Kolten Wong - The Cardinals' Kolten Wong made his major league debut on Friday against the Cubs, batting in the six-hole and playing second base. He finished 0-for-3. Wong is just a really good hitter, posting batting averages of .335, .324, .287 and .303 in the minors. He had a .303/.369/.466 slash line at AAA Memphis this season, showing some average power with a .163 ISO and decent walk and strikeout rates. He also had 20 steals in 107 games. Wong is definitely worth an add in 12-team and deeper leagues as well as NL-only formats. He should be a solid bench bat down the stretch.
Jake Arrieta - Jake Arrieta made his debut for the Cubs on Friday, yielding 0 ER over seven innings with two hits allowed and seven strikeouts against the Cardinals. Arrieta is an interesting option as he posted some pretty darn good peripheral stats in 2012, striking out more than 8.5 batters per game, walking fewer than three and owning a 3.65 xFIP in 114 innings. However, he owned an incredibly low 57% strand rate, gave up too many homers (15% HR/FB%) and dealt with a .320 BABIP - all contributed to his 6.20 ERA. With such a good strikeout-to-walk rate, Arrieta will be a pretty solid pitcher and fantasy-relevant option in deeper leagues if he can get a little luckier this season and limit the homers. I'd monitor Arrieta moving forward and if he makes another good start, would add him in deeper formats.
Mike Leake - Mike Leake appears to have made a deal with the devil prior to 2013 as he entered Friday's start against the Brewers with a 2.86 ERA despite a 5.49 K/9 and 4.06 xFIP. Leake's benefited from an 80% strand rate and .272 BABIP. He's also done an excellent job of cutting his HR/FB% from 16% in 2012 to 10% this season. Homers have always been the biggest problem for Leake, although, even with the drop in long balls, his xFIP is higher than it has been the past couple seasons. Leake shouldn't be able to maintain his current ERA moving forward, but we've been saying that all season and it's still at 3.00. He didn't fare too well on Friday, allowing 4 ER over five innings against the Brewers.
Zach Greinke - Zach Greinke owned a 3.21 ERA and 3.67 xFIP in 117 innings prior to Friday's start against the Phillies. He gave up 0 ER, struck out three and walked four over 7 1/3 innings of work versus Philadelphia. Greinke's strikeouts continue to plummet as his K% has fallen from 28% in 2011 to 23% in 2012 to 19% this season. He's also allowing the highest LD% (24%) since his 2006 season when he pitched for Kansas City. The lack of whiffs is very concerning and has really hurt Greinke's fantasy value despite the solid ERA to date. He seems like a candidate to regress a bit unless he improves his ability to miss bats.
Nathan Eovaldi - Nathan Eovaldi tossed three innings against the Giants and allowed 9 ER on 12 hits with three strikeouts. Prior to Friday, I thought Eovaldi had emerged as a nice sleeper fantasy option this season with a 2.82 ERA in 60 innings since being called up to the majors. However, as much as I like this guy (mostly because of his average fastball speed of 95 mph), Eovaldi has been fortunate to have such a low ERA. His xFIP is 4.40 and he's enjoying a 6% HR/FB% to go along with a .231 BABIP. He also owns a pedestrian 16% K% despite that lively fastball. Eovaldi is a guy I'm monitoring in deeper leagues as well as for 2014, but in formats with fewer than 12 teams, he's not a great option. I also expect him to face regression unless he changes his peripherals.
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