Corey Kluber- The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner has had a strange first half of the 2015 season thus far. Kluber remains one of the elite strikeout artists in the game today with a 28% K Rate and his 5.1% BB Rate is in line with the elite rats of 2014. Generally, his game is almost identical to how he pitched in 2014, but his ERA is a a full run higher. I can't see any way that his ERA does not regress to get in line with the remaining stats at this point. Kluber is as good a pitcher as there is in baseball, and his ERA should fall back in line sooner rather than later.
Manny Machado- Manny Machado's 2015 has been his best fantasy season to date. His power is starting to develop nicely in his age 22 season. Machado has seen a bump in his fly ball rate from 30.9% in 2014 to 38.6% in 2015. While this isn't a tremendous jump, it does help partially explain Machado's .211 ISO as he has decreased his ground balls, increased his fly balls and slightly increased his HR/FB to 15.9%. All of these changes seem legitimate and Machado has a very solid chance to finish this season with 25+ home runs while batting in the .280-.300 range. He is quickly becoming one of the best values at third base in the game.
Kyle Gibson- My default when thinking about recommendations for pitchers to place in daily fantasy lineups are big strikeout guys. This is what makes recommending Kyle Gibson so weird because his 15.2% K Rate certainly doesn't fit into my normal thought process. This recommendation is strictly match-up and price based. He has Brewers on Saturday who are one of the worst offenses in baseball. As a team, their .288 OBP is the worst in baseball and their .665 OPS is third worst in the game. Gibson makes his living on pitching to contact and having a 52% ground ball rate so he could get into trouble, but its unlikely given that the Brewers stink. Fanduel Salary- $6,200.00
Edwin Encarnacion- Edwin Encarnacion hit his 15th and 16th home runs of the season on Friday. Encarnacion is striking out a bit more than we expect from him at 19.5% in 2015, which is having a bit of a negative effect on his batting average. Otherwise, his numbers point towards the same old power producing corner infielder that we have come to know and love. His HR/FB is in line with his three year averages as is his extreme fly ball tendencies. There is no reason to believe that he won't eclipse 30 home runs for his 4th straight year in 2015 as long as he remains healthy. If you are looking for power, he is a solid target although I'm not sure buying him after a two home run game is in your best interests value-wise.
Carlos Correa- I'm not even sure what we can say about Carlos Correa at this point besides wow. His early returns are about as good as we could imagine, which means its time for me to come out and warn readers to be cautious with expectations moving forward. Is Correa this talented? I certainly believe so. Are there questions that still need to be answered? Certainly. Correa isn't showing much in the way of strike zone recognition with only a 3.9% BB Rate and his .243 ISO isn't really supported by his minor league sample size (although his power in 2015 appears to be more pronounced than we have seen in the past as he already has 14 home runs across three different levels). Overall, he is a stud player worth owning in all formats and one of the top players to own in dynasty formats, but owners should be patient as there may be some bumps in the road for this future superstar.
Today's American Player Blog is brought to you by Nicholas Rossoletti. You can follow Nicholas on Twitter @NRoss56
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