Jose Fernandez, Miami Marlins - In a world without Clayton Kershaw, we'd be talking a lot more about the run that Jose Fernandez is on. With seven shutout innings Tuesday he's now one seven straight starts and has lowered his ERA to 2.53 while striking out over 12 batters per nine against just three walks per nine. Here's the fun part.... Fernandez has even been a bit unlucky to this point in the season with a .323 BABIP which is 40 points higher than last season and almost 100 points higher than his rookie of the year season in 2013. While he's generating a ridiculous 15% swinging strike rate, when batters do make contact they are hitting it hard 34% of the time. We still may not have seen the best JoFer yet, and that is slightly terrifying.
Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks - Goldschmidt is in the midst of an absolute tear over the last two weeks hitting for a .372/.509/.628 triple slash before going 3-for-5 Tuesday. He's now sitting at a .269/.429/.484 triple slash with 10 homers, 33 RBI, and six steals with a near 1:1 strikeout to walk ratio. Goldy is making even more contact that he did last season, but he is making more soft contact than last season by 5%. However, his BABIP is still 25 points below his career average and is nearly 60 points below last years' BABIP. If you wanted to buy low on Goldy (if someone was willing to sell low) that window is slammed shut, he's well on his way now to being the best 1B option in all of fantasy.
Matt Wisler, Atlanta Braves - Wisler continues to have a solid season despite taking his fifth loss of the season. He tossed seven innings allowing three runs (two were allowed by the bullpen but charged to Wisler) but his strikeout numbers continue to be less than desired. He struck out and walked two in the game lowering his K/9 to right around 6.5. For what it's worth this start marks the sixth straight quality start for the righty but after three straight games of seven strikeouts it was unfortunate to see him drop down back to under five. Wisler might make for a "sell high" candidate as his hard hit rate is closing in on 40% and with only one season under his belt we can't necessarily say he's bound to regress.
DJ LeMahieu, Colorado Rockies - LeMahieu had a huge Tuesday going 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles, his third homer of the season, and two RBI. LeMahieu can hit, we all know this. In any other year a second baseman with a .318 average with a few homers and steals chipped in would be a great fantasy option and while he is a good option, second base has been surprisingly deep so far. In my ESPN league I'm in he's the #12 2B this season because while he's good at almost everything, he lacks the upside in any one category that makes him a great option at the position. When it comes to his power last year he hit six homers with three being at home and three coming on the road. If you can't run into at least eight homers at Coors Field with even below average power, you just don't have that much anyways.
Patrick Corbin, Arizona Diamondbacks - A guy that I ended up with on almost every single team this year was Patrick Corbin, and his time is coming to an end on some. He struggled again on Tuesday giving up seven earned runs in 3.1 innings with just three strikeouts. Corbin wasn't a great strikeout guy before his Tommy John surgery but after an uptick in his small sample return last season he has dropped off in strikeouts even below his pre-Tommy John form. His swinging strike rate is down by 2% and batters are making contact more in the zone by, you guessed it, 2%. His hard hit rate has also skyrocketed by nearly 9% (39.9%) and his BABIP is actually down by a few points based on his career average. He shouldn't be dropped in all leagues, but his underlying stats don't show that he's quite back to his full strength form.
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