J. T. Realmuto- C- MIA- Idea- Realmuto has had reverse splits this season, with a slash line of .341/.367/.443 against RH pitching. Jon Gray has had reverse splits also. His .241/.310/.351 slash line against RH hitting isn't hideous but it's worse than his performance against LH hitting. At his price, Realmuto has solid potential to prove excellent value. Value play- Draft Kings Salary $2900
Willson Contreras- C- CHN- Rookie- The Cubs are calling up Willson Contreras to give him a taste of the big leagues. Contreras was hitting .353 at AAA Iowa with a Batting EYE of 0.88. He has maintained his progress from 2015 when he hit .333 with a Batting EYE of 0.92. Contreras has added a power surge this year. He has 9 homers in 240 PAs. That's already more than the 8 he slugged in 521 PAs at Iowa in 2015. Contreras will probably not get much playing time initially. The Cubs don't want to mess with the handling of their pitching staff right now. This move will help prepare Contreras for a bigger role later this season. For the short term, Contreras won't provide much value. He's worth stashing on a roster for later, and definitely in a keeper league.
Matt Wisler- P- ATL- Hot- After throwing 6 straight quality starts Wisler had been knocked out early in his last two outings. Evidently what he needed to get back on track was to face the Reds, who are 28th in the majors in OBP. Wisler allowed 2 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5 in 6.2 IP. Wisler has been streaky this season, with solid starts interspersed with stinkers. His overall ERA of 4.23 isn't great but exhibits some luck, as his FIP is 4.63. Wisler's 6.51 K/9 isn't enough to really recommend him as you'd have to hope to catch him on one of his good streaks.
Kyle Waldrop- OF- CIN- Cold- Waldrop went 0-for-3 yesterday. Given how he had only been called up earlier this month his average took a big hit, dropping from .444 to .333. Waldrop's BABIP also plunged, from .500 to .400. He was only hitting .247 at AAA when called up, so his early success was likely luck based. Waldrop hasn't showed that he has gotten back on track for the long term and gotten his prospect status back.
Aaron Nola- P- PHI- Cold- After only having one quality start in his first 3 outings this season, Nola ran off a string of 9 QSs in a row. Since then he has been blown out twice. Yesterday Nola allowed 6 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5 in 3+ IP. In his previous start he gave up 4 runs on 7 hits and a walk while striking out 3 in 3.2 IP. For a player who has gotten where he is on his control, Nola has been off in these past two starts. Despite the strikeouts he only threw 44 of his 79 pitches for strikes yesterday and 50 of his 82 pitches in his previous outing. That isn't typical. Either he's just going through a rough patch or there is something wrong physically or mechanically. See if he recovers in his next outing.
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