When the weather warms up and your Tucker is out, don't pucker up and don't you dare pout. The season's not over and there's plenty to go, Let's hit those waivers and make a murderer's row.
Hitters
Heliot Ramos, OF
Now making his 3rd appearance on the blog, Heliot is not fucking around. He's homered in back to back games and shows no signs of being a fraud. His bat talent is elite and he is so powerful that he can just casually flick a HR 440 ft. off the end of the bat.
How many guys on the waiver wire can do that?
His bat speed is elite, coming in at a nearly 70% fast swing rate. And he's making above average blast contact at 15% of the time. With his unbelievable power and Sweet Spot %, a HR is never off the table for Heliot as long as he makes contact, which he is doing often enough. This guy is going to rack up Ks, but he's a true slugger that has massive upside in categories leagues (
Brett Wisely, 2B, SS, OF Welcome back Brett. One minute this guy is hitting at the bottom of the order, the next he's leading off. It seems like Bob Melvin is still trying to figure out what he has with Wisely, who is currently slashing a stellar .350 with an .816 OPS. After watching a few Giants games over the past two weeks, it really feels to me like Wisely is going to be an inegral part of the SF lineup going forward. He's that super-utility glue guy who is going to find ways to produce. In fact, when it comes to suaring up the ball and making contact, he's the closest lefty in the MLB to one Mr. Luis Arraez, who you see way up there in the top right corner. It's a wise decision to square up the ball this often, wouldn't you agree?
Max Schuemann, 2B, SS, OF
And here we have yet another returning player, though Max's first appearance on the blog was about three weeks ago. He's basically the right-handed version of Wisely, but don't fret - he has reverse splits! Yep, this man is hitting .290 with a .750 OPS against RHP, which is solid enough to platoon based on pitching matchups. If you're in a categories league, you could do a lot worse than a super-utility guy who can hit righties.
Brendan Rodgers, 2B (Typo, said SS)
Making his 3rd appearance and strongest yet, Rodgers has been a hitting machine since May 22nd. He continues to smack the ball around and accumulate counting stats. He's not necessarily lighting up the statcast page due to a tremendously poor start to the season, but think of him as being exactly what Joey Ortiz has been recently. He's putting the bat on the ball and finding holes. Brendan Rodgers may finally be having his breakout season and is an easy start when playing at Coors.
Blake Perkins, OF Welcome back Blake. With elite speed and a tremendous ability to square up the baseball, Perkins is beginning to get back on track for the Brew Crew as his sweet-spot % continues to rise. Maybe he's just enjoying the warmer weather.
Recent Stretch:
Andy Pages, OF I've had my eye on Pages for a while and I think he's earned a spot on the blog. He's a very toolsy player who's adjusting to the MLB at the age of 23, so growing pains were to be expected. His plate discipline is dreaded, but the kid knows how to find the sweet-spot of his bat while also maintaing a respectable 58th percentile barrel rate. In the Dodgers lineup, there's ample opportunity to rack up counting stats. He's got a nice little stretch going and is worth an add in categories leagues. Keep in mind that he's a platoon bat, as he has a .368 BA and .875 OPS against LHP.
Trevor Larnach, OF
Larnach made his first appearance on the blog about a month ago, but went silent shortly afterwards. Inconsistent playing time has lead to inconsistency from the statcast darling, but i've kept an eye on him and he's finally emerged, smacking 3 HRs last week. This guy has had tremendous bat talent through 100 ABs this season and may finally be getting consistent plauying time.
Keep An Eye On Or Add, Whatever:
Otto Lopez: Continues to hit for a high BA and steal bases.
Ke'Bryan Hayes: I love his potential and I believe he's going to realize it now that his back issues are gone.
Jesus Sanchez: I flirted with Jesus last year and owned him for his hottest stretch of the season. He's always been great at barreling the ball, but he's also great at losing the sweet-spot of the bat just as quickly as he finds it. Nick Senzel: His bat is heating up for the Nationals and his sweet-spot percent remains high. Miguel Andujar: I'm a Yankees fan who thought Andujar was our 3B of the future. I like the guy. But regression will come, I think. Nelson Velasquez: There's some real power here, let's see if he continues to make contact. Jonathan India: Extremely high sweet-spot % and plate discipline. Maybe he can sustain this going forward.
And guys like Vierling and others who were featured previously should still be added, I just didn't include him because he's getting swooped up fast. Same with Nick Gonzales. The time has passed. Check out my previous posts though and see if guys are still available.
Starting Pitchers (New)
Mitch Spence
Another converted reliever currently in the process of being stretched out, Mitch Spence has some filthy stuff. He has competent velocity combined with well-above average Horizontal AND Vertical break. And which pitch has below-average break? His cutter! That's a very good thing, as you want your cutter to remain flat and have good run. His slider and curveball both have insane movement, so expect the offspeed run value to improve going forward.
No pitch has a negative run value, and he has a whopping 38.5% whiff rate on his wipeout curveball.
Luis Medina
Once upon a time, the Yankees had two Luis's in their top 10 prospects - Gil at #5 and Medina at #10. Both were considered guys with extremely good stuff and tremendous upside, and there was often debate amongst Yankees fans about which would turn out better and which should be traded. Clearly, Gil has run away as the top Luis, but that doesn't mean we should forget Mr. Medina. His fastball is lively and consistently touches 97 mph, and his curveball looks to be extremely promising if the ATL game is anything to judge by. The issue is he can be extremely wild and there's a possiblity of any start being a stinker. Still, the stuff is there and at age 25, he may be able to figure it out this year. This is more of a prospective add that can make you look like a genius or an idiot any given week.
Check out his curveball in this clip: https://www.mlb.com/video/luis-medina-s-strong-first-start-of-the-season
If you're interested in more SP, please check out my previous posts, as many are still available.
Let me know if you guys want a tier list for positional players. Cheers.
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