Ian Seymour, SP, Tampa Bay Rays
Seymour went 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K on five hard hit balls. Seymour is used by the Rays as both a reliever and starter, but he's been starting slightly more as of late. Seymour's ERA is super inflated by a 0 IP, 5 ER outing in his season debut on 3/26. Since then, he's posted the following ERA's every month from April to now: 3.55, 2.87, 3.86, 1.50. It's not amazing, but there is some usability here, especially if you're in a league where you can sneak a combo pitcher into a spot. Seymour has good stuff that is tough for hitters to hit. He has a 33.6% Chase and 28.6% Whiff, which combine for a 25% K. The main issue with Seymour, which is admittedly a big one, is the long ball. Seymour is getting a putrid 30% GB rate and allowing a 29.5% Pull Air rate, although in a small sample. As a result, I'm not sprinting to add him, but if we see a couple more starts with him keeping the ball in the ballpark, I'll check in again.
Jake McCarthy, OF, Colorado Rockies
McCarthy went 2-4 with 3 R, HR, 4 RBI, BB, K on one hard hit ball. McCarthy is slashing a career best .298/.337/.492 with 7 TH and 13 SB on the season. This is as a most-time player with 264 PAs. The lack of true, full playing time is a killer but McCarthy is interesting nonetheless. A robust 36% LASS and 22% Whiff rate allow him to make contact. His .298 BA is a bit inflated compared to his .268 xBA, but since McCarthy is an elite elite runner (29.9) I wonder if he regularly outperforms his xBA. The Coors effect, combined with a mediocre 14.6 Pull Air rate have allowed him to hit 7 homers on the year. McCarthy could easily be a 20-20 player in a full season with respectable ratios to boot. Don't be afraid to use him!
Nick Gonzales, 3B/2B, Pittsburgh Pirates
Gonzales went 3-5 with R, HR, 2 RBI on two hard hit balls. Gonzales is a tough evaluation. His .283 xBA is quite the stat, but it's supported by practically nothing. Gonzales lacks impact (2.9% Barrel), can't get the ball in the air (5.5 LA), and lacks the bat speed to give us home that more juice is on the way (70.5). That being said, above-replacement level ratios certainly have their place in fantasy baseball. Gonzales is the type of player you can use as a fill-in, but I'm not anticipating a second half power surge.
Christian Yelich, OF, Milwaukee Brewers
Yelich went 0-3 with BB, K on two hard hit balls. I don't really like what I'm seeing from the 34 year old veteran this season. Yelich is setting career lows in HH (41%), .xwOBACON (.370), EV (88.8), and xBA (.221). Yelich has never been a hit-it-in-the-air profile hitter, so the depleted impact is having an exacerbated effect. He's also now a league median runner. Yelich bats at the top of the lineup, but it hasn't impacted his counting stats in a meaningful way. Very worried about father time on this one.
Esmerlyn Valdez, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
Valdez went 2-4 with R, 3B, 3 RBI, K on two hard hit balls. Valdez is now slashing .316/.375/.737 in his first 64 big league PA's. It's obviously too small of a sample, but you can't help but get excited. Valdez has a 30% barrel rate, 45% LASS, and .628 xSLG, all of which will come down with time. Valdez was performing really well in AAA before his callup. He hit 13 HR in 237 PA's with a 17% walk rate. His 78% Z-Contact and 12% SwStr at the level were nothing special, so I fully expect the 22 year old to begin experiencing some (at the very least) slight contact struggles pretty soon here. However, there's a lot of reasons to believe the juice will remain. I also like that he bats behind a productive Bryan Reynolds and Brandon Lowe.
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