Clarke Schmidt, SP, NYY
Schmidt dominated the Twins on Thursday, pitching 8 shutout innings and allowing just 3 hits and no walks while striking out 8. The scoreless outing lowers his ERA to a sparkling 2.49 and this is backed up by a strong 3.48 xFIP. His 27% K% is easily a career high and well above his career 22.6% mark, so this could be shaping up to be a career year for the 28 year old. After failing to complete 6 innings in any of his first 7 outings, Schmidt has now pitched 6.2 and 8 innings in his last two starts; in fact this was the first time in his career that he even completed 7 innings. If this trend continues, it certainly bodes well for him picking up more wins and quality starts going forward. Schmidt is still available in nearly half of Yahoo leagues, but that is likely to change shortly.
Christian Javier, SP, HOU
Javier was excellent against the A's on Thursday, striking out 8 across 6 shutout innings while allowing just 2 hits and 1 BB. This was a strong bounceback effort after he allowed 7 ER's in 1.1 IP his last time out in a game where he walked 4 and didn't strike out any. Javier's ERA is down to 3.23 for the season, but he has mostly struggled this season, having entered Thursday's game with a 5.87 xFIP and an ugly 18:15 K:BB across 24.2 IP. He has had better strikeout and walk rates in previous years so there's hope that he can continue to revert to that, but he has always had an issue keeping the ball on the ground (career 54.3% FB%) so that's not likely to change. Thursday was definitely a step in the right direction but it will take a few more good outings before we can trust a pitcher who has accumulated a 5.26 xFIP since the start of the 2023 season.
Andy Pages, OF, LAD
Pages was not in the Dodgers lineup against the Reds on Thursday as he has been going through a deep slump recently, although he did enter the game as a pinch hitter, recording a hit and scoring a run. In his previous 10 games, Pages had gone 4-35 (.114) with 1 double and 17 K's. He got off to a strong start after first getting called up to the Dodgers earlier this season, but if his struggles continue, we will have to see if the Dodgers leave him on the bench more often or possibly send him back to the minors.
Isaac Paredes, INF, TB
Paredes went 2-5 with an RBI against the Red Sox on Thursday as he continues his excellent start to the 2024 campaign. He is slashing .305/.384/.500 with 8 HR's and 24 RBI through 41 games, and over his last 27 games, he is hitting .340 with 13 multi-hit efforts. The Statcast numbers don't like Paredes (25.8% HardHit%, 84.6 EV) but those numbers were nearly just as bad last year and he still managed to hit 31 HR's, and he's on pace to do that again thanks to a FB% close to 50%. However, he may have a hard time maintaining his .328 BABIP (career .247) with such a high fly ball rate and low EV, which means the .300+ BA should be expected to come down.
Justin Steele, SP, CHC
Steele was roughed up for 5 ER's in 5.2 IP against the Pirates on Thursday, marking his second straight subpar outing against Pittsburgh, and raising his season ERA to an ugly 5.68 through 4 starts. Home runs have been the biggest issue for Steele here in the early going as he has already allowed 5 long balls across his 19 innings. On the bright side, Steele posted a 7:1 K:BB in the contest and owns an 18:5 K:BB through 19 IP this season. His 3.78 xFIP suggests that there's been some bad luck here, as does his 20.8% HR/FB (career 12.5%). It's way too early to give up on Steele especially since the advanced metrics point to positive regression.
This is just a small sample our daily analysis, join our member area for tools that will help you win your fantasy championship. Click here for details: http://www.insiderbaseball.
