Mike Moustakas (2B/3B-CIN)
Moustakas went 3-4 with 3 doubles Friday night. Playing in his first game since May 18 he made a big impact and owns a .264/.352/.484 line on the season. The veteran only hit .230 last year in his first season with the Reds but 17 of his 32 hits went for extra bases to help him post a .799 OPS. While he hasn't played in almost 3 months his current line is looking awfully similar to a year ago as 12 of 24 hits this year have gone for extra bases. Before the injury he was struggling however with a 29% hard hit rate and a 86.5 exit velocity - both well below his career averages. A healthy Moustakas could help the Reds push for a Playoff spot and is a big fantasy asset as he most likely has both 2B (from last year) and 3B positional eligibility.
Jonathan India (2B-CIN)
India went 1-5 with his 13th HR of the season Friday Night. The 24-year-old Rookie is hitting his way into the NL ROY Conversation as he has been hot over the past few weeks to raise his line to .283/.401/.463. India only played 2 seasons in the minor leagues and so far has shown good pop with 13 HR and 33 XBH hits while drawing walks at a 12.8% clip to help field a .400 OBP. Granted, a .356 babip is in play here a little bit as he hasn't hit the ball with a ton of authority (87.6 Exit velocity, 39.4% hard hit rate) and has put nearly 50% of hit batted balls on the ground. There is still a lot to like here for the youngster and he could be a staple atop the Reds lineup for years to come.
Jesse Winker (OF-CIN)
Winker reached base 4 times Thursday doubling, homering and walking twice while driving in and scoring 2 runs apiece. He continues a dominating season as he raised his season line to .303/.388/.546 with 22 HR and 61 RBIs. While his SLG% (.546) has inched ahead of his mark last year (.544) and his OBP is identical to a year ago (.388) he has raised his batting average 50 points. His hard hit rate and exit velo are actually down a bit from a year ago but he seems to be taking what opposing pitchers give him as his pull rate is down 5% and his oppo field rate is up 4%. Winker entered Friday's game with 212 Total bases - 7 ahead of Fernando Tatis Jr. for the NL lead and is squarely in the NL MVP conversation.
Kyle Hendricks (SP-CHC)
Hendricks allowed 2 ER on 7 hits over 6 innings, striking out 7. While Hendricks entered play Friday with a league leading 13 wins his 3.71 ERA is the highest he has had since 2015 and his 4.67 fip tells us he has had a lot of luck to pick up that many wins. Hendricks has gotten the 4th best run support in the league with the Cubs averaging 6.23 runs per start. This has helped him rack up wins despite giving up 178 hits - the most allowed in the league. He has benefited from a 81.2% strand rate when runners do get on and his K rate is at career low (6.58 K/9) while he is giving up a career high 1.54 HR/9. The Strand rate was again in play Thursday as he allowed 10 more baserunners and allowed just the 2 to score.
Kyle Gibson (SP-PHI)
Gibson allowed 1 ER over 6 innings, striking out 3. This was Gibson's second start with the Phillies and despite walking 4 batters he looked strong, picking up where he left off in his last start generating 10 groundballs in this one after picking up a win last Sunday by throwing 6.2 innings allowing 2 ER and generating 8 groundballs. Gibson had been lights out for the Rangers through June, ending the Month with a 2.00 ERA. He ran into some trouble in July allowing 16 ER over his 4 starts that month and the Rangers losing all 4 games. While big time strikeouts have never been his game as his FB velos sit in the low 90s, Gibson has done great work with his secondary pitches including holding opposing batters to a .159 batting average against and generating a 43.8% whiff rate on his slider. The good mixing and matching of his secondary pitches has helped batters stay unbalanced and he has one of the lowest barrel rates allowed (3.5%) in the league as a result.
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