Fantasy Baseball Today - June Winners & Losers! Cade Cavalli Must Add? (7/1 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

Cade Cavalli just had the best start of his life (2:40)! ... Justin Wrobleski's skills are improving (12:45). ... The Marlins just had a monster June (17:30). ... News (26:32): Vlad Jr. was out again with a back injury. ... What's the latest on the juiced baseball (32:50)? ... Who were the biggest winners and losers from June (36:50)? ... Dansby Swanson stayed hot (50:25). ... Griffin Jax got through six innings (56:21). ... Any concern with Cam Schlittler (59:27)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens, and streamers (1:05:22).

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 lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today. And welcome to July.

Here we are halfway through the season. I am Frank Stample joined by Chris Towers. Today on the show, we have June winners and losers. We'll fire up the lauremator for Pam Schlittler, career high, six homers, four homers, career high, six earn runs and four homers allowed in that one.

And there's yet another waiver wire, must, must, must add pitcher. I wonder what Scott would say. I'm pretty sure that's exactly what he would say, but we'll talk all about it. Right now. All right. Let's go crazy.

Crazy game, man. like nationals, red socks, benches clearing, people yelling, fighting, throwing helmets. And in the middle of all of it was Kate Cavali, Chris. Yeah. There have been two major league pitchers this season who have had both a strikeout, a start with at least 13 strikeouts and at least two consecutive starts with double-digit strikeouts. One of them is Jacob Izirowski. Obviously, that makes sense. He's the most dominant pitcher in baseball.

And the other one is of course, Cade Cavali. What? Baseball. I don't understand that. I actually kind of do. He's got good stuff. I mean, that knuckle curve is a legit, sick pitch. It's like a 46% whiff rate on the season.

It's a great pitch. The problem is nothing else is all that good in his arsenal, usually. But everything was great on Tuesday. He ended up striking out 13 over 7, 1,000. hit innings with one earned run allowed against the Red Sox. Sounds a pretty good matchup. He had 15 whiffs on his foreseamer. His velocity was up.

0.7 miles per hour at that pitch. His velocity was up across the board. An uncle curve 2 miles per hour up. The sweeper and sinker both 1.3 miles per hour. He had 25 whiffs on 56 pitches. I mean, this was just an absolutely massive performance from Cade Cavali. And I think if you go back to those. two double-digit strikeout starts, which are at the end of April.

He's got a 358 ERA, and I think it's 84 strikeouts in 70 and two-thirds innings, which is really, really good. Yep. Now, there is some fun with arbitrary endpoints there, because if you take out the two-double-digit strikeout starts at the beginning and the 13th strikeout effort just now, it's like 51 strikeouts in 59 innings, which is pretty mediocre. And he had been pretty bad in June before this one. ERA was over five, I believe, before this one.

So I still think Kade Kavali is a pretty flawed pitcher. He's got a 369 ERA on the season, but his XERA coming in was 454. He gets hit really hard when he gets hit. And he doesn't get the strikeouts as often as you would think for someone who has had the really big strikeout efforts. So I would not classify him as must, must, must add. I don't think I would go there.

But I think you should add him at 57% rostered if you've got the roster space to play with and you don't need, you know, and Joey Cantillo isn't available or Trevor Rogers or all those guys we were talking about. Yeah, I think you should add Cade Cawali. I think the likeliest scenario is this is just another spike start from a guy who's really volatile, but he's interesting enough to be worth a look when he does something like this.

Yeah, I was trying to find some quotes about the fastball and why it was so dominant here in this start. The 15 of 25 whiffs in this game, as you mentioned, per MLB.com, he's the first Nationals pitcher to throw seven or more innings with 10 or more strikeouts and allow one hit or fewer since Max Scherzer on April 14th of 2018. Yeah, I was going to, I was thinking it was either Scherzer or Strasbourg. Yeah, yeah, so, you know, historic start in many ways here for Cade Cavali. But he, he is pretty inconsistent. Looking at the command, his location plus entering the start was 95, you know, 100 is league

average. So he is well below average in that regard. And he just has starts and he's like really in a. efficient, whether it's due to control or just, you know, getting really deep in counts and just the classic ways that a pitcher would be inefficient. So I agree. I think he's still a flawed pitcher, but man, he flashes this upside. It makes you dream about what he could do if he could just like live in the strike zone a little bit more. 57% rostered. Looks like he is home against the Astros and the Yankees next week. So a two-star pitcher, I guess Trent Grisham could be back for the

Yankees by then. I doubt Stanton, and we know Aaron Judge won't be back. I think that could still be an okay matchup there up against the Yankees. If we are trying to fit him into this recent wave of waiver wire starting pitchers, where would Kate Cavali fit in? We know that there's Tatsuya I, Mai, there's

Trevor Rogers, there's Troy Melton, there's Joey Cantillo. Let's say those four for now. Where would Cavali rank among those? Is he last on that group? I think he's probably last, but none of them seem like such surefire things to me that if you wanted to put Cavali at the top of the list because of the upside he has shown, I wouldn't really argue with you. I think they're all talented but flawed pitchers. You don't really like before what the last two or three starts, I didn't really have any interest in Joey Cantillo.

He's completely remade himself over the past few weeks in a way that I'm really interested in. But it's entirely possible that the scouting reports get out and teams lay off the curveball and it stops working. I don't want to make it sound like I think all of these guys or any of these guys are sure fire fantasy contributors. So I'm totally open to the possibility that Kade Kivali is the best of them. I'm totally open to the possibility that he's the worst of them. But I think he's talented. It does seem razor sharp between that group, man. Yeah.

It's just tough because, like, I'ma has flashed big upside lately, but I mean, his floor is about as low as any pitcher, any pitcher in that group, right? And incredibly volatile himself. How much you look at his floor versus ceiling, like the floor, well, how much of that was just he wasn't right. Like, you just, you know, he talked openly about how uncomfortable he had been with the transition to the majors.

and living in America and all that stuff, that's hard. So was that his real floor? I don't think so. But I also don't think his last two-star tour, he has, what, 19 strikeouts combined? I don't think that's necessarily his true talent level either. So, yeah, I think these are all really interesting pitchers. Was Gage Jump part of that group?

I did not include him just now, But I guess he's... I just want to... From a Rosser-rate perspective, he's kind of still in that... He'd be at the top just for the youth and the prospect pedigree that he carried coming into the majors. But I know it's been... He's... All the way up to 86% Ross.

Okay. Yeah. Yep, that's... Then, yeah, he's not part of that group. But I don't think he should be part of that group. I think he's better. Let me give you a few names. Would you drop any of these for Cade Cavali? Roki Sasaki.

Yeah. I mean, It's a similar case for both of them, but one's coming off a good start and one's been bad lately. I think the highs have been higher for Cavali this season, but I do agree that both low floors, but I think Sasaki's floor might even be lower. The thing is, there are not many pitchers who have had a single better start than Cade Cavali just had today. And there are not many pitchers who can boast of three double-digit strikeout efforts on the season. I'm not he might be the first one

actually I'll check that while we're now he's probably not the first one but three double digit strikeout starts now there's definitely been others but yeah I mean you you mentioned the Miz right like he definitely he's got to have done it multiple times yeah I feel like maybe Sanchez has done it too but

yeah a couple of their names Andrew Abbott he's 73% rostered I feel like I would make that swap there's just more upside with Cavali Spencer Arrogetti was coming off a terrible June drop him. Oh, easy. For Cavali, yep.

And then Bryce Elder, he's 77%. I think that's another easy one, yes. There have been eight pitchers who have double-digit, three double-digit strikeout efforts this season. Do you like the list? Can I name them? Would you like to name them? Yeah, let's go.

Fantasy feud. The Miz? Number one. Christopher Sanchez. Number three. You got two so far. Wow, this game is harder than it looks when you guys play, huh? Yeah, you sin your tower.

You come down on the floor, Louis Armstrong? I know. What was it? Louis Anderson, that's his name. I know Camsellor has only done it once. Thinking of like the other high-end names. Yeah, I'm taking too long. You can just name them.

Dylan Sees. That makes sense. Kyle Harrison. Hazers Lizardo. Paul Skeins. And Gavin Williams. So all... I have been a collective group.

Everyone but Cade Cavali is a must roster pitcher for sure. They're all top 25 starting pitchers. I think so, yeah. Gavin Williams probably the iffiest of them, but clearly a top 36, 30 guys. So Cavali might be a big outlier. And the list of guys who've done it twice has some real iffy names. So it's, you know, it's not.

I think Tatsuya-I is on that list. Tatsui-I, Michael Soroka. Yeah, there's some if you're names there for sure. Last name I will throw out there as a drop for Kate Cavali is Noah Cameron, who just got demolished again, and he is still 77% rostered. So I do think part of it is looking at roster rates this time of year as some people have kind of fallen off and they don't really check their teams anymore. So some of these roster rates will remain high.

But if you have any of those names, I just mentioned, I would go ahead and drop any of them for Kate Cavali. Let's talk about my player of the night. That is Justin Robleski, who just had a six. outing at the athletic seven innings, three runs, 11 strikeouts to zero walks, 19 whiffs on 110 pitches, 12 of those on the fastball, five on the slider. And that fastball in particular, Velasi was up around one mile per hour. You had the 12 whiffs, you know, four hard hits, but, you know, he has been getting

a good amount of wifts on the fastball since the start of May. I believe when I looked into it, his whiff rate on the fastball in May was like 22%. I think in June before this start it was like 25%. So, you know, like a 23, 24% whiff rate on a fastball is actually pretty good for Justin Robleski. And obviously that number is only going up after a start like this. So for a long time, we were preaching, you know, sell high on Justin Robleski. The whiffs haven't been there. For the most part, they still haven't.

There was one other start in June where he had nine strikeouts. There was this start where he had 11 strikeouts. Everything else has been pretty mediocre. But I am starting to see a bit of a bit of. a skill change here, Chris. I think our stance on Justin Robleski has to change as well. Last six starts, 239, ERA, 0.85 whip, 33 strikeouts to just four walks. The command has been awesome as well, over 37 and two-thirds. So what do you make of this? Are you maybe changing your stance a little bit here on Justin Robleski? Um, I think he's the weirdest pitcher in baseball right

now because he has had... near than Eduardo Rodriguez. Yeah, because Eduardo Rodriguez is just bad. And getting lucky. Bad good. Well, no, he's getting lucky. Like, that's easy to figure out. That's just something that happens.

But Justin Robleski is, I think, both pitching way over his head and underperforming, if that makes sense. Because I don't believe that Justin Robleski is a true talent, 278 E.R.R. Ray guy. I don't think he's that good. But is that what he's down to after the start? Yeah. No, it's lower than that because he ended up going. 280 on the news. Okay, why not? He allowed three runs. But I also think he's better than the 15% strikeout rate guy he'd been coming in. And so what's weird is that I think it all might meet in the middle. And when the strikeout rate, you know, 27% as a multi-inning reliever last season. Maybe it's 23, 22%, you know, average or maybe a tick better overall in the end. I could see that. And then, you know, the peripherals suggest maybe something more like a high 3s,

than a high 2s. I think that's where I land. The problem is that fastball is actually pretty good this season, 21% whiff rate coming into this start that's going to go up. It was 35% last season. really good. He's lost a couple miles per hour. He just doesn't have anything else that can

get whiffs. Last season, his slider had a 26% whiff rate. That's pretty mediocre for a slider, but it would be great for him this season because it's only 19%. I don't know. I think Justin Robleski is probably

more like a high 3 ZRA guy moving forward and he'll miss more bats than he has been. Yeah. Yeah. You know what helps too? and sometimes I think this gets lost and it's hard to put too much value on it, but it happens all the time. There are pitchers that we target

that have good defenses behind them because it allows them to outperform their expectations. So, I mean, for years, the Cubs have had a really good defense. The Cardinals have a really good defense. I just checked now, the Dodgers ranked top five in each of defensive run saved,

outs above average, fielding run value, and I guess that's like defensive war, or defensive rating on Fangraph. So they're top five in all of those categories as a team this year. They have a really, really good defense behind him too. So I think that allows Justin Robleski to kind of outperform some of these numbers as well. I think when it's all said and done, if I had to just predict from here on out,

I think it's probably like a mid to high three ZRA, but he doesn't walk many. His location plus is like 11, which is the awesome number. It was the same last year. He's pitching incredibly well, yeah. You know he has really, really good command, or at least he has the past two. year. So I think you add it all up and like he's probably just going to not to this level, but I think he will be able to outperform his peripheral numbers. And I think he's someone that like, yeah, he's earned a little bit more respect. And I think he should be moving up our rankings as a

result as well. We are going to get to some June winners and losers a little bit later on. But Chris, I got to give you a shout out, man. One of the biggest winners of the month, those Miami Marlins, the best record in June 20 and 6, a plus 51 run differential for the month. They just smacked up the Rockies. They won 14 to 3, put up 21 hits in this game, three homers as well. I have a bunch of names that I just want to highlight up top. Kyle Stowers, 3 for 6 with a double, triple, two runs, 2 RBI, actually has got on track here in June, 255 batting average,

five homers, 23 RBI, and 898 OPS. It also comes with a 36% strikeout rate in the month. So he's clearly not back to the hitter that he was last year. Like I think he's a more flawed hitter. but he's he's getting closer to that player as the season goes on. Agreed. The other names here, Owen Casey, one for four with his 10th home run, three RBI, a bomb. 109.2 EV, 453 feet.

He has four homers in his past 12 games. Quietly has 46 RBI. This year has just like a massive number for Owen Casey. Man, is a part-time player. 40% rostered six game next week, two lefties on the schedule. Does that number need to be higher than 40%? Maybe. Yeah, I could see that being too low,

but partially that's just because when it comes to your five outfit leagues, I kind of think unless you're somehow in possession of five outfielders that you trust, it makes a lot of sense to just cycle through guys and then target, you know, young, interesting talents like Owen Casey and Cam Smith and guys like that and seeing if you can get one of them who gets hot and sticks around. I think that makes sense. So, yeah, 40% might be too low for Owen Casey. Speaking of June winners, Joe Mack, man.

He just had a big month, one for four with his fifth home run, two RBI. Also a bomb, 107.5 EV 450 feet playing in course field. Yes, it does help a little bit. But in June, 294, five homers, 904 OPS here for Joe Mack. He is 24% rostered. I think he's kind of in that conversation, Chris, the names that we were talking about yesterday, Andy Rodriguez, Cooper Ingle, Joe Mack as well. How would you rank that trio?

Behind Andy Rodriguez, probably ahead of Cooper Engel. I think so, but it's close. Yeah, Mac is just a classic number two catcher. Like, in the fantasy sense, where you're probably going to get a bad batting average from him and you're just hoping it's 15 to 20 homers at the end of the season and he doesn't kill you in batting average. I think that's the kind of player he is,

but he's a really, really good defensive player. He's kind of transformed the Marlins in a lot of way with his defense. I think part of why they've been so good in June is he's just a impossible to overstate upgrade defensively over Augustine Ramirez and Liam Hicks. So, yeah, I think he's going to play a lot.

Yeah, again, that is Joe Mack. I'm looking at some of his defensive stuff. he's 94th percentile caught stealing, 66 percentile framing, 82nd percentile pop time. So yeah, he's doing some things defensively, and even offensively as well.

And then Griffin-Ko-9, four-for-five with a walk and two RBI. He has started seven of nine games since returning. He hit a mammoth home run on Monday. And the underlying stuff, the expected stats is good. It's a really small sample size. Four percent roster, I mean, that is a really, really low number. I mean, we're talking about like 15 team five outfielder Roto leagues. But, you know, in leagues that deep, he's, he's playing against right-hand of pitching and he's got a little bit of juice.

Big and strong. He hits the ball hard. The way I put it in tomorrow's newsletter is if as Merlin Valdez is already roster in your league, go look for Griffin County. And as Merlin Valdez, I assume it was around 20, 25 percent, maybe lower. 22. I would be surprised of Crow-Nine needs to be any higher than that. But yeah, I think that's five outfitter leagues, sure.

And who started for the Marlins here? It was Yuri Perez who pitched well in Colorado, five and a third, one run, eight strikeouts to four walks, 19 whiffs on 86 pitches. Don't tell him not to use breaking pitches because you use the sweeper more in this one, despite being in Corr's field.

And it was really good. He had seven whiffs, 50% whiff rate on that pitch, fastball slider, change up heat. He had everything working in a really tough environment. And if you look at his last four starts dating back to before his injury and since returning. So two before and two after the aisle stint, 133, ERA. 0.69 whip, 23 strikeouts to four walks over 20 and a third. I think Uri Perez has kind of figured something out. Yeah, and you might look at the four walks here and say,

it's the same thing as early in the season. I would point out he only threw 68 pitches in his previous start. He got up to 86 in this one, and the Marlins did let him go out for the sixth inning, where he walked two of the first three batters before getting pulled. Without that, I mean, if we're talking about, I think it would have been eight strikeouts, two walks, one earned run over five innings.

We'd be thrilled by that. We'd view that as an unqualified success for Yuri Perez. So I think the fact that the Marlins were up like 10-1, I think at that point. Yeah, 8-1 at that point. It was an easy call to just let's see if we can stretch them out in a low-stakes environment here. So I think moving forward,

now that he got up to 86 pitches here, I think you can just kind of expect Yuri Perez to be pretty good moving forward. So, yeah. I think I heard on the Marlins broadcast, too, that entering June, they were, maybe it wasn't entering June, but they mentioned at some point earlier in the season they were 14 games out of first place.

They're not just four and a half games out of first place at the NLEs. That is that is crazy, man. And they've done this month with two healthy starting pitchers. It's like Sandy O'Connor, Max Meyer, and a bunch of Tyler Phillips and Ryan Gusto. And it's wild. It really is crazy. Yeah.

But that's just like two things going in opposite directions too, man. Marlins are on fire. The Braves are just completely cool. in the night. Seriously, man. So yeah, shout out to your Marlins, man. They are doing it. Before we hit the first break, just a reminder to sign up for the FBT newsletter if you haven't already. If you're watching on YouTube, scan that QR code in the top right corner. That will bring you right to the website, CBSports.com slash newsletters, where you can sign up for free and get all of Chris's work delivered right to your email inbox. Let's take that break and we'll be back right after this.

Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball today. And let's hit the news and notes. Vlad Jr. was scratched Tuesday due to back tightness. He also left last Friday's game with a back issue. And perhaps this is part of the reason why the power has been down. Well, I mean, everything has been down. He's got a sub-700 OPS. Just trying to find reasons for a hitter this talented has been this bad this season. Perhaps it is due to this back issue he's been dealing with.

Ronald Acuna went through a full pre-game workout on Tuesday, but manager Walt Weiss said Acuna is a long shot to return before the All-Star break. Connolly early left after just four innings with elbow discomfort. He was pitching really well against the nationals who typically smack around lefties. Four shutout innings, five strikeouts for him. But elbow discomfort, anytime it's an elbow, obviously there's concern. Yeah, yeah, I think you have to be concerned here. They said it was the back of the elbow.

That's often not where the worst injuries come from, but I think that was what Cole Reagan said when he had his injury. And I don't think we're going to see him again this season. So it's never what you want to see. So, yeah. Apparently, Connolly early will undergo imaging on his elbow here on Wednesday. Here's a quote afterwards. I am personally not too concerned as of right now,

but we'll see tomorrow with the imaging. So I mean, a lot of players and pitchers usually skew positive, but we shall see. Sticking with the Red Sox mentioned earlier, Wilson Contreras ejected for a second consecutive game. And Chris, I know that he's always been a fiery dude, but lately it just feels like, man, Contreras has just taken it to the next level, man.

I know like Kate Cavali was at fault too. They got into a shouting match. They said some things. Cavali said afterwards that like Contreras rushed up against him when they were, I guess when they were exiting the field after an inning or whatever. Contreras, like threw his helmet at him. It was crazy stuff, man.

Yeah. I don't know. I think they were both pretty equally a fault in this one. I was surprised they like Kate Cavalli stay in the game. Yeah, I mean, I guess good for fantasy because he ended up with 13 strikeouts. But yeah, that was, it was surprising, yes. Corey Seeger was removed Tuesday before taking in a bat due to a back discomfort. And you mentioned this a lot, Chris, and I know people get crazy with it.

Like, I'm sure Corey Seeger doesn't want to be hurt all the time. And he wants to play baseball, but I think I'm done, man. I can't wait to draft Corey Seeger 10080th next year. Oh, it's going to be awesome. He's all your... Corey Seger as your middle infielder next year is going to be awesome. I can't do it anymore. I can't draft Byron Buxton.

I can't do it. I've been hurt too much. Yeah, I will absolutely draft Corey Seeger as like the 180th pick next season. It might not work. He might be finished, but yeah, I... Yeah. Just so frustrating with Corey Seeger. The Dodgers are pushing Otani's next pitching start from Wednesday to Friday,

opting for him to face division opponent San Diego Padres instead. Hunter Green will make his season debut Saturday against the Orioles. Max Fried threw a live BP Tuesday for the first time since landing on the IL and is scheduled to throw another round on Sunday. From everything I've heard, he looked good. I had a lot of eyes on him and everything seems positive for now. We'll see how Max Fried bounces back in the next few days. Byron Buckson has missed two straight with this right hip impingement that he's dealing with.

Jazz Chisholm passed all concussion tests and was available off the bench on Tuesday. The Yankees were down like six runs in the first three innings, so there was no reason for him to get into that game. Jack Caglione was back in the lineup after missing Sunday with groin soreness. Yandy Diaz was back in the lineup as well Tuesday after leaving Sunday with a left shoulder strain. Hurston Waldrop is a likely candidate to join the Braves rotation. in the near future. This is a 24-year-old,

former first-round pick back at 2023. And last year in 10 games, nine starts with the Braves, 288 ERA, 119 whip, nearly a strikeout per inning. The walks were high. I think they're always going to skew high. 49% ground ball rate.

So he does help mitigate some of those walks with getting a lot of ground balls. 20% rostered. Chris, how interested are you in adding Hurston Waldrop before he gets into the rotation? I think we should be moderately interested. Behind all those guys we talked about earlier, the Kibavali and everything,

but I think he's a talented pitcher. The splitter is a fantastic weapon, but he expanded the arsenal last season in a way that started to work for him. And I think he's going to be a mid-to-high-3s-ZRA guy when he gets healthy or when he's up to speed. And I think there could be more than, strike up for running here. I think he didn't show it last season necessarily. It was like 8.4,

but I think he can get there. I think he's going to be, it was close, 8.8. I think he's going to be pretty good, yeah. All right. Shane O. Mack, Shane McLehann, will start Wednesday against the Royals. He was skipped last time through the rotation as they monitor his workload. Logan Henderson will make his next minor league rehab start on Friday. He is definitely a name that you should stash as well. Logan Henderson ahead of Hurston Waldrop, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think he might be at the top of the list of guys we talked about yesterday.

I think we said that yesterday, Scott and I, yeah. Yeah, Logan Henderson. So even ahead of, yeah, I think you guys did say ahead of like Cantillo and Rogers and all those guys. Yeah, he's good. He's been really good. Logan Henderson. A. E. Hano Suarez returned to the lineup after getting hit by a pitch on his wrist on Sunday. Brandon Nimmo has missed two straight with that AC joint sprain in his left shoulder.

Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon are expected to be activated on Friday. Matt McLean got some pregame work in center field on Tuesday, so perhaps we could see him out there soon. Jordan Lawler's hamstring injury will keep him out for four to six weeks, and the Mets signed Christopher Morel to a minor league deal. Let's get into the June winners and losers. There was a lot going on in this month. There was a lot of home runs hit.

There's talk about a juice ball. I did want to quickly I saw a tweet from Enosaris that also Yeah I can explain this one Did a follow up on this but yeah go for it The he reached out to MLB regarding the lower drag That we've noticed in the month of June

Lower drag means the ball travels further And MLB's statement was basically that I think it was like back in February They said they noticed an issue with the manufacturing of the baseballs. There was something with the yarn that they were using to stitch the baseballs, had too much oil and was leaving a yellow residue on the baseballs. And that is the only manufacturing defect.

And they have been, as they go through the batches of balls at every game, removing the balls that are visibly discolored. And MLB says that is the only issue. But when they've tested the balls, They have all been within the range of acceptable outcomes on all the various parameters that MLB says they put the balls through. So I have no idea genuinely what's happening. They said that they fixed the manufacturing issue, but that those balls won't be instituted until late 2026 or 2027. I have no idea.

like is it possible that in a couple of weeks ago they started removing the discolored balls more consistently and there's something about the discolored balls we're not traveling as far and now the remaining balls are more aerodynamically efficient I have no idea

one I I can't know uh like we have to test the balls to see but two I'm not smart enough to know. Like, that's just, I'll admit, I have no idea if that theory makes any sense. It makes sense to me, but I'm kind of dumb.

I have no idea. Like, this is, this is above my pay grade. So what we can say is, the ball's traveling further in the month of June, especially. It undoubtedly did. There is data to support you.

More than you typically see when the weather heats up, because I think a lot of people will just say, oh, well, the weather's heating up. But it's like, this is even adjustment. for that. The ball is traveling further than it does during normal Jews. And boy, this weekend with the heat dome

around America, we could see some real impressive power production over the next few days. I think it's going to be 100 degrees here in New York on Wednesday. Yeah, I don't want to go outside the next few days. No.

So, yeah, but it's unquestionably true that the ball is traveling further, and that is leading to more home runs and more offense in the month of June than we would otherwise expect. Whether that will continue into July, August, and September is impossible to say. MLB's explanation would lead me to think that it will because they made it sound like whatever new batch of balls that has the fixed production process likely won't be in place

until later in the season, if at all. But MLB also said that the balls aren't the reason. So I don't know what to take out of that anyway. Yeah. Anything that we try to project moving forward, it's a complete guess on our front. And so if I had to guess, I would lean towards,

I think offense is going to continue to be up throughout the summer months, even more than it normally is. But we'll just have to kind of monitor that as we go through the months. The problem with that is there are hitters who had bad months and pitchers who had good months in June. So like trying to figure out who will benefit and who won't is a total fools errand, I think.

Yep. Let's talk about some of those June winners and losers on the hitter side. Of course, PCA just had to finish June in style. Another home run is 18th of the season. But in June, the final line, 381, 11 homers, eight steals, 1249 OPS for Pete Crow Armstrong, who, you know, was probably hovering around, you know, our top 20, top 24, and during the month. but I think he's like right back inside the top 12 outfielders. Ooh.

Yeah, I haven't updated my rankings this week. Yeah, he's nine for me. So in Roto at least. And points probably a little lower. But yeah. But he's walking more of the season. For sure. So I think in points,

least it's probably right around there as well. Junior Camerero. Camerreiro. The June OPS 1058 end. He now has eight home runs in his past seven games per Sarah Lange. That is the most home runs in a seven game span at age 22 or younger since at least 1900. We are watching a historical start to a career right now with Jim and Arrow. He is amazing and obviously, I don't know, maybe this will be a kind of,

it feels like it's been a yearly thing so far where he gets off to, he wasn't bad this year, but like two years in a row, once he gets to June, he just boom, like really, really takes off. Jackson Trio capped off a massive month as well. 319 batting average 10 homers, 23 runs, 25 RBI, a 10-13 OPS, is a top five or six outfield the rest of season. And Fernando Tatez, Jr., here we go, two for five with a double dung last day of June.

It was 92 degrees in Chicago. Winds were blowing out 19 miles per hour to center field. So the first home run was legit. It left Wrigley. It like went out of the entire stadium. The second one seemed like it was a little wind-dated to straightaway center for Tate's. But overall, last 33 games, this is dating back to even a little bit before June, 345, five homers, seven steals, OPS over 900, 93.3.

Average EV, 11% barrel rate. So the overall line, Chris, is still not good. It's probably not ever going to be good for this entire season. but at least over the last 30 games or so, Fernando Tatis looks more like himself. He's fine. I think you can expect Fernando Tatis to be an impact bat the rest of the way.

I don't know what that specifically looks like anymore. My guess is 25 homer pace, which is about what you got in the month of June. So I'll take that. But I think he's going to hit for a very good batting average. He's going to steal a bunch of bases. I think he's going to be awesome. The final numbers won't look like it.

It'll look like a down season, but I think, I think Fernandez is someone you should have a lot of confidence in moving forward. Other hitters who had an OPS over a thousand in June, Luis Garcia Jr. We've talked a lot about him lately, Shohe Otani, Jack Caglione, the breakout month of his career so far. Hunter Goodman, who I believe led all baseball and home runs in the month. If not, it was like him in PCA, neck and neck. And Dylan Dingler, who's kind of cemented himself as a legit top 10 fantasy option. at catcher. The pitcher winners. I have four that really stand out to me, and then one more.

Well, I guess we spoke about Justin Robleski already, but the four that had just a massive month, Logan Webb, Drew Rasmussen, Austin, Officer Griffin, who we spoke about the other day, and of course, the Miz, like Jacob Mizziarowski, but I mean, he's been just ridiculous since really all season, but from about early to mid-May on, he's just taking it to a completely different level. Anything that you'd like to highlight, I feel like, Logan Webb, we've kind of glossed over, but he kind of feels like he's back to Logan Webb. Well, yeah, and I think the reason you gloss over that is because it's expected.

The notable thing is when a player like that is struggling. And once they start pitching like themselves, it's like, okay, yeah, that's what I expect you to do. So thank you for doing it. The one thing I will say is even during the good stretch for Logan Webb, the strikeouts have not been nearly as good as they were last season. Last season he took a big step forward as a strikeout. pitcher, 26% strikeout rate.

This season is down to 21%. What's funny is there was clearly a tradeoff involved there because he had a 322 ERA with its 26% strikeout rate last season and a 358 XERA. This season, it's a 21% strikeout rate, a 309 ERA, and a 358, exactly the same XERA as last season. So the strikeout rate increase was leading to worse results on balls and play for Logan Webb. Strikeout rates gone down, better results on balls and play. He's the same pitcher, despite being a different pitcher, you know? Yeah, it's just the the route that he goes to get there has changed a little bit. But he's he's Logan Webb. The losers. Let's take a look at the hitter losers from

June. Drake Baldwin, man, 12 games since returning. I know he dealt with an oblique and and sometimes those injuries can really just kind of wreck a season. I hope that's not what's happening here. But 12 games since coming back, an 063 batting average, one homer. First at bat, back he hit like a 470 foot homer,

and then everything since has basically been a strikeout. 22 strikeouts in 49 played appearances, a 45% strikeout rate. How concerned are we about Drake Baldwin? It's still only 12 games, so it's like how much do you put into it? Yeah, I think I'm not participating. particularly concerned, but it would not be unreasonable to be at least a little bit concerned

because this is a really deep slump, but it's a 12-game slump. So I don't want to overreact. I don't think he's quite as good as he was early on in the season when he looked like potentially the best catcher in baseball. I don't think he's quite that guy, but I certainly don't think he's this bad either. So I'm okay with having Drake Baldwin, I think even trying to trade for him right now probably makes a lot of sense. Other hitter losers from the month, Jaron Duran, Vlad Jr., who we spoke about earlier, Chandler Simpson,

who a couple of weeks ago we mentioned as the rankings loser. He has stolen like five or six bases since then, but it's still just like a 200 batting average for all of June. Nolan, Aronado, and Austin Riley, get back to those two in a second. But Jaron Duran has had a sub-500 OPS in two of the three months this season. Still 95% rostered. Do you think that should be the case?

Probably. I just wondered at points leagues, you know? Yeah. Some lefties. It's crazy high, too. No, I get it. Like, I understand the point. I just.

The upside still feels like if he can get back to it, man. That's like a, he could be. We haven't seen it in like two years, but he could be like a second round player, you know? Yeah. And I don't think you should expect that anymore. He is, you know, like, it's entirely possible that what we saw was a career year at age 27,

which that's a perfectly reasonable time to have a career year. It's just that Jaron Duran seemed younger and ascending. And so it's like, oh, he's already had his career. Yeah, he might have because he's 29 years old. I, yeah, that's kind of how I feel about him. But I still, I would have a lot of trouble dropping him, personally. Yeah.

I want to just quickly mention on those two third baseman, Nolan Aronado, which I know you were all over this, Chris, you expected him to slowdown at some point. In June, hit 194 with a 556 OPS. Austin Riley,

who was drafted much higher than Nolan Aronado, hit 211 with zero homers and a 565 OPS. I think Aronado, you know, in shallow leads, you can, I think even leagues with a corner infieler. Like,

you could probably find someone who's hotter, or just more intriguing right now. Austin Riley, man. What do we do with Austin Riley? I want to not give up on him. And I want to give him a little bit more time because he has been a slowish starter over the course of his career.

You know, I think 2024 would be the biggest example where he started to hit like himself in June and just the season ended before it fixed his numbers. Last season we're seeing something similar, I think. I want to give him a little more time. But look, there is no besides the fact that his name is Austin Riley and he was once really good. There's really not a lot to be excited about here. And he is also 29.

29 is not super old. I know that. I turned 38 this week. But 29 is in the decline phase. for your typical career arc and not everybody declines at the same pace, not everybody declines the same way, and some guys,

the decline phase hits a lot earlier. And some guys declined at the same, the right age, but just hit the wall. And it's possible we're seeing that with Riley, who has had his OPS go down technically every year since 2021, but he was basically the same guy,

21, 22, 23. since his 861 OPS and 23, it's 783, 737, 619, with the underlying numbers getting worse across the board at each year. I do think it's possible that we've just already seen the best from Austin Riley,

but I want to be a little bit more patient. I also wonder if just like the injuries that he's dealt with have just taken a toll on his body over the past couple of years. To your point about holding on a little bit longer and being a slow starter, in his career,

his best months in terms of OPS, July 927 and August 859. So typically the two best months of his of Austin Riley's career. We'll see if he can turn it on in July. Pitcher losers, Bryce Elder, who we talked about as a drop, Freddie Peralta, Gavin Williams, Davis Martin, and Jose Soriano. I just wanted to highlight Soriano because he pitched here on Tuesday. He actually had five shutout innings and then faltered when he came back out for the sixth. I thought he deserved a better line than this, Chris.

Five plus innings, three runs, nine strikeouts to one walk. He had 16 whiffs. He threw 68% of his pitches for strikes. He only walked one. He only allowed three hard hits. I thought he deserved a better result here. Yeah, I think that makes perfect sense. Anytime you have a really good five-inning start and then you go out for the sixth,

we can say everyone should be able to pitch six innings without a problem. and that his pitch count was not especially high entering the sixth inning, but that third time through the order penalty can be a real problem for pitchers. And look, I think you'd feel a lot better about him if you had the five good innings, but it does also highlight some limitations for Jose Soriano that I think are very real. He's just, he's not as good as he looked in that first month. And the underlying numbers back it up. It's actually, I think the XERA is the worst that's ever been or worse than last season.

So I don't think you should drop him across the board, but I think Jose Soriano is back to being just a guy, unfortunately. All right, let's take our final break. When we return, I've got some waiver options. We've got the Worryometer for Cam Schlitler. We'll do all that right after this. Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball today. And let's talk waiver wire hitters, Dansby Swanson,

and only a name that would be out there in the shallowest of leagues. He's 73% rostered, but boy, he stayed hot. Three for four with a double dong, three RBI. He would be a big winner in June as well. Last 12 games, 12 games, 340, 6 homers, 21 RBI, 4 steals. Batting average is still 203. So that tells you just like where he was coming from before that. But, you know, in some leagues we lost Jeremy Pena.

We might be losing Corey Seeger again. and so I think in some of those shallower formats like Gainesby-Swanson would be a totally fine replacement for those guys. Yeah. I do think it's funny that the last 12 games have been awesome. If you get a little more granular, it's like five awesome games,

six awesome games maybe. Then he had four straight hitless games where he struck out six times and 16 plate appearances after that crazy stretch last week. And then the last two games, I think it's five hits and a home run. I think the biggest difference with Danes B. Swanson this season overall is just he's hitting 200 instead of 240.

And that's not nothing. Yeah. But it's over the course of three months, it's probably, gosh, 12 extra hits over the course of three months. Probably gets you to 240 from 200, from 200. His stolen base, RBI run, home run paces pretty much look exactly like you expect. Yeah. Now, RBI. last 10 days are carrying a lot of weight there.

He's got 40% of his RBI in the past 12 games, but overall he still looks like the same guy with just a worst batting average. So I think he's a perfectly viable middle infield starter. Danesby Swanson's pace before this two home run game entering Tuesday was 21 homers, 19 steals, 95 runs, 89 RBI. So pretty close to what you hope for. Everything is there except for the batting average.

So let's just hope. It's like 250 the rest of the way. That's pretty much Danesby-Swanson. Catchers, it's been a good run for catchers lately. Francisco Alvarez hit his ninth home run in 19 games since returning. He's hitting 265 with five homers and 821 OPS, 19% barrel rate. Also striking out a lot. And Cabot Ruiz, a nice game here, two for three with a walk, a double, three RBI,

consistently sitting out every third game, which I saw on his game log. So it's a little frustrating. but since the start of May, he's actually been really good. He's got an OPS over 900 since the start of May. Chris, who do you like more between Alvarez and Cabaret Ruiz? Oh,

Alvarez for sure. I think Ruiz is a nice player. He's swinging the bat a little harder this season, and that's been a good thing for him. But I think Avra is just a significantly more talented player. I think the strikeout rate's gone up a lot in the past few games. But over the course of the season, it's been closer like 25%.

He has the best expected Wobon contact. of his career. He's hitting the ball hard. I think Francisco Abrez is a borderline top 12 catcher. I don't know if he's quite in the top 12. There's a handful of guys who are very similar to him. Carter Jensen is in that discussion. I think Gabriel Moreno,

maybe Adly Rushman, Samuel Pesior, in that discussion, but I think he's there with those guys. Do you think Caber Ruiz is clearly ahead of that other trio we talked about, N.D. Rodriguez, Cooper, Ingle, and Joe Mack? Probably. I think so too.

I think those guys might have more upside. But yeah, I think that's fair. Some names here in five outfielder leagues. We've talked a lot about these names lately. Tommy Edmund had a huge game four for five with his first home run for RBI in 11 games since returning. He's 15 for 38. That's a 395 batting average. And he has started nine of 12 games since coming off the IL.

Just be cognizant of whenever you see lefties on the schedule. Tommy Edmund typically hits really well against lefties. and, you know, he was going up against Jeffrey Springs, who has not been very good lately, but, you know, he typically does own left-handed pitching. That's Tommy Edmund. Asmerlin Valdez, another solid game, two for three with a walk.

One of the hits and the walk came off of Christopher Sanchez, which I think is pretty impressive for a young hitter here. He's up to 22% rostered. Andrew Benintendi had himself a strong June as well, hitting 284, six homers, 15 RBI, 9-57 OPS, and he has really lean into pulling the ball in the air this year. 32% is a career high. 31% rostered.

Any interest, Chris, Andrew Benetendi? No, not really. I think he's... I think he's an okay hot hand play in five outfielder leagues. Should be rostered 9015 outfielder league. I don't expect someone you're happy to have a round for long term, though. I think I would just rather take the shot on Valdez or, or Edmund ahead of him, right?

And then one deeper name, Jacob Gonzalez is picking things up with the White Sox, three for five with three RBI, last six games. He has 11 hits, a homer, 12 RBI. He has started six straight, 10% rostered,

first and second base eligible. Very deep league name, but any interest here, he was performing well in the minors, Jacob Gonzalez. I think he's moderately interesting. I just, does he have a job when Munitaka Marcomi's healthy?

That I'm not sure about. I'm not sure. Like, if Chase, my drop doesn't hit maybe he takes out but but yeah i think as all is is pretty interesting former first round pick who was finally starting to figure it out this season at the minor league level he just i think he's someone who's probably going to have to hit for power and he hasn't really done that so far two homers in 24 games not really hitting the ball that hard so that's the concern is as that skill set hasn't showed up yet for him really all right let's

slide over to the waiver wire pitchers outside of Cade Cavali. And Griffin Jacks threw six innings, but it was still just 71 pitches. So he was really just efficient in this one. Six innings, three runs, five strikeouts to zero walks for him. He had eight whiffs on 71 pitches. And he did, you know, use the sweeper change up curve a little bit more. And that is what we want from Griffin Jacks. Last five starts for him, 173 ERA and a one whip on the nose.

Brandon Sproat pitched well against. against the Reds, once again, five and a third, two runs, seven strikeouts. He had 13 whiffs on 106 pitches. And more sweepers in this one, that is a great idea for him. And last two against the Reds, it's 11 and a third, two runs, 17 strikeouts to two walks. Matthew Liberatore, a solid outing at the Braves, five innings, one hit, one run, nine strikeouts to four walks. He had 15 whiffs on 98 pitches.

And he used to slider more in this start. It was really, really good for him. His slider and curve are really good. He doesn't really have anything else. I also think he's just like catching the Braves at the right time right now. Yeah. But what do you, how would you rank these three, Chris? Jacks, Sprote and Liberator.

Jacks, Sproote and Liberator. I think Jacks, given how many interesting pitchers are in that 70% rostered range or even below, if we're talking about, oh, who was it, Cade Cavali, who was a little lower than that? I can't say I think Griffin Jackson is someone need to rush out and add right now after this start. But I think he's good. And I'm just not sure the opportunity is going to be there for him to be super valuable for fantasy. He went back to only 71 pitches in this one on five days rest after throwing 88 in his previous start. That is by far the most he's thrown in any start.

I don't know if he's throwing 80 in a start outside of that one. I'm not sure he's throwing 75 in a start outside of that one. So I just think Jacks is kind of limited and we're kind of near the ceiling in terms of how much you want to roster him. But, you know, he's SPARP, so any points league for sure. Sprode, I don't trust. I know I'm kind of on an island here. I know a lot of people really like him. I see it in the comments, especially if people really like Brandon Sprote.

I think he's talented. I think he's got a good feel for spin. I don't think he's a great pitcher yet. So I'm not pounding the table to add him across the board either. I agree with that. I just kind of blindly trust the brewers, right, to figure things out. So, you know, I still think there is there's some maturity here and he has to develop as a starting pitcher.

He's looked really good over his last two. And you see it. There are upside moments and individual pitch characteristics that look pretty good for Brandon Sproat. The breaking stuff looks really good. but, you know, his fastballs, all of them, they typically get hit pretty hard. So there are still things that he needs to work on,

but I typically do want to just give the Brewers the benefit of the doubt. Hope that they could figure that out. Going back to Griffin Jacks for a second, you mentioned 88 pitches in his previous start. You are correct. He has not thrown more than 72 pitches in any other outing the season. So that was very clearly, kind of feels like an outlier for Griffin Jackson.

His last one. And a drop, I mentioned earlier, Noah Cameron, last four starts for him, a nine ERA, a 222 whips, still 77% rostered. So get that guy out of here. Worryometer Wednesday, Cam Schlittler. He got rocked here by the Tigers, four plus inning seven hits, six runs, four homers allowed, career high on the earned runs, the homers in this one, and lots of hard contact, 11 hard hits in this one.

I'm going to watch. his last two fastballs in the fifth inning, they average 94.7 miles per hour, and he averages around 98 on the season. And I know this has happened a few other times with him. Somebody else pointed out to me on Twitter that, like, thought maybe he could be tipping pitches in this one, which I don't want to make excuses for the guy.

Well, I mean, my thing is just like... A regression start for him. He's been so good, you know? It's, you know, four-seamer sinker cutter. I don't know if tipping pitches really changes that, you know? just look out for hard stuff, right? Yeah, pretty much the book. He's going to throw it hard.

Watch out. No, I look, obviously that can be the case. But there's been some warning signs of late. He had his best career start against the Reds a couple weeks ago, but there was that four-start, four-walk start against the Blue Jays. There was the five, four-armed runs and four-and-a-third. Last start, the defense was the issue, but he got hit kind of hard, I think, in that one as well.

So he gave up a homer in that one too. Yeah, there have been some signs that he's not quite as good. But it's also like he finished the month of June with a 330A and 42 strikeouts and 32 innings. I don't want to overstate the case here. I still think Cam Schlittler is one of the 10 best pitchers in baseball. It's just maybe he's not one of the five best pitchers in baseball. something to watch is the ground ball rate has been trending down for Cam Schlittler. Earlier on, you know, using that sinker, that cutter more.

He was getting ground balls. But just a 38% ground ball rate in his previous nine starts and then had zero ground balls in this start here on Tuesday. So, you know, no ground balls. If you're not getting, not every out, it's going to be a strikeout. That means, you know, more line drives, more fly balls, juice ball, pitching Yankee Stadium. You know, like things could happen here with Cam Schiller. So just keep that in mind. Joe Ryan, meet Yordon Alvarez.

Four innings, six hits, six earned runs, which was a season high. He gave up a grand slam to Yordaun Alvarez. The velocity here for Joe Ryan up between 1.4 and 2.5 miles per hour on all of his pitches, except the slider. That's weird. Ten total earned runs in his last two outings. Anything to worry about here with Joe Ryan, or is it just like, hey, he gives up homers at times? Yeah, I think he's a guy. There's a little show to Emanaga to him where the E.R.

probably always ends up a little higher than you would hope. But he's such a good strikeout pitcher. I mean, more so than Eamonagi even. Very good wit pitcher as well that I think you just kind of have to live with the ERA being a little inflated. But I think he's going to be good overall. And it's just these blow-up starts will happen. And then Landon Rube destroyed at the D-backs two and two-thirds. six runs, six walks, four strikeouts.

His velocity was actually up in this outing, but I'm not so sure that's a good thing because he clearly could not command. Just 39% of his pitches were in the zone. 52% of his pitches for strikes, that is awful. The underlying stuff, you know, I have pointed out, Scott has pointed out a lot, the strikeouts are there, ground balls,

ERA estimators are there, but I just think when things go south, man, they just go really south for Land of Rube. I feel like maybe he's a pitcher where like the ERA and WIP might run hotter than what the underlying numbers say it should be. Yeah, I mean, my mental model of Lano Rup is kind of a less dependable Terek scoop. Or, geez, no, sorry, Framber Valdez, excuse me. Or like, Framber Valdez, but without the certainty that he's going to be good at some point. Because Framber, I'm very confident at some point it's going to click for him.

It's a similar skill set to Rup, where he relies on that big curveball, and it's just tough to live that way. I think there's potential here, but it's so hit or miss right now. And it's a really hard profile to make work. I'm not necessarily sure I have a ton of faith in the Giants to be the team to figure these kind of things out right now either. So I want to believe, because I'm a believer in underlying metrics, you know, that's a big part of my thing.

And he's just, he has not gotten to it consistently enough. And I think the command is just a big problem. Yeah. Do you think he's a must hold? Like if, if you have Landon Roop and he's kind of one of your fringe pitchers at the end of your roster,

would you, would you drop him for like a Cade Cavali or a Tatsuya Imi? They all feel pretty volatile. Yeah, I think he's in that group. So if you want to just whoever had the most recent good start, I don't know if that's the best process necessarily, but I think they're all fairly similar talent-wise. So it is to a certain extent just rolling the dice on one of them

and hoping that's the one who hits. Yeah. We do have a bunch of leftovers here Tuesday. I mean, every Tuesday is busy. Big bouncebacks here on the pitching side. Nolan McLean, he was great at the Blue Jays, six shutout, five strikeout, six shutouts, seven strikeouts, excuse me, 11 whiffs on 91 pitches.

He used his curveball more in this one, and it was a very good pitch for him overall. First scoreless start of the year, seven plus strikeouts in three straight for Noah McLean. And on the other side, Kevin Gosman needed a bounce back as well. He got it. Six innings, one run, seven strikeouts,

14 whiffs on 96 pitches. Did give up a lot of hard contact, 11 hard hits in this one, but nice to see overall strong performance. Chris, anything that stood out to you, on Gosman or Nolan McLean here? I don't see much different in either of them. It's just good to see, but expected, I think.

Not necessarily like I expected them to be both be great in these starts, but I expected them to figure it out eventually. So I don't have a ton to add there, yeah. I don't know if this was a conscious decision by Nolan McLean, but all of his breaking pitches had less drop in this one. And I just wonder if that made it easier to like land them for strikes or get them in the zone. Sure.

And perhaps like something that helped them here. I have, I think the last time he started, my theory was that his pitches might move too much. So it's possible that that helps. Yeah. I guess we also should highlight it was a Blue Jays lineup that did not have Vlad or Okamoto in it today. Well, that seems like it would matter. Yeah, I mean, not having Vlad in these days. Yeah.

Sean Keyes, greater sign Vlad Jr. Yeah, no, he's not done much yet. Aces being aces. Terrick Scoobel had his best start since for turning. This one at the Yankees, six innings, one hit, two runs. One of those earned nine strikeouts to zero walks. He had 13 whiffs on 87 pitches. Christopher Sanchez, dominant once again, this time against the Pirates.

Seven shutout innings, nine strikeouts. 23 whiffs on 92 pitches. His change-up and slider have actually both leveled up this season, which is just crazy to think about. Jacob de Grom, he was great at the Guardian. seven innings, two runs, nine strikeouts to zero walks for him. And Brian, who, bounce back with a quality start at home. Of course, that's what he does.

Against the Angels, six and a third, two runs, five strikeouts to one walk. He had 15 whiffs on 106 pitches. I mean, four of the top 15 starting pitchers in baseball. Anything to add on this group? I mean, we could have had Scoobel and Woo and the big bouncebacks as well. They were both coming off pretty bad starts and have been, frustrating lately scoble and i think it'd only been two starts since he came off the iL but he hadn't looked great um giving up a lot of home runs but i never really had any concern the only thing

would just be well he came back so fast and you know the new surgery okay maybe it's a faster recovery isn't necessarily better i tend to assume yes but it's an uncertain thing at least but i tend to think Terrick Scubble is going to be Terris Scoobble moving forward too. Yeah, one thing I will point out, he has allowed at least one home run, each of his force coming off the aisle. So that seems a little bit uncharacteristic there for Terrick Scoobal. Chris, did you see how Jacob de Grom gained the lead in that game against the Guardians? I did not.

So Cooper Ingle caught the ball in left field, left field. And there was a runner on second. He thought it was the third out. It was the second. he threw the ball into the stands. And so that's like a two-base error. Yeah, yeah. We've all seen that before.

Jay Buehner, I want to say famously did it in like a, in a very tough moment in a game in the 90s. Like, it might have been a Mariners-Yankees game or something. That was, yeah, that'll happen. Updated home road splits, by the way, for Brian Wu. 210 ERA at home, 638 on the road. I don't think there's anything actionable with that, right? it's just kind of annoying.

Yeah, I don't see any reason to think that's a big thing moving forward. But yeah. I know that T. Louisville Park is a great ballpark to pitch. Like I get there would be home road splits, but I don't think there should be like a four-run difference. I don't think it's a situation where you can't trust Brian Wu on the road now. Yeah. Two other pitching leftovers.

Tanner Bybee, a solid outing here, seven innings, three runs. Two of those earned again, you know, Cooper Engels, sorry. two strikeouts to zero walks for for bybee it's just kind of been a weird season for him it's like up and down strikeouts come and go it's i think he's just turning into like michael walka when you look at his at 369 er a and 111 whip like it's okay it's just that's useful doesn't come uh doesn't come with that many strikeouts and then uh bubba chandler he was at two earned runs through six things and then he just fell apart he came back out for the seventh winds up with five runs in this one.

Previous four starts were all really good. Anything on Bybee and Bubba Chandler? The Bubba Chandler one's very frustrating because this should have been an opportunity to, like, let's stack some good starts, start to feel good moving forward. And they just got a little cocky, kept him out there.

And I think they ended up paying for it. But, you know, he's still not there yet. It's only, seven whiffs in this one. The strikeout rate has not been very good lately despite better results. So he's still figuring out. I think it's, you know, maybe it's just,

let's figure out how to get outs and then we'll figure out how to get strikeouts, but it's, it's frustrating for a guy who clearly has good stuff that he's not generating the kind of whiffs we should be seen from him. All right. Some hitting leftovers. Ketel Marte, his 17th home run. He has homered in four straight and five of the past. and he had a terrible April, but since the start of May,

he's hitting 282 with 12 homers, 42 RBI, and an OPS near 900. 12 homers, maybe I miswrote that. That feels low. I don't know. But anyway. Yeah, he probably didn't have five homers in April, right? He's, uh, no, no, no.

He has 12 home runs since the start of May. Uh, yeah, so five, I don't know, maybe he just, it's 17 home runs overall. Maybe it is right. I don't know. Anyway, Kudel Martez is the start of May. May that's right. Others who have picked it up lately, Mani Machado last 19 games. He's hitting 264.

Five homers, 14 RBI and OPS over 900. So finally starting to climb out of it. Trey Turner, same thing. Last 13 games for him. 345, two homers, 16 runs, two steals. Riley Green, he kind of had the opposite of Cotel Marte. He did not have a good May. He did not homer in May at all. And then here in June, seven home runs that was capped here with a two-homer performance, both against Cam Schlittler.

So pretty awesome stuff there from him. Sal Stewart, he's picking things back up last 15, hitting 300, three homers, 17 RBI, one steel, 888 OPS. Carter Jensen over his last 20, 3.46 with five home runs for him. Just an 18% strikeout rate, you like to see that. And Jake Bowers, three for four with his 15th home run. June has been his best power month yet. six homers and a 976 OPS.

One thing to watch is that he has sat out four of their past 11 games and all four of those were against lefties. Yeah, they're, Andrew Vaughn's a really good hitter. And it's a really tough situation because, I mean, I know they played Vaughn once or twice at third base.

I kind of feel like they should just like, can he do that? Can we just give him a chance? Because their best lineups going to have Jake Bowers and Andrew Vaughan in it and it's really hard to do that when Christian Yelich also needs to play at DH and yellich has been sitting out against lefties too he's been sitting out against lefties but I don't think they're ever going to bench him nor should they I mean he's earned that kind of trust but it's you'd rather have too many good hitters than not enough but they definitely do have too many good hitters and it's uh it's holding like I think

Vaughn and Bowers could both be top 20, top 15 type first baseman if they just played every day. I have a little more faith in Vaughn personally, but I think both would be good, yeah. All right. Three other hitting leftovers, Bobby Whit Jr. Three for four with a double dong, three RBI. Nice to see this after the knee injury. He really hadn't done much. So big game here for him.

Yoron Alvarez, three for four with a grand slam, his 26th home run. He had been hitless in his previous five games before this. He's human. It's loud. And Josh Young, two for four with his ninth homer, but he actually was a faller here in June, down to a 683 OPS in the month, still 80% rostered.

The overall numbers still look pretty good. Do you think Josh Young is someone that you have to hold on to? No, because even when he was having, you know, a good stretch to open the season, it wasn't for a lot of power. It was mostly batting average,

and batting average was fickle. So now that it's turned, I don't think you have to view, Josh Young as a must roster player now. All right. On the bullpen side of things, the call to the bullpen for the Rangers, Jacob Lats struck out two for his,

in the ninth for his 18th save. For the Mets, Devin Williams got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He allowed a hit, but picked up his 12th save. For the Cardinals, Riley O'Brien, picked up his 21st save. He kind of had a hiccup in late May, early June, but he's bounced back.

Riley O'Brien has. For the Astros, Josh Hader struck out two for his eighth save. And for the Cubs, Tyler Ferguson entered with two outs in the eighth. One man on, two run lead. He struck out Manny Machado. And Ferguson started the ninth. He got the first two outs. It was lefty Ryan Rawlinson, who got the final out against Jackson Merrill. My assumption is that Caleb Thielbar and both Jacob Webb were unavailable here on Tuesday. To stream or not to stream on Wednesday, we have Troy Melton at the Yankees, Joey Cantillo against the Rangers. Walker Bueller at the Cubs. Colin Ray against the Padres. Michael McGreevy at the Braves.

Tatsuya Emai against the twins. Andrew Abbott at the Brewer. Shane Drowen against the Reds. Melton, Cantillo, and Imi are all good. I don't hate either side of Abbott versus Drowin in Milwaukee. It's a good ballpark for strikeouts. I could see that working out. All right. And I forgot to write these in for Thursday. Okay. I'm looking at it. There's not a ton of great options. No, there's not too much going on here. Jared Jones

at Philadelphia. You don't really, not really. Slade Cicone against the white socks. Maybe. I know Lance Brasowski

had something about some changes that Slate Cicone has made recently. I thought they were interesting. I didn't find it fully convincing.

Wobberta Rania, Seattle. I think that's a pretty good one. That could work. Roki Sasaki versus San Diego should be good, but that was the matchup he just had, and it was bad, so I don't...

That's true. I don't know if you can trust it, yeah. Yeah, if I had to choose three, I would probably say Arania, Sasaki, and Sacconi, but... I guess, yeah. Yeah, I mean, Arana's... Arania is the only one that I guess have decent.

I think that's my favorite one, yeah. Yep. We are going to wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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