Chris Colabello- OF- TOR- Idea- Colabello has a fantastic slash line against LH pitching (.406/.457/.750.) So why are we talking about him when RH Chris Tillman is starting against the Jays? First, it's Tillman's reverse splits, with a .279/.370/.544 slash line and 7 HR allowed in 33.2 IP against RH hitting. Second, Colabello's line against RH pitching isn't shabby either. It's .336/.375/.445. Value play- DraftKings Salary $3500
Matt Joyce- OF- LAA- Cold- Joyce went 0-for-3 to drop his average down to .187. He has had horrible luck this season, with a BABIP of .226. There is a glimmer of hope with his recent performance. Joyce has walked in each of his last 3 games and hasn't struck out in his last 6. A turnaround in luck would be what is needed to pick up his performance. Regression to the mean will be Joyce's friend.
Casey Fien- RP- MIN- Hot- Last year, Fien notched 26 holds, so he had value in leagues that count that stat. This year he only has 7 so far but was out for a month with a shoulder strain. Fien hasn't allowed a run in his 9 appearances since returning. His control this year has been astounding, with 1 walk in 20.1 IP. Fien also returned from rehab with a strikeout weapon, racking up 11 Ks in his 10 IP of work. He will have value in all leagues if he can keep that up.
Mychal Givens- RP- BAL- Rookie- Givens was called up to add some depth to the Baltimore bullpen. He had been repeating AA at Bowie when summoned. Givens improved greatly on the stats he posted at the end of last season when he had a 3.91 ERA with a 9.95 K/9 and 8.17 BB/9 in 25.1 IP at AA Bowie after passing through the rookie league and High A. This year Givens had a 1.60 ERA and 12.36 K/9 while his BB/9 dropped to 2.52. Givens turned 25 last month so he is older than a lot of players at that level since he is a converted SS and this is only his 3rd season pitching professionally. His fastball tends to sink so besides Ks he can induce ground balls. He is probably not going to be an integral part of the Orioles' pen yet but bears watching, especially in leagues that count holds.
Edinson Volquez- P- KC- Cold- Volquez failed to record a quality start for the 4th time in his last 5 outings. Yesterday he gave up 4 runs in 5.1 IP. Volquez was pulled after 88 pitches. This comes after only lasting 78 pitches in his previous start. The outing before that one was Volquez's only quality start and he tossed 115 pitches in that one and lasted 7 IP. It was his first 110+ pitch outing of the season. In 2014 after the threw 114 pitches on 7/10 he went three more starts of no more than 5.2 IP, and that included time off for the All Star Break. Volquez threw one other high-pitch-count game last year but didn't show problems with results in his subsequent outings. At age 31, Volquez should not have long term problems form the occasional high pitch count, but he could have short term repercussions.
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