Adolis Garcia (OF - TEX) - Garcia came into Friday night hitting 308/351/462 in June, and continued his hot hitting with a single, double, homer, and walk in the 6-2 win over the Pirates. The season-long numbers still look poor (237/285/411), but aside from the chase rate I can't see where things are appreciably different from what he normally does, outside of the raw performance of course. The exit velocity is the best of his career by over 1 mph, and his K% is actually down this year. Sure, he still swings and misses a ton, but he's been pretty unlucky this year....something that seems to be turning around as we speak. His HR/FB rate entering the contest was less than half of his career rate, which doesn't make a lot of sense with a higher than normal exit velocity. I expect him to continue to provide power, speed, and a slightly less poor AVG as we move into summer. He's a solid acquisition target in my estimation.
Jeffrey Springs (SP - ATH) - I feel like I'm the only person paying attention to this guy, but after 7 1/3 innings of 1-run ball against Cleveland on Friday night, Springs has QS in 7 of his last 8 starts. Furthermore, the primary thing that we were worried about in April (15 BB in 22 IP) got a bit better in May (13 BB in 33 IP), and then has completely disappeared as an issue here in June (3 BB in 26 IP). Yes, the schedule has been fairly kind to him, but his swinging strike rate in June is 16.4% and he has a WHIP of 0.88. The rest of the schedule before the break is much tougher: @DET, @TB, ATL, TOR. He's been hot enough that I'm inclined to give him some leash, but it's much riskier than these last few weeks have been, particularly next week's outing against a Tigers squad that ranks 3rd in MLB in OPS against LHP. Still, that changeup can be a great equalizer, and odds are that I'm going to run him out there where I have him unless some of my lesser arms have great matchups. He should certainly be owned in all formats right now, as he's once again looking a lot like the guy we saw in 2022.
Alec Burleson (1B/OF - STL) - Burleson doubled in the first inning on Friday to reach base in his 17th straight start (he had one pinch-hit appearance where he did not during this stretch). The 26 year old came into the contest hitting 400/431/600 in June (after hitting 303/343/545 in May), yet he doesn't seem to get much press to speak of. The EV and LA are up quite a bit this season, and the swinging strike rate has improved even more, dropping to 7.6%. They've basically stopped platooning him too, so while he isn't going to light up the power and speed categories, he has a very good floor, and the EV and increase in flyball rate lead me to believe that there is some power upside here. I don't think he should be on the waiver wire in most formats.
Jacob Misiorowski (SP - MIL) - Misiorowski finally allowed a hit in his 11th inning with the Brewers: a 2-run HR by Matt Wallner after a walk to Byron Buxton. The rookie finished the inning (and his outing) with a 6 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K line to move to 2-0 through his first 2 starts. He averaged 100 mph with his fastball and exhibited much better control than he typically does, but it's hard not to be excited about how electric he looked. He didn't generate a ton of swings and misses, getting just 9 over 86 pitches, but he was completely in command throughout the outing, and I'd certainly have no qualms about running him out there for every start for the foreseeable future. There will certainly be bumps in the road with his spotty control, but the comparisons to Randy Johnson seem pretty apt.
Janson Junk (SP - MIA) - Junk moved into the Marlin rotation for Friday's game against Atlanta, and the 29 year old journeyman held the Braves to 1 run on 5 singles over 5 innings, striking out 5 without walking a man. Junk had previously thrown bulk relief 5 times for Miami, going between 4-6 innings every time and pitching well in 4 of the 5 outings. Right now you're thinking "look man, I know Janson Junk and his 8 previous professional seasons. Why are you even mentioning this?" Two reasons. #1: Junk is throwing about 2 mph harder than we've previously seen him throw. That is not insignificant. #2: In 73 IP this year between AAA and the majors, Junk has only walked 9 men. That is just about 1/1 BB/9, over less than half of what he has allowed in the past. He's also throwing more sliders than he ever has before, and it's been by far his most effective pitch. I certainly don't want to say I'm excited, but intrigued? Yeah, I think so. Pitchers find stuff all the time, and until that gets around the league and people can see it and get used to it, they can have some sustained success. If you're light on arms right now, Junk is slated to face the Giants in SF next week and the Twins in Miami the week after: two middle-of-the-pack offenses in friendly pitching environments. There are worse risks to take.
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