Giancarlo Stanton (MIA - OF) - Stanton flashed some more power last night, unleashing a bomb for his third home run of the year before adding an RBI single later on. He was 2-for-4 with the HR and a walk on the night. Stanton is off to a somewhat slow start with some alarming numbers (52% GB rate, 31.9% K rate), but it's nothing to be concerned with yet. The season is still young, and a few more games like last night will have those numbers be apart of distant memory very soon.
Jerad Eickhoff (PHI - SP) - Eickhoff impressed again last night in a losing effort, tossing 7 innings 2 ER with 9 K's. It officially looks like the Phillies will be fun to watch 2 of out every 5 days with Eickhoff and Velasquez on the hill. Eickhoff will have his ups and downs this year, but his curveball has looked downright filthy. He's throwing it 26.8% of the time to keep hitters off balance, and so far it's working. I think an ERA in the low 3's is reasonable, but wins will be very tough to come by for Eickhoff as evidenced by the lack of run support last night.
Jason Heyward (CHC - OF) - Jason Heyward was welcomed to a chorus of boos in St. Louis last night, and he may be hearing them soon in Chicago if he doesn't start hitting the ball a bit better. He came into the night batting .205 with 0 HR, and promptly went 0-for-4. This is frustrating for fantasy owners as Heyward is right in the middle of a monstrous offense, but can't seem to produce. I really don't know what to think of Heyward, but he confuses the hell of out me. I can't think of another player whose ISO peaked at age 22, that went from a guy you would fear at the plate to a defensive outfield specialist that can steal 20 bags. He's still young, so people are holding out hope, but with each passing year, I just don't see him being a great fantasy option. He always seems to be drafted too soon based on potential. Great baseball player, underwhelming fantasy asset. A turnaround wouldn't shock me given his age (26), but it's been 4 years of waiting for the next power surge.
Trevor Story (COL - SS) - Should we look at Trevor Story? What a novel idea. (Zing!) Story went 2-for-4 last night with a HR and a double, his eighth dinger of the year. I'm selling Story at this point if you can. Let's take a trip back to 2006, when through the first 13 games (54 PA), a certain player was batting .471 with 9 HR and a 1.716 OPS. That guy had a .663 OPS the next 102 games with just 7 home runs. That person was Chris Shelton, who was out of baseball less than 150 plate appearances after that 2006 season. It's true that Story brings a boatload of more potential with him, and no he won't be out of the league, but we're witnessing an anomaly that could very well be the best 15-game stretch of his career. His HR/FB rate is over 40%, while his K% is just under 40%. When both of those numbers normalize, fantasy production will come crashing down. Hard.
David Wright (NYM - 3B) - David Wright hit his first and second home runs of the year last night, one an opposite field blast that I was impressed with. Despite the lack of power early, Wright came into last night walking at a 21.4% clip, making his services quite valuable in OBP leagues. Still, I'm very bearish on Wright as a bottom tier 3B this year. The walks look great, as does his LD% at the moment, but he's swinging and missing at 14.3% of pitches, nearly double his career rate, and his contact rate so far is just 64.4%. Frankly, it's a miracle that pitchers haven't realized this yet and just started pounding the zone, though granted he made them pay last night. I don't think the 2 HR were an indication of reliving the glory days, so continue to let someone else run with Wright and his questionable health.
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