% rostered. Go out and add him now if you need pitching. Let's take our first break, and when we return, we will talk about some pitching duels. We had a lot of them here on Tuesday night. We'll do that right after this.

Welcome back. And if you're, If you're interested in buying some fantasy baseball today, merch, you can do exactly that on the Paramount Shop, which offers a mountain of merch from the Paramount shows and movies that you love. Scan the QR code in the top right corner if you're watching on YouTube or head to paramountshop.com. Paramount Shop, where products are paramount. Let's get into you. I have four different pitching duels here from Tuesday night, and we'll bring back a soundbite that we used last year when we would talk about said pitching duels. It's time to do-do-do-do.

Chris, were you a Yu-Gi-O guy back in the day? I never watched Yu-Gi-I. I didn't really... I mean, Yu-Gi-O wasn't really like an anime, right? It wasn't that like an American show? Am I remembering that correctly? I may be remembering... You might be right about that.

But my anime interest really didn't extend much beyond Pokemon and Dragon Ball Zia. I was really pretty surface level on that one, so I never got into Yu-Gio. All right. Well, I was really big into it for, for like, the five people listening that also liked Yu-Gio. That was for you. Let's talk about these pitching duels. Spencer Strider at Ranger Suarez.

Strider. Up against the Phillies, six innings of one-run ball, nine strikeouts with 22 swinging strikes. Great bounce-back performance for Spencer Strider. He leads baseball with 136 strikeouts. Kevin Gosman is second with 121. So pretty healthy lead there for Strider. On the other side, Ranger Suarez,

who unfortunately, Scott, let me talk him out of as a streamer. yesterday. He was great. I think this guy is probably just legit. You're a lefty, you do it against the Braves, six innings, one run, seven strikeouts, 13 swinging strikes for Ranger Suarez. Five straight quality starts, two earned runs or fewer.

In each of those has really been helped out by this increased curveball usage this season. He's down to a 3.5 ERA. Lots of like there with Ranger Suarez, 73% rostered. It's got anything on Spencer Strider, And how about like Ranger Suarez versus Gavin Williams? Where would you be on a conversation like that?

I mean, I'd rather take Williams. I think there's some pretty clear limits to Ranger Suarez's upside. Part of what this pitch selection has done for him is reduced his ground ball rate. It's still a good ground ball rate, but not as extreme as it used to be. And, you know, I definitely think he's worth rostering, but if he becomes very average in short order, that wouldn't be at all shocking to me. I just, you know, there's only so much upside here with Ranger Swar.

Sorry, I do think that's the right range, though. You know, like I would take Gavin Williams ahead, but I think both belong in like the 60 to 70 range of starting pitcher. Okay. Another thing that Ranger Suarez has changed, you mentioned the curveball. Part of the reason the curveball has been so far. effective. This is according to Lance Brasdowski is the way he's using his sinker.

He had been predominantly going up and in with it earlier this year and last year, and now he's focused more going away with the sinker, which, you know, seems to have helped get some weak contact on it again. And yeah, he's looking pretty good right now. I would say if he's out there worth adding. I did have him as the number one sleeper pitcher this week. So maybe he already got added in your league. I don't know. But maybe not. Yeah, I mean, he's up there. 73% rostered.

So likely just available in shallower leagues for Rangers Suarez. How about Swares versus Reed Detmer, Scott? Who would you rather have there? I guess I'm going to say Swares for all the reasons. I mentioned with Reed Demers earlier. Just he hasn't been particularly. useful this year and unless we see a string of improved efficiency from him, I'm not sure that's going to change.

All right. The next pitching duel up was Clayton Kershaw at Reed Detmer's. We spoke about Detmer's extensively. Kershaw at the Angel's seven shutout innings with five strikeouts, 12 more swinging strikes. He's got a 272 ERA, a 1.10 whip, 103 strikeouts for 89 in the third innings for Kerchow this year. He's Kershaw.

I don't know if there's much else to add there. I want to talk a little bit about Usaic Kakuchi. He was up against Yuri Perez, who we also spoke about. Kukuchi, six shutout innings, two hits, zero walks, six strikeouts, only eight swinging strikes. And he's been using his curveball more recently. It was a 24% usage in this outing. And it has been a good pitch for Yusei Kikuchi so far this season.

He's allowed two earn runs or fewer in five straight, but he's only gone more than five innings pitched once. and that was here on Tuesday. Chris, I feel like whatever we bring up you say Kukuchi, you're obligated to talk about him. So here you go.

Yeah, I don't really have all that much. Like the only thing I guess is I'm, Yasei Kikuchi is always like, there's always different you say kakuchis. You know, he's a tinkerer.

And that's something that I appreciate about, appreciate about him. And maybe one day he will tinker himself into being a consistent pitcher rather than a guy who looks, who looks good occasionally and that gets blown up and wrecks your ratios when you actually trust him. Maybe the curveball's part of that and maybe the curveball will help him become that pitcher. I remain very skeptical.

All right. Yeah. Cacucci, 79% roster. It looks like he could be in line for two star six week. I assume that we're taking all of Suarez, Dettmers, and Gavin Williams ahead of Cacucci, correct? Yes. Yes. All right.

Next up, we have. Oh, and this one is much further down the totem pole. Daniel Lynch at Michael Lorenzen. Maybe this was just an inept hitters duel, but nonetheless, they both pitch well. Daniel Lynch at the Tiger's seven shutout innings with two strikeouts for him. He had 11 swinging strikes on 78 pitches.

And Michael Lorenzen, six innings of one-run ball, seven strikeouts with 13 swinging strikes. I don't know if there's much excitement about either one. It's got anything here on Daniel Lynch or Michael Lorenzen. Well, Daniel Lynch is, of course, our favorite Jim Halpert look-alike. And he has... Is that true? Is that true? Do you have a Jim Halpert look-alike you prefer?

Huh. All right, keep talking. I'm just going to look... There was that guy in the newsroom, different actor whose character's name was Jim Halpern, which really bothered me because he was just Jim Halpert. I don't know the newsroom. But, yeah, no, like... I have noticed that he's using a change-up a lot more this year

and it's been more effective. Last year, most of his wifts came on a slider, but his whiff rate on the change-up this year, which again, he's throwing more is 45%. It hasn't yielded great results, so I'm not even sure why I'm bringing it up. But you asked me to talk about Daniel Lynch, so what I have to say about him is he looks like Jim Halpert

and his change-up gets a lot of whiffs. Lorenzen, of course, has been more useful this year. He's coming off too bad, starts, but he was on a nice run before then. There's probably nothing here, but to see him get back on track so quickly, it keeps me curious. And I noticed a change Lorenzen made in this start is he threw his slider 23% of the time instead of the usual, oh, I'm sorry, the other way around.

He threw it 13% of the time instead of the usual 23% of the time. And that's a pitch, the slider for Lorenzen that gives up a lot more damage than his fastball and change-ups. So maybe simplifying going with more fastballs and change-ups can be a formula for success for Lorenzen, but I'm probably not acting on this start in the majority of leagues. Two corrections. Oh, no. One, Michael Lorenzen is 46% rostered in CBS Fantasy League.

That seems too high. I guess this was a good run there for a while. But that strikes me as too high. Starved environment. People picking him up. And then the corrections, the character's name was Jim Harper, not Jim Halpern.

I'm sorry, but still too similar to Jim Halpert for a character who was the exact same character. And Yu-Gi-o was a Japanese show. I apologize. I don't want to get roasted in the comments. Wow, you're bad at TV, Chris. I'm so sorry.

Really bad. I'm so sorry. Spreading misinformation. Hey, I watched a ton of it growing up and I couldn't even answer. I mean, I knew it was,

but there's some anime. Just thinking of Avatar. Avatar was an American anime-inspired show. That's right. That's why I was like a little confused because I know Avatar was like that and maybe Yu-Gi-o was the same. But alas, you're correct.

I don't know why we went down this rabbit hole, but here we are. Michael Lorenzen, last point on him, if the schedule remains, looks like he's in line for two stars next week at Texas and at Colorado. Yikes. A couple other waiver-wire pitchers

from Tuesday. Johan Oviedo, a quality start up against the Cubs, six innings of two-run ball with three strikeouts. there. Kyle Bradish picked up eight strikeouts over five innings pitched. He allowed two runs at Tampa Bay. He had 13 swinging strikes. And for a while now, I've been saying, just get rid of that fastball, man. It's, it's, it gets hit really hard. And Kyle Bradish listened. He leaned all the way into the slider. His velocity was up. Pretty interesting

start for him. Aaron Savali turns in his first quality start since returning from the IL up against Oakland, six and two thirds, two runs and six strikeouts. with 14 swinging strikes. Seth Lugo, a solid return from the IL at the Giants, five innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts there. Chris, we've got four names here, and you are going to rank them. Seth Lugo, Aaron Savali, Kyle Braddish,

and Johann Oviedo. I feel like Seth Lugo is just like mirror image, Braxton Garrett. You know, kind of all the things we've said about Braxton Garrett about how he's pretty good, but his upside is extremely limited. I think those two are very similar pitchers. But I would probably rank him ahead of Oviato.

I know Oviato's on a nice little run here again, but I think overall that the skill set is pretty lackluster. I guess I would go Savale over Bradish. I don't really have a strong opinion about either of them, but I think there's a little more with Savale than Bradish. Yeah. Don't have strong opinions about this group. You know the proper way to rank this group.

whoever has the best matchups this week. Yeah, that's, yeah. This is StreamCity right here. Yes. Yeah, that's fair. I think I would put Braddish at the top just because his slider and Kerbbolt are really good pitches. And I like that he just threw his slider a ton in this start. 48% of velocity was up to.

So pretty interested there in Kyle Bradish. But the rest are, again, like you said, streamer types. And I assume all of Gavin Williams, Reed Detmer's, Ranger Suarez, ahead of this group, right? Well, definitely Gavin Williams and Ranger Suarez. I just, I don't know what it's going to take. I mean, I guess Reed Desmer's goes out and does this again in his next start. Okay, I guess I'm ready to call him useful at that point,

but he's just been so useless this year. I don't. I think it's more likely I would put Kyle Braddish in my lineup in a given week than Reed Debtmers. Hey, it's got to start somewhere, Scott. And I think it starts right now. for Reid Detmer's. You see the upside clearly with Detmer's. I just, I'm not ready to say he's figured it all out after this start against the Dodgers.

All right. Well, now that we've talked about pitching for the first 35 minutes of the podcast, let's talk about a few hitters. And just check to see if he's available. Nolan Jones, another huge game on Tuesday, 4-4 with a sock and a shoe, his fifth homer, his fifth steal in 24 games. He had four hard hit balls in this game, two over 106. miles per hour, exit velocity.

He's batting 354. He's walking more. Still striking out quite a bit, 32% there. But he is up to 79% rostered. So this would have to probably be a 10-team league,

a shallow points league, regardless. A Yahoo. Yeah, he's 69% on Yahoo. I think that Nolan Jones should be 100% roster at this point. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I think if Nolan was, I think it's a very similar situation to Nolan Gorman. and not just because they're both named Nolan. Big power. I think there are real downside risks with the batting average in both cases. But with the way he's hitting and the fact that he has course field to his back,

yeah, I think Nolan Jones belongs on roster pretty much everywhere. I don't know. I get what you're saying with Nolan Gorman. But like if you had Nolan Gorman and somebody offered you Nolan Jones, there's no way you're taking that deal regardless of need. I don't think we can put them on equal footing in terms. No, no, no. I mean when Nolan Gorman broke out.

Okay. Like when he. Okay. So this is, Nolan Jones is where Nolan Gorman was on. Like on April 17th or something. Yeah. Yeah.

That's, all right. That makes more sense. The guy the Guardians got for Nolan Jones is playing pretty well at double A, which is really good for them because that looks real dumb for a team that's desperate for offense. Yeah. Yeah.

It's true. Yeah, it does. I do see, and part of the reason why I was dialing back the Nolan Gorman comparison there is because there is still a chance that the bottom falls out. Oh, yeah. Strikeout rate and Nolan Jones winds up back at AAA in two weeks. You know, that could happen. And in fact, I had been a little anxious because since we talked him up and got his roster rate up near 80%. he had basically done nothing until this game.

So, you know, Nolan Jones is still a thing, thankfully. But I will point out. He's not a sure thing. I will point out, Nolan, Nolan's been pretty bad for a while. Sure has. He's having a, his last month, his last 25 games, he's got a 4-11 OPS going back to May 22nd. It's pretty rough. But he hasn't lost his fantasy vows.

you. Has he? Some of us got yelled at. Some of us got yelled at on Twitter for never moving him inside of our top 150. And some of us feel pretty good about that. Hey, it's a long season, baby. Ride the waves. Right now, Nolan, you know, kind of crashing, coming back down to Earth.

Royce Lewis went three for four with his third home run. And he's so, he's batting 311. He's got an 808 OPS. He doesn't have any steals yet, which is a little disappointing. He's down to 63% rostered, Scott. Is that the correct move? Does Royce Lewis need to be universally rostered?

He didn't start the previous two games, which was kind of weird. How rostered? How rostered? 63%. Oh, that's not universally rostered, Frank. Come on. I'm saying, should he be?

Does that need to go off? Is that a problem? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. Scott's so feisty to that. Scott's been looking for reasons to yell at. Scott is not here for our beach.

Yes, today. No, he is not. The commenters were giving me crap about my energy levels, so I had to dial it up to 200. I've said many times my 200 is most people's 80, and so hopefully I'm at least at 80 now. I was probably at my own 125 earlier, which put me at most people's 50. But now I'm back at 200, baby, and I'm loving it. So, yeah, who were we talking about? Royce Lewis.

Royce Lewis. I think before the season's done, he'll be rostered in more than 63% of leagues. So, you know, if you want to just jump straight to the end, you could pick him up now. But I understand why he's only rostered in 63% of leagues because he isn't playing every day. He's striking out a third of the time. It hasn't been the greatest kickoff to what is officially his rookie season. I still have faith in the skill set. And I think in the long run, he'll be worth using at least like a corner infielder or middle infielder in in leagues where those are needed.

I would just say, I don't know if he should be rostered in 100% of leagues. I have a hard time imagining a league where he was available and I wouldn't want to add him. All right. Again, that is Royce Lewis. What I quickly mentioned, Amin Rosario, he went three for five with a double, a run and an RBI. He had four hard hits in this game. and in June he's betting 344, but with zero homers and zero steals. But we do know that Ahmed Rosario is extremely streaky. Every year he gets off to a slow start.

Then he goes on like a two-month run where he's one of the best hitters in the game, and then he, whatever, fluctuates from there. I don't think you need to add him yet if he was dropped, but let's just keep an eye because, again, he's really streaky. T.J. Friedel went four for five with his fourth home run and three RBI. He had four hard hits in that game. He's now betting 322 with an 871 OPS on the season. Dylan Carlson went two for four with a double dong, three RBI.

And in 10 games since returning from the IL, he's betting 300 with three homers and a 93 mile per hour average exit velocity. Chris, five outfielder leagues. Who would you rather have T.J. Friedel or Dylan Carlson? I think probably Friedel. Just prefer the home park. I have questions about how much Dylan Carlson's going to play moving forward, and Frito gives you some stolen bases, so I think I'd rather have him. I don't have particularly high hopes either way.

I have no interest in Carlson whatsoever. All right. Two names in deeper leagues. Scott, I know that you were rooting for the demise of Aaron Hicks, but he just keeps hitting two for four with his fourth homer. He had four hard hits in this game. Now in 17 games with the Orioles, he is betting 340. with three homers and two steals.

Sounds like a player the Yankees could use right now. Christian Arroyo went five for five with his third homer and four RBI. Anything here, Scott. You know, 15 team leagues are deeper. Aaron Hicks and Christian Arroyo. I wouldn't be putting my faith in them in any league. I mean, I could see a deep enough league that there's nothing better on the waiver wire. And, okay, at least they're hot.

So I'll ride them for however long it lasts. But I don't expect it to last long. And on the Colton-Cowler front, I have noticed that he's been playing right field exclusively for the past couple weeks after playing mostly center before then. Meanwhile, Cedric Mullins is about to go on a rehab assignment. He's obviously the Oriole center fielder. Is this in preparate, are they about to get a big infusion of talent in their outfield? Two for one. Mullins in center

Kouser and Wright That's the hope That's the hope Because Kouser's been great And he is great Well, they can't They can't take Aaron Hicks out of the line up The way that he's playing in Scott

So, and they will Ah, all right Well, uh I tried Did you, did you talk about Austin Hayes? I have him lower down on the rundown But he currently leads the American League

With a 327 batting average I know It's pretty crazy Well, I was going to say He's the one Orioles outfielder that you can't see them turning the page on. Not that I think he'll sustain a 327 batting average, but it's just been very steady and certainly has been hitting well of late.

Let's take our final break, and when we return, we'll hit the news and notes, and a couple other players on the Wariometer right after this. Welcome back, and a big thanks to everyone watching us live. Almost 550 people here. We do appreciate you. that thumbs up, like this video, and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. The news and notes, Aaron Boone said that Aaron Judge experienced, quote, a little bit of a breakthrough after his second PRP injection.

He remains without a timetable, but this is the first positive news that we've heard. Carl Swardan recorded five strikeouts over three innings of one-run ball at AA on Tuesday, his first rehab start, and he topped out at around 94 to 95 miles per hour. with the fastball. Julio Arias will make a rehab start at Single A Sunday. He's been out since mid-May with a hamstring train. Cedric Mullins began a rehab assignment Tuesday at AAA. He's been out since late May due to a right groin string.

Max Muncie has a chance to return off the aisle this upcoming weekend. Brian Reynolds was out of the lineup Tuesday due to lower back tightness, but it's considered relatively minor. Sean Murphy has now sat out too straight due to a tweak in his right hamstring. Sounds like he could be back Thursday though. That would be very welcome. We miss you, Sean Murphy. Jazz Chisholm started a rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday.

Lance Lynn is... Okay, thank you for talking to me watching the middle of the show. Lance Lynn is likely to make his next start Saturday against the Red Sox. He was placed on the bereavement list on Monday. Tim Anderson has missed three straight due to right shoulder soreness. Ryan Malkassel also began a rehab assignment at AAA Tuesday. He's been out since. last week with vertigo.

As suspected, Louis Varland was optioned down to AAA on Tuesday, likely to clear the way for Kenta Maeda. Eduardo Rodriguez will throw live batting practice Saturday. It will be the first time facing live hitters since he went on the IL late in May. Riley Green did some straight line running on the field Tuesday. He was still wearing an air cast to protect the stress fracture in his left fibula. J.D. Davis returned Tuesday after being held out of the start. starting lineup in five straight games.

Tanner Halk will undergo surgery next week to repair his facial fracture, no timetable for a return. Lamont Wade was scratched due to right side soreness. J.P. Crawford left Tuesday's game with a right shoulder contusion and Will Myers was reinstated from the IL and then designated for assignment by the Cincinnati Reds. The Worryometer. We already talked about Nathan Avaldi and again,

one on the low end. That means we're not worried at all. 10, we're freaking out. We're very concerned about this player. Let's talk about Tyler Glassnow, who was hit hard by the Orioles. Four and a third, six earned runs allowed. He did have seven strikeouts. He gave up two homers in this game.

But the velocity is down a little bit this year. The fastball is down 1.4 miles per hour compared to last year. Down one mile per hour compared to 2021. Walks and home runs have been a bit of an issue here for Tyler Glass now. Chris, the Wauriometer for him. I would say two to pick an arbitrary number, as if these numbers aren't usually arbitrary. But yeah, I mean, he's made five starts since coming back from the IL.

He's dealt with a lot of injuries over his career. He's made what? Seven starts over the past two seasons. So I think there's an understandable amount of rust involved here. And once he figures things out, I think he's going to take off and slider and curveball still generating a ton of whiffs fastball. Not elite velocity like it's been in the past, but 96 miles per hour is nothing too concerning for me. So I do think Tyler Glass now will be fine.

It's just kind of hard to trust him right now. It's sort of how I feel about Luis Severino, maybe a less extreme version, but certainly not dropping him, probably not starting him right now. Yeah. He was, Glassnow was asked about the velocity and just having issues finishing his pitches in general. And he said it was because of a mechanical issue that he's dealt with in the past. So I don't know if that's wishful thinking on his part, but it makes me feel a little better if that was something I was inclined to worry about. I personally would be looking to buy low on Tyler Glassdown. if anybody else in my league was currently concerned about him. Another, blah, outing by Justin Verlander at the Astros.

Seven innings, four runs allowed, five strikeouts, with 10 swinging strikes on 94 pitches. He allowed nine hard hits in this game. He has allowed four plus earned runs in four of his past seven starts. And now at a 4.5 ERA, a one-two-one whip, less than a strikeout per inning. And the swinging strike rate is pretty mediocre. Scott, Worryometer on JV.

Well, the good news is that he is still capable of delivering a good start here and there. So he's not like worthless in fantasy, but it's looking pretty old. He's showing his age, all the hard contact, the big decline and swinging strike grade, which already dropped quite a bit last year, even though he went on to win the Siong. And I kind of dismissed it, I know, coming into the year. but the guy's 40 years old and he's looked very hitable. So I'm going to put Verlander at like six on the Worryometer, which again is not like dropping him isn't at all in the discussion for me to clarify.

But yeah, I'm concerned that he won't come anywhere close to what you drafted him to be. I will say it might be time for Justin Verlander to embrace his age. and what I mean by that is most pitchers as they age tend to throw their fastballs less often and that's more or less been true for Justin Verlander. He went from throwing at 55 to 57% of the time at his peak to right around 50% each of the past two seasons. It's clearly diminished in effectiveness so far this season

but his slider and curveball have mostly remained very, very good pitches and I would like to see him get down to like the four, 40% range in terms of fastball usage, I guess, is the way I would put it. And it looked like it was trending that way, Chris, because his previous start out, a very good one against the Yankees. His fastball usage in that start 35%. So it looked like he was going that route. And then he just kind of reverse course here on Tuesday.

Yeah, I think that's a tweak he needs to embrace. Last player is a hitter. Willie Adomis went two for four with two runs and an RBI. He is now batting 207 with 10 homers, four steel. and a 655 OPS, the quality of contact is way down for Willie Adomis this year. He's still 89% rostered. Chris, this might actually be more of a dropometer than a Wariometer for Adomis at this point. Yeah, personally, you guys might disagree, but I think he's probably a zero on the dropometer.

I don't think I would be able to bring myself to do that. But I can't say I'm not worried. Like you said, the quality of contact is way down. unexpected Wobah on contact is 389. Previous couple of seasons had been in the 415 range since he got to Milwaukee. So there is reason to be concerned there for sure, but I generally think it's probably just a bad stretch. Like he was pretty good in April. Obviously not great, but 778 OPS still hitting for power.

Last two months have been a disaster for him. But we have seen enough established guys struggle for two months so far this season and then pull themselves out of it that I tend to think that's what we're going to see from Willie Adamas. I think you have to, you know, on the subject of whether you'd consider dropping him, if it's like a roto league, any league where you need to start where you start a third middle infielder, there's no way to drop Willie Adamas. But I think if you're talking like a shallower head-to-head, league where you just have the nine hitter spots to fill in all, only one shortstop.

You know, we've been complaining for several weeks now that Matt McLean's roster rate won't get over 80%. It is finally over 80%. It's at 81%. But, you know, he's still out there in a fifth of CBS sports leagues. I would imagine he's out there and more on some other providers. And, like, that's an exchange I'd make. You know, if I didn't want to keep an extra shortstop on my roster, I'd swap out Willie Adomas for Matt McLean at this point. Yeah, I think that's It's fair. And a smaller point, that's probably fair. Hey, you read my mind, Scott, because that's the exact name I was looking at. Matt McLean, 81% rostered on CBS, 64% on Yahoo, which those are a lot of shallower head-to-head category, daily lineups.

Yeah, I think ESPN's even shallower than Yahoo, too. And ESPN, I think you lose a full point for strikeouts, and that's a really good format for Matt McLean, who's making a good amount of contact. Not great one for Willie Adomas. Yep, correct. Let's wrap up with some leftovers here. We'll start with the pitching and three stud outings. Garret Cole, another strong one up against the Mariners. Seven and a third, one run allowed, eight strikeouts with a season high, 20 swinging strikes for Garrett Cole.

You'll love to see it. Frumber Valdez keeps on rolling. He was up against the Mets, eight innings, two runs, nine strikeouts with 19 swinging strikes. And Dylan Cis stays on track. another tough matchup against the Texas Rangers, and it did not matter. Six innings, two runs, nine strikeouts, also with a season high, 24 swinging strikes. You love to see it, Scott. Latest thoughts on Cis, Valdez, and Garrett Cole.

Cole and Cease definitely are trending the right direction. Valdez has been going the right direction all along, so this was the start where he threw his cutter more, which is probably why he had such a high swinging strike total. that pitch has kind of been one he's featured more prominently at times this year, and it's his best bat missing pitch that he features regularly. So it's just another tool that's helped Valdez, I think, round out his arsenal and become a more reliable ace. I mean, how much more reliable could he get than that quality start streak he had last year, right? But yet he has seemed even better this year, so good for him.

Yeah, I mean, Coles just seemed more dominant in general. He kind of had the same issue as Corbyn Burns early, where the swinging strikes were down and the strikeouts were down and everything's been ticking up for him and cease. Four straight starts here where the swinging strikes have been awesome. You know, prior to this four-star stretch, it was only like 11%, which is very average, maybe slightly above average, but certainly not elite like we're used to seeing cease.

And for as many walks as he issues, he needs to be an elite batmissor. And the last four stars, he's looked like that again. So I think I'm pretty much back on board with him, Not performing like he did in 2022, because none of us expected that. But being a must-start pitcher, yeah, I think CES is there. Three quality starts. George Kirby, solid outing at the Yankees, seven innings, three runs, four strikeouts. Chris, he did not get the memo to stop pounding the strike zone.

He gave up 15 hard hits in this game. Zero walks. Seems like that's all George Kirby cares about. Marcus Stroman keeps on rolling as well. Seven shutout innings with five strikeouts. He leads baseball with football with. 14 quality starts this season. Jordan Montgomery, three quality starts in a row for him,

seven innings of one run ball, six strikeouts. Anything here on Montgomery, Stroman and Kirby. Yeah, I mean, I think Kirby has, is pushing the limits of how infrequently you can walk opposing hitters. His in-zone pitch rate is like 59%.

It's just, I feel like there's another level to unlock, and it's throwing more, breaking balls outside of the strike zone. It's something that, you know, I wrote about Bryce Miller today, who I've talked about a lot, and he throws his slider in the strike zone a ton. I think that's kind of a, maybe kind of a Mariners thing, but I think it's holding their guys back.

And that's not to say that these guys aren't good. George Kirby's good. Like his 329 ERA, I think that's legitimate. I think there's just, there's room for him to be even better, and it's a little bit frustrating that he's not. The only thing with Kirby is he hasn't shown the ability to get whiffs with any of his breaking pitches, right?

So even if he threw them out of the zone, is there any guarantee that he's going to get swings and misses on them? I don't know the answer to that, honestly. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to answer because he throws it in the zone so much. So it's, you know, and like the results are good enough

that it's hard to complain too much. And I often don't like criticizing players for what they're not rather than accepting them for who they are. And so in this case, if this is what George Kirby is, it's still a very, very good pitcher. I just, I think he could be an easy top 24 guy.

And I'm not sure he's going to get there. All right. Some hitting leftovers. Ronald de Cuneo went two for five with an RBI and his 31st steal. Austin Hayes, the aforementioned, went three for four with two doubles and two runs scored. He leads the American League with a 327 batting average.

Wilson Contreras went three for four with two doubles and two RBI. He had two hard hits in this game, including a double that had a 113.7 exit velocity. Crazy stuff there for Contreras. Ellie Dela Cruz went three for five with his second home run. And not one of the majestic ones, I guess, that we were expecting. It was quite frankly, a wall scraper, but it counts to say. Not a, not of that ball had a family situation. Yeah, this ball, I guess,

Didn't have a fam? No, that would make sense. Anyway, L.A. D.Cruz is betting 308 with two homers, six deals, and an 898 OPS early on. 33% strikeout rate,

73% ground ball rate. He's certainly not perfect, but still has a ton of upside. Masataka Yoshita went 3 for 5 with his eighth home run, 447 feet. It was a moonshot, and he has slowed down

a little bit this month, but overall still having a great season for Yoshita. Adolias Garcia has also slowed down in June, but he went two for five with his 16th home run, 112.1 exit velocity off the bat. Ketel Marte keeps on raking, three for five with his 11th homer, finished a triple short of the cycle. And for Nanotatis, three more hits, including his 15th home run of the season. Can I say three things about this group? I'll try to make it quick. Yep. So, Cotel Marte has just been a total stud this year and it hasn't gotten nearly enough attention.

He's looked like Catel Marte. Adjia Catel Marte, he's shown up again, and he was being drafted outside the top 200. So that's amazing. The year I didn't draft him everywhere, of course. Fernando Tatis's June also hasn't gotten enough attention, attention. Also hasn't gotten enough attention.

I mean, Shohei Otani's been so hot. He's been the number one hitter in fantasy this month. Tatis has been number two, and he's looked very much like 2021, Tatis again, the guy who hit 42 homers and 25 steals. And his average exit velocity for the month is back to that level. I think he's shaking off the rust. Not that he's been bad up to start of June.

But I think he's just going to cruise from this point forward. And maybe the best player in fantasy from this point forward, frankly. Six homers and seven steals in 16 games in the month of June. And then the last point is on Wilson Contreras, because people keep asking me, what do I do with Wilson Contrae? Should I drop them for this kind of scrubby catcher? No. No.

Yeah, I understand why they're asking. Prior to this three-for-four-four-day, he was batting 103 over a 23-game stretch. It's really cold. It's season-batting average drop below 200. But look at his stat-cast page. Everything's normal. I think he's going to be fine, and I think this is hopefully the start of it. That is Wilson Contreras.

Let's wrap up with some bullpen updates here for the Royals. Scott Barlow allowed a hit but picked up his eighth save for the Yankees. Clay Holmes recorded the final five outs. He struck out two for his ninth save. For the Braves, Riesel Iglesias entered with a three-run lead. He gave up one run but picked up his 10th save. For the Orioles, Felix Bautista, recorded the final four outs for his 20th save. The Reds, Alexis Diaz, entered the ninth with a three-run lead.

also gave up one run, but picked up his 20th save. For the Astros, Ryan Presley, walked one, but conferred his 13th save. For the White Sox, Kendall Graveman had a clean ninth inning for his seventh save, and he's 34% rostered if you're looking for saves or just a relief pitcher of some value. As long as Liam Hendricks is out,

looks like Kendall Graveman will be the guy. For the Brewers, Devin Williams, walked one, but picked up his 13th save. The Dodgers, Evan Fitcher, Phillips struck out two for his eighth save and for the Padres, two nights in a row taking walk-off losses. Josh Hader enters in the ninth inning with runners on first and second in a tie game and he walks the next two and loses on a walk-off walk. Hate to see it. Rough outing there. One last bullpen note if I may. Sure. Once again, Mark Leiter worked the eighth

and Adbert Aalai worked the ninth for the Cubs with a four-run lead, so not quite a safe situation, but as close as you can get to being one without being one. And they've followed that formula for basically this entire month. So I really think Al-Zalai is the guy now, and you should pick them up if you're looking for safes. To stream or not to stream, let's start with Wednesday, and looking over this list,

Smith Chauver at the Phillies, I think is a go. Garrett Whitlock at the Twins. It should be good. And I think we said Kyle Hendricks at the Pirates. Yeah. Yep. I think you said Whitlock Hendricks and who was the third?

Smith Chauver at the Phillies. Yep. Yep. We're not including Gavin Williams. Oh. It's a conversation going up against Oakland. Against Oakland? I'm throwing him out there immediately if I can.

Would you put him ahead of Kyle Hendricks? Yeah, I think so. Like, it's entirely possibly flops, but if he's as good as we think, like we're talking about him already as a top, what, 75 pitcher? That's probably the same range we all have Hendricks in at best, I would assume. Yeah, I mean, starting a better matchup. Starting is a different conversation than rostering. I think of rankings more in terms of rostering.

Sure, sure. No, I agree with that. It's just, it's Oakland also. Sure. And worth mentioning Julio Taran, he's on a great run, but he's going up against the Diamondbacks, and they're an offense that has been super hot. So I think I'm going to stay away there on Julio Taran.

But I also told you not to start Ranger Swaraz on Tuesday, so I apologize. On Thursday, we have, I think J.P. Sears at Cleveland is solid. Logan Allen on the other side up against Oakland, also solid. Actually, I prefer him to Sears. This is a good day. Braxton Garrett up against the Pirates. I like it.

Oh, yeah. And Brian, woo, at the Yankees. Let's go. I'd lean no on that, even though he was good last time. Eh, the Yankees stinks, Scott. Come on. Yeah, well. Yeah, I'd be okay with that one.

All right, so it sounds like we've got Logan Allen, Brax and Garrett, JP Sears ahead of Brian Wu. Yes, and that's the order I'd rank them. Okay. But I am here to tell you that I will start Brian Wu. No, no, no. Garrett over Allen. All right, Garrett, at the top of the list there.

But Thursday, pretty good day for streamers. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks, as always, for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.