Justin Verlander SP (DET) - Justin Verlander was simply dominant last night, flirting with his second no hitter of the season. He "settled" for a complete game shutout in which he allowed just 1 walk and 1 hit while overwhelming the Indians lineup with 12 strikeouts and 10 groundball outs. Verlander is clearly a top 5 fantasy pitcher. In a world where the wins category is tough to predict and can often be downright cruel to owners, Verlander is one of the safest bets to be among the league leaders in this category. First of all, he avoids disaster starts. Verlander has allowed more than 3 ER just once the entire season - simply amazing. He doesn't have a single start in which he didn't pitch at least 6 innings, and he has completed 8 or more innings 8 times (more than half his starts). As a result, Verlander now has an astounding 14 quality starts in 15 attempts.
Nick Swisher OF (NYY) - I have to echo Drew's thoughts from a couple of days ago declaring Swisher to be a buy low candidate. He currently has a career best .83 EYE and the second highest LD% of his career (20.4%). Clearly, Swisher is seeing the ball well, but for some reason the power hasn't come. It will, though. Swisher's current HR/FB% of 7.2% is half his career mark. Given the combination of Siwsher's solid contact and career best plate discipline, expect that the extra base hits, especially homers, to start rolling out in bunches. This is a guy coming off of back to back 29 homer seasons, hitting in one of the best lineups in baseball and hitting in a good homerun park. As of writing this last night Swisher was 2-2 with a walker, a homer and a double; the window of opportunity to buy low may be closing fast.
Jeremy Hellickson SP (TB) - In limited starts leagues or points leagues where you can get negatives, I don't suggest throwing Hellickson out there today against the BoSox. They boast the best offense in baseball, and I fear some regression coming Hellickson's way. His .231 BABIP, 78.8 LOB% and 6.6 HR/FB% are all lucky and will normalize. When that happens, Hellickson's ERA will begin to rise towards the 4 mark; both his FIP and xFIP are currently above 4.
Aaron Hill 2B (TOR) - Hill hit just his second homer of the year last night, which is certainly disappointing considering he walloped 62 combined dingers over the past 2 seasons. Personally, I see a buy low candidate. His EYE is right in line with what it has been the past two seasons, and his combined LD and FB percentages are their highest ever which should be good for the power numbers. Hill had a career worst 1.3 HR/FB% heading into last night's game. That certainly won't last, especially at age 29. It may be optimistic, but I still think a run at 20+ homers is possible.
James Shields SP (TB) - Wow. What can you say about James Shields? He tossed a shutout last night against Boston's elite offense. It was his fourth complete game of the season. I think you have to sell high here. On one hand, Shields had a big jump in K rate last as well, but I still got to believe his career best 8.84 K/9 drops off somewhat. Even if it doesn't, though James will have a tough time maintaining the low ERA as his FIP of 3.50 indicates it should be much higher. Simply put, despite the pretty peripherals, Shields' .269 BABIP (36 points below career average) and 82.6 LOB% (10.5 percentage points above career average) are not sustainable.
