Christian Yelich (OF, Mia): Yelich went 2-4 with a home run and a double, scoring twice and driving in two runs. He also walked for the 38th time this season, and his slash line is now up to a toasty .316/.399/.480. That's the best part of what he's contributed however, as he's only 4-7 in stolen bases, and the home run in this game was only his seventh of the year. He continues to beat the ball heavily into the ground at a 59.3% clip, so it's required an upper-teens HR/FB just to get to where he's at with seven bombs. Without much speed or power his value is somewhat limited, but should continue to get on base at an elite rate and contribute a fair bit of runs and RBI.
Yoenis Cespedes (OF, NYM): Cespedes departed Friday's game with a right quad strain. He was 0-1 before being lifted with the injury after three innings of work. The fact that the injury wasn't obvious lends to the possibility that he tried to play though it but just couldn't, so maybe it isn't a severe strain. The Mets didn't comment on the severity, but if it's anything other than a mild strain, there is a good chance Cespedes finds the disabled list with the All Star break right around the corner and the Mets give him an extended breather. He is amidst the best season of his career, slashing .303/.373/.585 with 21 home runs and 52 RBI in 79 games. The power is hard to project to continue since he's put up a massive 26.6% HR/FB rate, but he is posting career-highs in hard contact rate (42.7%) and line drive rate (25.4%) which is helping him maintain his .344 BABIP. He'll be looking at a massive payday in the offseason regardless of if he spends a couple of weeks on the DL.
Francisco Liriano (SP, Pit): Liriano made his case to stick in the rotation, giving up two runs (one earned) in five innings against the Cubs. He allowed only three hits, but walked three and also struck out three with his 96 pitch effort. He threw only seven more fastballs than sliders in the start, which is not unheard of from Liriano, but he did manage to average 94.1 MPH on his fastball in the start. That's up from his 92.3 average velocity this season, so one has to wonder if he's made any kind of mechanical tweak to fix what's been ailing him this season. The Cubs are a tough matchup, so it's hard to take too much away from this start, but if anything it's encouraging as we head into the second half of the season. Deep league owners of Liriano are encouraged to hold for now.
Stephen Strasburg (SP, Was): Strasburg stymied the Mets across seven innings, yielding only one run on two hits and three walks with nine strikeouts. He continues to be dominant while healthy and is on track for a career year. He's really limiting hard contact this year with a 25.3% rate, and that's helped feed into his lwo .270 BABIP. Initiating weak contact is a skill, and that will help him keep his ERA low moving forward, very likely even lower than his FIP, which it currently is (2.62 ERA, 2.97 FIP). His record remains unblemished this season as he rolls to 12-0, and features a 11.14 K/9 that very few starters can rival.
Carlos Martinez (SP, STL): Martinez faces the Brewers in Miller Park on Saturday. He's priced well under the aces that are going, but should get you a good return on your investment. He has recorded seven consecutive quality starts after scuffling through most of May, and the last time he faced the Brewers he threw eight shutout innings with eight strikeouts. The Brewers are merely 19th in OPS against right-handed pitching this season with a .722 mark, and they recently lost another bullet from their clip when they traded away Aaron Hill. It's a pretty righty-heavy lineup as well, and Martinez has limited right-handed bats to a .195 wOBA this season. The opposing pitcher is Chase Anderson in the matchup, who boasts a 5.49 ERA this season, so a win for C-Mart is well within the realm of likelihood, which is a nice cherry on top. Martinez will be $9,300 on Draft Kings.
Let's talk some ball! Follow me on Twitter @NathanDokken
This is just a small sample our our daily analysis, join our member area for over 80 player updates daily: http://www.fantistics.com/join/join.php3
