Luis Robert, OF, CWS
Robert went 1-4 with a HR and 3 RBI against the Royals on Thursday as he continues to make a run at the AL ROY Award. He now has 11 HR's and 27 RBI across 36 games this season and has been especially hot recently with 9 HR's and 18 RBI over his last 16 games. The rookie phenom has shown no signs of slowing down, and his 45.5% HardHIt% and 90.0 EV support his breakout this season. The one major knock on Robert is his elevated K% (30.1%), but even there he has shown improvement recently with a mere 12.8% K% over his last 9 games.
Jackie Bradley, OF, BOS
Bradley went 1-4 with a HR and 2 RBI against the Blue Jays on Thursday, giving him 4 HR's and 15 RBI through 34 games this season. He has pleasantly lowered his K% to 22.2% this season, down from 27.3% in 2019, however that has come with a decline in power. After hitting 21 HR's last season, Bradley is currently posting a 31.7% HardHit% and 86.7 EV, both of which are easily career lows. But he's picked things up a bit recently, smashing all 4 of his HR's this season over his last 11 games. His Statcast metrics have gone up a bit recently as well, so we may see Bradley keep it going a bit longer.
Aroldis Chapman, RP, NYY
Chapman blew the save against the Mets on Thursday allowing 1 ER on 2 hits and 1 BB in IP while striking out 2. Chapman got a late start to the season and has had a rough go of things since he has made it back onto the field, posting a 9.00 ERA and blowing 2 of 3 save opportunities across 4 IP. It's a very small sample size, but Chapman's numbers have not nearly been up to par thus far. His 26.3% K% is not bad, but it is bad for him (career 40.9%), his 10.3% SwStr% entering Thursday is very average, and his 18.2% GB% is not a good sign either. Again, this is admittedly an extremely small sample, but it's hard to be confident about Chapman going forward.
Andrelton Simmons, SS, LAA
Simmons went 2-4 with an RBI against the Padres on Thursday, raising his BA to an impressive .333 through 14 games this season. Simmons returned from the IL back on Aug 21 and has been hitting ever since, going 15-38 (.395) over the 10 game stretch, which has propelled the Angels to move him to the leadoff spot in the lineup. However, he doesn't have any XBH's during that time, and that isn't totally shocking considering that power has never been Simmons' strong point. He's somewhat limited in terms of fantasy value unless you're just looking for someone who won't hurt your average, and can score some runs and perhaps collect a few steals.
Tajuan Walker, SP, TOR
Walker was solid again for the Blue Jays on Thursday allowing 2 ER's in 5.2 against the Red Sox, while striking out 4 and walking 1 in the contest. Walker has been very good over his last 4 starts, posting a 1.82 ERA and 21:6 K:BB across 24.2 IP during that stretch. It should be noted though that his xFIP has remained above 4.00 during this hot streak and that he has allowed 4 HR's over those 4 starts. Overall, Walker's 7.68 K/9 and 4.77 xFIP are very mediocre and his 7.2% SwStr% is particularly disappointing as it's 6% lower than last year's number. He's still more of a streaming option than a must-own.
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