Howie Kendrick- 2B- LAN- Idea- Kendrick has a solid .296/.345/.370 slash line against southpaws. Jorge De La Rosa has a less-than-spectacular slash line of .318/.407/.557 slash line against RH hitters. This bodes well for Kendrick's changes of a solid game. Value play- Draft Kings salary $3200
Zach Davies- P- MIL- Cold- Davies got pounded yesterday, allowing 6 runs in 4.1 IP on 8 hits while walking 2 and striking out 3. He needed 91 pitches to get that far, 57 of which were strikes. Davies is 23 years old and has problems being efficient at times, as he was in a start against Oakland I saw earlier in June. Consistency will be an issue as he adjusts to the major league game. Davies relies on control and not raw power. He's not going to be a top of the rotation guy but will likely develop into a solid mid-rotation starter who will have value in deep leagues. There will be some bumps until he gets there.
Yasmani Grandal- C- LAN- Hot- Grandal hit his 7th homer of the season yesterday. That keeps him on pace to get over 15 for the year. His current .179 average will benefit from regression to the mean, as Grandal's BABIP is .202. His Batting EYE is at 0.58, below his 0.71 mark of last year but near his 0.64 career number. This makes him a buy low candidate for the second half.
Brandon Finnegan- P- CIN- Caution- Finnegan has lost the strike zone. He threw 79 pitches before being knocked out after 2.1 IP yesterday and only 41 were strikes. In his previous start he threw 65 of 110 pitches for strikes and in the start before that only 40 of 77 pitches were strikes. Finnegan was tagged for 8 runs on 5 this and 5 walks while giving up 2 homers and striking out 2. He is 23 years old and 3 of his last 6 starts were 110 pitches or more. That's not a recipe for success.
Martin Prado- 3B- MIA- Stats- Prado continues a trend of regression to the mean from his fantastic start to the year. It's not a smooth slide down, though. His .397 average with a .439 BABIP in April was followed by a .270 average and .295 BABIP in May. Before last night's 1-for-4 effort Prado's June average was .311 with a .357 BABIP. He's not at the peak of his sell high value but he would still be a sell high candidate as you can expect his production to taper off over the second half.
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