Jameson Taillon (SP-PIT) - Taillon made his return from a shoulder injury an interesting one Tuesday against the Brewers. Despite taking a 105 mph comebacker off the back of his head, Taillon stayed in the game to allow just one run in six innings in a no-decision. He allowed five hits while walking one and striking out three. Taillon made just 65 pitches in the efficient outing that lowered his ERA to 3.44, but it seems likely he would have gone deeper into the game if not for getting hit on the head. The strikeouts aren't quite where we would like them as fantasy owners (24:5 K:BB in 34 IP), but as he gains strength and experience with his secondary offerings, that should help compliment his mid-90s fastball. Taillon just needs to stay healthy however for that to happen, and the jury is still out there.
Chase Utley (2B-LAD) - Utley appears to be in a platoon (the good side) with Chris Taylor at second base, but maybe that will help his batting average. Leading off on Tuesday against the Nationals, Utley had a leadoff homer run and two singles in his five at-bats to improve to .266/.347/.389. We know he's in the twilight of his career at the age of 37, but except for the power decline (.123 ISO and 6 HR in 301 AB), he's still an offensive threat near or at the top of the lineup. His K% is a career-worst 18.8%, but that's still a fairly solid number. If you're going to use him in DFS, just make sure it's against RHP, as he's hitting .188 vs. LHP and appears to be as I mentioned, in a strict platoon.
Scott Kazmir (SP-LAD) - When I saw Kazmir up close in Arizona this spring, he was registering the mid-80s on the radar gun, and though he shrugged that off as "it's early, don't worry" at the time, I certainly worried. Then when Kazmir posted a 5.54 ERA through his first eight starts, I worried this was $45 million down the drain. Well, Kazmir hasn't been consistent much at all since, but after tossing seven innings of one-run ball versus the Nationals Tuesday, Kazmir is now 8-3 with a 4.30 ERA with a 9.8 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9. He's also allowed 16 homers in 104.2 innings to explain the ERA, but the strikeouts are impressive and he's averaged a surprising 91.6 mph on this fastball. The Dodgers may not have a solid No. 2 starter (or right now, even a No. 1 with Kershaw out), but the likes of Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy, and even Bud Norris form a solid back-end of the rotation that is keeping LA afloat in the NL West.
Jose Urena (SP-MIA) - Urena entered Tuesday's spot start against the Phillies having allowed a 7.52 ERA and 1.77 WHIP in 20.1 innings of big league relief. His K/9 sat at 5.3 with a 4.4 BB/9, so there was little expected of him against the Phillies. Urena though rose to the challenge, allowing just one run (a Tommy Joseph HR) over 5.2 innings with a 5:1 K:BB to lower his ERA to 6.23. Urena averaged a healthy 95.1 mph on his fastball in relief, so we know he can throw hard, but even in Triple-A this year his BB/9 sat at 5.0. Urena did post a 2.66 ERA in 11 Triple-A starts last year, so there's some hope the 24 year-old can develop into a consistent rotation option at some point, but there will be some bumps along the way should the Marlins continue to roll him out there as a starter.
Christian Yelich (OF-MIA) - I've been bullish on Yelich the last couple years, but perhaps I'm actually right on him this season. Yelich hit his eighth homer and drove in two on Tuesday to give him 51 RBI and a nice .318/.396/.481 slash line. Hitting ahead of Giancarlo Stanton and behind J.T. Realmuto (.350 OBP) and Martin Prado (.367 OBP) isn't going to hurt Yelich's counting stats. Yelich's BABIP is approaching .400, but given it's over .370 for his career, we won't worry too much about a significant BA regression for now. He's improved his BB% over last year from 9% to 10.8% and is striking out less than 19% of the time, so there's lots to like about his approach. Yelich is hitting lefties pretty well (.287), but given all of his HR's have come off RHP, be sure to note that in setting your DFS lineups. As a 24-year-old with already over 1,600 career at-bats, Yelich's dynasty league owners have to be smiling about his long-term upside.
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