Fantasy News: scoop up Schoop, Tulo's struggles continue, Sanchez sharp
One of the weirder MLB box scores this season was the Orioles vs. Rangers this past Friday. If you’ve been following his career arc, Vance Worley is a huge fan of run support. He loves it. The starter with the rec specs got banged around for five runs – four earned – in the second inning. However, he was fine the other five innings. He survived to pitch six innings allowing the four earned runs on four hits and two walks striking out six.
By surviving the six innings, he was in line and got the win after the Orioles’ bats woke up and dropped nine runs on the board in the top of the seventh. Mark Trumbo hit two homers in that same inning. Jonathan Schoop knocked one out in the seventh and another in the eight – his third on the season. Orioles rallied to get Worley the win, 11-5.
Circling back to Schoop, the 24-year-old second base prospect is available in 75 percent of leagues on FOXSports.com. His .282 / .317 / .615 triple slash isn’t horrible, isn’t great, but Schoop could poke 20+ homers at this rate if consistent playing time remains. He was projected to hit 18 HR in 110 games. I think he’d be a great middle infield add today, while second base startability is something to monitor.
Playing part-time, Nolan Reimold has two homers and three doubles in 18 at bats with .389 OBP.
The Orioles starting rotation owns the eighth-highest ERA 11 games into the season (5.14). The xFIP is 4.05 which indicates some bad luck, but still not great.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Kevin Pillar leadoff experiment has failed – at least for now. John Gibbons moved Pillar back down to eighth in the order – the same spot he spent most of 2015 when he swiped 25 bases and hit .278. All is not lost, but definitely a setback for full fantasy potential. Michael Saunders will leadoff moving forward.
Troy Tulowitzki was 1-11 with five strikeouts over the weekend.
Aaron Sanchez picked up his third straight quality start on the season on Sunday. He’s allowed only three earned runs with 20 strikeouts in 20 innings pitched.
New York Yankees
Are Luis Severino owners allowed to panic? Well, most MLB analysis comes with a huge “it’s two weeks into the season” asterisk attached to any commentary. So, not yet. Severino’s K/9 rate is down more than two strikeouts, but just over 10 innings of work doesn’t tell us much. Plus, his xFIP is more than three runs south of his current ERA. Keep the faith!
Chase Headley, 31, has three stolen bases on the season. He swiped a total of 15 over the past three seasons.
C.C. Sabathia needed 95 pitches to get through 4 2/3 innings pitched in Sunday’s matchup against the Mariners. His fastball is down about 2-3 MPH from this time last season.
Jacoby Ellsbury has a .213 batting average and a 2016 BABIP of .263 when career norm is .318. With four stolen bases accumulated with those paltry numbers, when (if) things return to the norm, he could flirt with 30 stolen bases this season.
Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa Bay starting pitching only allowed two earned runs in 19 innings pitched. Matt Moore was the only SP to allow runners to score, but picked up his first win and second quality start in a row. His 2016 K/9 rests at 10.31 in 18 1/3 IP. He’s available in 52 percent of leagues on FOXSports.com.
Boston Red Sox
David Ortiz stole his first base since 2013 over the weekend.
Travis Shaw drove in seven runs in the first three games of the Red Sox series against the Blue Jays. Meanwhile, Dr. James Andrews needs to wait for inflammation to die down before looking at Pablo Sandoval’s shoulder again.
Following up on Friday’s note regarding Blake Swihart’s demotion to Triple-A. He will indeed start to work at other positions, while Christian Vazquez’s defensive skills are utilized in the bigs.