Mike Montgomery (CHC) - After Tyler Chatwood's second straight terrible start on Sunday, Mike Montgomery got the opportunity to start for the Cubs in place of Yu Darvish on Monday afternoon in Pittsburgh. Heading into the game, Montgomery had mixed results as the team's primary long reliever, but most notably, he's seen a big decrease in strikeouts this year, all the way down to a 13.7% strikeout rate. Montgomery managed a strikeout rate around 22% in his first season with the Cubs in 2016, but after requesting (and being denied) a rotation spot in both 2017 and 2018, his overall numbers plummeted. He turned in a great performance on Monday, finishing with a line of 5.2IP, 2H, 0ER, 0BB, and 5 K's. We'll see where this goes, but it might not be the worst move to speculate on Montgomery seeing the next turn in the rotation instead of Tyler Chatwood.
Ronald Acuna (ATL) - Ronald Acuna left Sunday's game after pulling up shortly after crossing first base while trying to beat out a ground ball. Acuna was seen in a wheelchair as the team boarded their flight from Boston, and we found out on Monday afternoon that he has a sprain of his ACL in his knee and was placed on the 10-day disabled. Preston Tucker is expected to see an uptick in playing time in Acuna's absence and worth a look in mixed leagues for a short-term stopgap at the position.
Christian Yelich (MIL) - Christian Yelich's bat has been red hot and it stayed on fire on Monday notching a pair of hits, including a homerun, and stealing a pair of bases. It was the fourth straight game that Yelich hit more than one hit and for the season, he's now slashing .310/.374/.485 with 6 homeruns and 6 stolen bases, easily putting him on pace to match his 18/16 pace from a season ago. The metrics agree, most of Yelich's underlying statistics remain unchanged from the skillset we've seen over the course of the last two season, position him for another productive fantasy campaign.
Luke Weaver (STL) - In what was likely a start to prove he deserved to remain in the team's starting rotation once Alex Reyes and Carlos Martinez return, Luke Weaver turned in another dud. Weaver lasted just four innings and gave up four hits, including a homerun, and a pair of walks. On the season, he has a pedestrian 21% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate. With swinging strike rates and chase rates below league average, there's very little upside to Weaver profile at the moment. He's nothing more than a matchup-based streaming option in most fantasy leagues right now.
Buster Posey (SF) - Buster Posey made his return to the Giants starting lineup after missing most of the weekend with a hip injury. Posey's power is down a bit this season as his HR/FB rate dipped below 5% for the first time in his career. The decrease has happened despite a favorable 7% jump in his hard hit rate year over year as Posey has the hardest hit rate of his career. Rostering a catcher is always going to come at the cost of health, but Posey should have a bit higher home run pace the rest of the way. He's not longer an elite offensive contributor, but he's still above average at a very shallow position.
