Jonathan Lucroy, Milwaukee Brewers - Lucroy, the most valuable catcher in the MLB according to fWAR, launched two homers and drove in five runs with four coming on a grand slam off reliever Brad Zeigler. After Ryan Braun was hit by a pitch and Evan Marshall was ejected from the game, Lucroy follower with the slam to dead centerfield. He's the second leading hitter in the NL and now has eight homers and 37 RBI to go along with that .340 average. He is striking out in just 10% of his at bats and has a 24% line drive rating fueling his .362 BABIP. He's one of the best catchers in the game and producing like one of the best in fantasy.
Jason Grilli, Pittsburgh Pirates - Grilli allowed the game winning homer in the 9th to Todd Frazier and took his second loss of the season. He's now given up runs in two of his passed three appearances including a 0.1 inning effort against Miami that resulted in two runs on two hits and three walks. Grilli has not pitched like the man who saved 54 games for the Pirates last year, evidenced by his 5.24 FIP. After walking just 2.5 batters per nine last year, he is now walking just over five per nine which would explain the large leap in FIP and ERA. His homerun rate has also jumped by almost one homer per nine. However, most of his other peripherals match up with his breakout campaign so we could easily see some improvement over his next few outings.
Billy Hamilton, Cincinnati Reds - Hamilton continued his torrid stretch with by stealing his 26th, 27th, and 28th bases of the year and upped his OBP to .317 in the process. Over his past four games he is 9-for-19 with two homers and four stolen bases. Obviously the homers are just gravy, but Hamilton has been excellent for owners who took a chance on him this preseason. His BABIP has now climbed to .318 and his OBP (which climbed over .300 on Monday) is over that .300 mark for the first time since mid-May. If he can continue to get on base at that rate, he could eclipse the 72 stolen bases that he is currently on pace for.
Josh Harrison, Pittsburgh Pirates - Harrison went 4-for-5 in the Pirates loss and pushed his average up to .319 with a .357 OBP. His boost in batting average can be attributed his increased LD rate and his .341 BABIP. His breakout campaign has seen him play at a number of positions, giving him a lot of extra positional value to go along with his solid numbers across the board. He drove in two more runs Tuesday to push his total to 25 on the year, and his +wRC now sits at 139. With the promotion of Gregory Polanco, Harrison will likely see the most of his action at second base as Neil Walker returns from his appendectomy. After that, Harrison will find at bats around the diamond as Clint Hurdle will do all he can to keep Harrison in the lineup.
Junior Lake, Chicago Cubs - Lake hit his 9th homer of the year and he now has 25 RBI along with seven steals. He is a real cheap source of some power and steals as he is owned in just 5.2% of ESPN leagues, but he isn't an ideal pickup. His 33.5% K rate alongside just a 4% walk rate, the homers and steals could be followed by long lulls of unproductive games. His BABIP is at .319, so he is at least hitting the ball decently well but his strikeout rate (30% for career) will hold him back from being owned in anything other than extremely deep mixed leagues and NL only leagues.
Josh Sperry - @jsperry1991
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