Shelby Miller- P- ARI- Rise Value- With AJ Puk as well as Justin Martinez officially done for the season, Miller is the closer for the Diamondbacks. He picked up his team-leading 8th save last night. Miller allowed a hit and struck out the side in the 9th. For the season he has a 2.03 ERA and a 10.16 K/9. Add Miller to the list of starters who became closers. He has been effective this year.
Dylan Cease- P- SD- Caution- The good version of Cease was on display last night as he held the Padres to 1 run on 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4 in 6.2 IP. He threw a season-high 110 pitches (68 strikes) and has thrown at least 101 pitches in each of his last 3 starts. Last year Cease threw at least 113 pitches twice. His follow up starts were 5.2 IPs and there was at least one more start after that of 4 IP or less. In both instances Cease didn't throw a quality start until 5 appearances after his high-pitch count game. Watch out for Cease's next few starts for some impact.
Drake Baldwin- C- ATL- Rookie- Baldwin went 2-for-4 with a walk, homer, 2 runs, and 3 RBI yesterday. He has continued his solid rookie season splitting time with Sean Murphy. Baldwin is slashing .293/.350/.483 with 8 homers in 160 PAs. He ranked in the 90th percentile in EV in the minors at AAA Gwinnett in 2024 and has a 92.5 EV and 52.5% HardHIt% with Atlanta this season. Before yesterday his xBA of .288 was almost equal to his AVG of .287. Baldwin has a KL% of 16.3% and BB% of 8.1%, so his plate discipline is solid. He is only 2-for-11 as a pinch hitter so when he is starting he has been performing better than his overall numbers. Baldwin has potential to give a big boost to power and also contribute to average.
Kumar Rocker- P- TEX- Rookie- Rocker had his second straight solid start since coming back from AAA Round Rock. They weren't Quality Starts because he didn't last long enough to qualify for that. Yesterday he allowed 2 runs on 5 hits in 5.1 IPs after throwing 5 shutout IPs in his previous outing. Rocker walked 3 yesterday while striking out 4 but he threw 58 of his 89 pitches for strikes. It was expected that Rocker would need some time to adjust to MLB. Getting the White Sox and Pirates in his last 2 starts may have made it a little easier for him this time around. There is definite progress shown.
J. P. Crawford- SS- SEA- Hot- Crawford went 2-for-5 with a run yesterday. He has benefited greatly from regression this season. In 2024, Crawford slashed .202/.304/.321 over 451 PAs. He had a .248 BABIP. This season Crawford at the top of the Seattle order and is slashing .290/.408/.400 with a 16.2% BB%. Before yesterday his AVG of .288 was exactly the same as his xBA. It looks like 2024 was an outlier for Crawford.
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