Brady Singer (SP - KC) - On the opposite side of the disastrous start from helium-laden Bailey Ober, the forgotten Brady Singer looked electric while shutting out the Twins over 7 innings. He allowed 3 doubles and a walk, striking out 10 and posting a GB:FB ratio of 10:1. His slider alone had a 30% swinging strike rate, and he threw it over half of the time, using that and a 2-seamer almost exclusively (he wasted 4 changeups out of the zone). This start reminded me of a couple of outings in his lone successful year of 2022, where his control was impeccable and he was able to simply put hitters away with his slider after getting ahead in the count. He is absolutely worth a claim for the coming week, as his lone start of week 2 comes at home against the lowly White Sox. Much like Ober and negative thoughts, I'd caution against getting too excited about this one start with Singer, but it certainly carries at least a bit of weight with me....he looked great.
Jack Flaherty (SP - DET) - Flaherty's first start as a Tiger reinforced what we saw this spring: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, and 7 K with 13 swinging strikes over 87 pitches against a White Sox lineup that is very weak in the bottom half of the order. His velocity was up a touch, the control looked improved, and in general he looked like an asset for the Tigers on the mound. Lots of groundballs as well, which would be a new thing. He continues his friendly start to the season with a home start against Oakland scheduled for Saturday....he's obviously a must-own for that one if he's somehow available in your league. I know it's been a couple of years since Flaherty was productive, but he's been a top-30 pitcher before and he's still just 28, so there's plenty of potential for a return to SP3 status here.
Bailey Ober (SP - MIN) - All of the helium surrounding Bailey Ober pushed him up to SP31 over the last 3 weeks of drafting on NFBC this spring, so it's clearly alarming to see the awful outing that he had on Sunday, giving up 9 hits and 8 runs to the Royals in just 1 1/3 innings. He only generated 1 swinging strike and allowed 3 homers despite his velocity remaining up over 1 mph from last season...there were just so many hard-hit balls. I'd chalk it up to "one of those days" for the most part, but I obviously feel a bit better about our preseason ranking of Ober (SP69) versus where his value was last week. I still expect back-end SP performance from him, with a solid walk rate, likely at least a decent K rate, but some HR issues. The upcoming schedule isn't awful (CLE, @DET), so I would be sticking with him for now. The constant lesson of not torpedoing months worth of research because of 30 minutes of performance always holds.
Brice Turang (2B - MIL) - Turang went 2-4 with a double, 2 runs, and his 4th SB in 3 games on Sunday against the Mets. Turang was a late-round target of mine in many leagues due to the SB upside (he stole 26 last year despite a .285 OBP) and the potential for some improvement, and the early returns obviously look pretty good. He's just 24 and has shown excellent contact skills and good walk rates in the minors, so it stands to reason that the AVG and OBP have some decent upside. The average-minus power is a bit of a drag, but in the bargain bin there are rarely players without warts hanging around. Our SB projection for Turang was the highest that I found in the preseason at 29, and he's making us look good thus far....if he can bump that AVG up about 30 points from last year (easily within his capabilities, as his swinging strike rates have consistently been around 8% regardless of level) and steal 30+ bases, he should provide value at a reasonably weak position.
Jordan Wicks (SP - CUB) - Wicks had an up-and-down outing in his first start of the year Sunday, allowing 5 hits and 5 runs (2 earned) to the Rangers over 4 innings, walking 3 but striking out 6 in a no-decision. The biggest positive Sunday would be the 19 swinging strikes over 85 pitches, with 3 different pitches getting swinging strike rates of over 10%. I know that he walked 3 but the control didn't look that bad over all to me, and the velocity was up over a mph, which gives some credence to the increased K numbers. Wicks would be a tough add this week, as the difficult start to the year continues with the Dodgers visiting Wrigley on Saturday, but I could be interested for next weekend's waiver period if he holds his own against LA, as a trip to Seattle is next on the docket. He's a wait-and-see for me do to scheduling, but I am intrigued.
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