| | | | Thursday, August 8, 2024 | | It took a while, but the Jacksons are starting to run MLB. | | Three of the most-hyped prospects in baseball entering the season were all 20-year-olds named Jackson: Jackson Holliday, Jackson Chourio, and Jackson Merrill. And things did not go very well for any of the three early on: Merrill's .696 OPS in April was the best of that trio, and Holliday was so bad he was sent back to Triple-A after just 10 games. | | But they're all living up to the hype right now, and Wednesday was a huge day for that trio. Here's what that looked like for each of them: | | Holliday homered for the third straight game and for the fourth time in seven games since his return, and he now has 11 batted balls of at least 100 mph since his July 31 return, good for the third-most in baseball.Merrill homered twice Wednesday, one of which went 442 feet, an absolute monster shot while going 4 for 6 overall with three runs and three RBI.Chourio didn't go deep, but he did go 3 for 5 with an RBI, a run, and a couple of stolen bases and is now hitting .328 since the start of June. | | All of a sudden, that trio is looking pretty darn good. It's been a bumpy road, but all three are flashing the superstar potential their lofty prospect rankings suggested they might have, and all three should be playing their way into top-100 status in 2025 drafts. And they all just might help lead countless Fantasy players to a championship this season. | | And, as a reminder, Merrill is the oldest of them at just 21; Holliday and Chourio won't turn 21 until after the season. It hasn't been the best year for prospects, but this is a reminder, for both this season and next, that patience is required when investing in young players. The learning curve at the major-league level might be steeper than it has been in a long time, but the rewards can still be massive when they figure it out. | | | | Thursday's waiver targets | | | | Justin Martinez, RP, Diamondbacks (9%) – In the long run, I think the Diamondbacks would like to get Paul Sewald back in the closer's role, but when he allowed a couple of baserunners in the ninth inning with a four-run lead in Game 1 of Wednesday's doubleheader, Martinez started to get loose down in the bullpen. And then, when the Diamondbacks held a two-run lead in Game 2, out came Martinez to close that one out. I don't know if that definitely means he is the closer, but I think you have to view him as the leader right now. | | Josh Bell, 1B, Diamondbacks (58%) – Bell went 3 for 9 with two homers in the doubleheader Wednesday and now has four HR in six games with the Diamondbacks. It's eerily similar to what we saw last season when he got traded with an OPS around .700 and was a must-start player the rest of the way. And in this case, the turnaround started even before the trade, as he had five homers in his final seven games before the deadline. When he's locked in like this, Bell is worth riding. | | Jake Burger, 3B, Marlins (67%) – Bell's former teammate hasn't slowed down, either. Burger homered twice Wednesday, his fourth in seven August games and his ninth since the All-Star break. It's a bad lineup in Miami, but Burger is on a 50-plus homer, 110-plus RBI pace since the beginning of July and he's eligible at both corner infield spots. | | | | Calvin Faucher, RP, Marlins (6%) – If Martinez isn't available in your league, Faucher might actually have a bit more job security in Miami anyway. The problem is that it's a bad team and Faucher probably isn't as good as Martinez – his 1.50 WHIP is especially unsightly. But he got the save for Miami Wednesday, his second in a row, so it sure seems like he's the top option in the post-Tanner Scott era. | | Adrian Del Castillo, C, Diamondbacks (3%) – If I'm looking for a catcher right now, Del Castillo is one of the top targets on my list in a two-catcher league. He made his MLB debut Wednesday with Gabriel Moreno on the IL and went 1 for 3 with a double, an RBI, and a walk, which is nice. But what's really exciting about Del Castillo is what the 24-year-old did in the minors before his promotion: He was hitting .319/.403/.608 with 24 homers in 100 games in Triple-A. Even for the PCL, that's pretty incredible production for a catcher, and it makes him worth a bet for the upside if you don't have a good No. 2 option at the position. | | | | News and Notes | | Joe Ryan was removed from his start Wednesday in the third inning due to right triceps tightness. I suppose the good news is triceps injuries aren't generally viewed as a serious problem for pitchers, though that's only relatively speaking – any arm injury is a concern, and an IL trip wouldn't be at all surprising as they find out more about the injury. | | Grayson Rodriguez (lat) was placed on the IL Wednesday, no surprise after he was scratched from Tuesday's start. There isn't a timetable as of now, but he'll be out at least a couple of weeks, possibly longer, though manager Brandon Hyde did say Wednesday the team is "optimistic that Rodriguez will pitch again this year. | | Austin Hays was pulled from Wednesday's game due to left hamstring tightness. We'll hopefully know more about his status Thursday, but hamstrings are rarely just one-day issues. | | Jurickson Profar was forced to leave Wednesday's game after being hit by a pitch on his right knee. He tried to stay in the game but had to be replaced by a pinch-runner, though the good news is X-rays came back negative. He is day-to-day right now. | | Ryan Feltner was pulled from his start after just 24 pitches and one inning, though as of 11 pm or so it's not clear what happened. | | Nick Pivetta will have his next start skipped as he is dealing with some arm fatigue. We noticed his velocity was down pretty significantly in his most recent start, so there's clearly something going on here – though the Red Sox do not expect him to go on the IL at this point. | | Dylan Cease will start at some point this weekend against the Marlins after getting through just one inning Wednesday before a rain delay. That could push Joe Musgrove's return from the IL to next week – though potentially making him a two-start option. | | Tyler O'Neill was placed on the IL Wednesday, retroactive to Aug. 4, due to an infection in his left calf. He had been out of the lineup with an illness the previous few days, and it appears this was the culprit. Hopefully, he gets better soon and can return in about a week or so. | | Oneil Cruz was out of the lineup for a second straight day due to an illness, but he did appear in the game. | | Walker Buehler will make his final rehab start Thursday at Triple-A, with the expectation he'll return to the Dodgers rotation for the first time since June sometime next week. He has been awful this season, and that includes eight runs in 7.1 innings during his first two rehab outings. Bobby Miller will also start Friday at Triple-A after being delayed a few days by an adductor strain. Both could be in the Dodgers rotation before the end of the month, though both also need to prove themselves again to Fantasy players before you'll want to rely on them. | | Ha-Seong Kim (triceps) has missed the past two games due to his injury, though it doesn't appear to be a long-term issue at this point. | | The Orioles placed Heston Kjerstad on the 10-day IL Wednesday, retroactive to Aug. 1 with a concussion. He had already been optioned back to Triple-A, so this doesn't really change much, but it does indicate that Kjerstad may still be dealing with some lingering symptoms after he was hit in the head by a pitch almost a month ago, which is worrisome. | | A's pitcher Luis Medina had Tommy John surgery Wednesday, ending his season and likely keeping him out for all of 2025. | | Louie Varland will start during the Twins doubleheader against the Guardians Friday. | | Marcus Stroman has been pushed back to Sunday against the Rangers so he can try to work on his mechanics before he takes the mound. He has a 6.87 ERA over his past eight starts, so if you haven't dropped him by now, he'll have a chance to show you something before waivers run. | | Drew Rasmussen has been activated from the IL, and he will pitch out of the Rays bullpen. He is coming back from Tommy John surgery and probably won't make much of a Fantasy impact unless he forces his way into the closer discussion. | | Chris Martin was activated from the IL Wednesday after missing a month due to a sore right elbow. | | James Outman was optioned back to Triple-A to clear a roster spot for Miguel Rojas. Outman has been an absolute disaster with the Dodgers this season, hitting just .148 and being sent down to the minors multiple times now. | | Wednesday's standouts | | Tarik Skubal, Tigers @SEA: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K – Pretty much business as usual for the guy I have ranked as the No. 1 pitcher in Fantasy. Velocity was actually up a bit in this one, a good sign for a guy some had concerns might fade after throwing just 94.2 innings last year. He's up to 143.1 so far and really isn't showing any signs of slowing down. 21 swings and misses in this one, 12 on that changeup. | | Chris Sale, Braves vs. MIL: 4.2 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K – Sale cruised through the first four innings, but kind of got BABIPed to death in the fifth, as the Brewers got to him for two runs on four singles in the fifth. There was no sign of diminished velocity – his hardest-thrown pitch actually came in that fifth inning, so I don't see any reason to be concerned here. | | Cole Ragans, Royals vs. BOS: 6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K – Ragans continues to deal with some diminished velocity, as he was down 1 mph with his four-seamer in this one. It didn't impact his effectiveness in this start, at least, as he had the changeup working well and got to 18 swinging strikes, though it's worth noting that there were three unearned runs in this one, so it could have been worse. Ragans has been a little bit less dominant of late, with a 3.80 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 23.2 innings. He's already up to 140.1 innings, 87.2 more than last season and more than any season in his career, so it's fair to wonder how he's going to continue to hold up, especially if he continues to lose velocity. | | Blake Snell, Giants @WAS: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K – For his encore, Snell was … fine. Not as good as his no-hitter the last time out, and it's no surprise they limited him to 93 pitches, though that was still enough for a solid Fantasy outing. He continues to lean heavily on his four-seamer, changeup, and curveball and continues to show excellent command of all three, throwing the four-seamer and curveball for strikes and burying the changeup for whiffs out of the zone. He's volatile, but when Snell is on, there's no question he's an ace. I've moved him back into my top 12 at SP. | | Freddy Peralta , Brewers @ATL: 5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K – Peralta is kind of Snell's mirror image. When he's on, he can carry your pitching staff for weeks or months at a time, but he just hasn't been on very often this season, with an ERA over 4.00 in each of the past three months. He's still a must-start pitcher, and there isn't really much reason to worry about the underlying numbers, but I understand your frustration with him. For what it's worth, he did have 16 swinging strikes today, he just couldn't avoid hard contact. There will almost certainly be a stretch at some point before the end of the season where you are very happy to have Peralta in your lineup, so I'm not stressing out too much. | | Taj Bradley , Rays @STL: 4.2 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K – That's a couple of pretty ugly starts in a row for Bradley, though I'm not sure there's really a good explanation for his struggles. Bradley's pitch mix remains very similar to when he was dominating in June and July, and he still got five whiffs with his splitter in this one, a solid number. Even during his good stretch, Bradley still gave up a lot of loud contact, so we might just have to live with stretches like this when he isn't at the top of his game, but I still think you'll be happy to have had him in your lineup more often than not by the end of the season. | | Luis Gil, Yankees vs. LAA: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 6 K – Now that's a Luis Gil line. He clearly didn't have the feel for his changeup, throwing it a season-low 9% of the time, and needed 107 pitches to get through his five innings. And yet, that's just what he did, ultimately. It wasn't pretty, and against a different matchup, things might have gone differently. But Gil finding a way to get through an outing unscathed without his best stuff is a good sign, and I'm not gonna knock him for it. | | Michael King, Padres @PIT: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K – You do have to wonder if King wasn't at 100% after being pushed back due to a calf injury, but he still managed to battle through it and give us a decent line. It was probably King's worst performance in over a month, but that says a lot more about how good King has been than anything about this showing. King has already thrown nearly 25 more innings than last season, so you do have to wonder if there are going to be some more skipped starts coming down the stretch, but King still looks like an absolute must-start Fantasy option moving forward. | | Kutter Crawford, Red Sox @KC: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 3 K – And that's now 13 homers allowed in his past four starts, though I guess the good news for Crawford is only one of those came in this one. His xERA for the season was up to 4.04 before this start, and that might just be who he is at this point. And that probably isn't a must-roster pitcher right now. | | Yusei Kikuchi, Astros @TEX: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K – One start after completely reworking his arsenal, Kikuchi went back to mostly looking like he did in Toronto. He threw his changeup about the same amount as his curveball in this, after completely fading the curve in favor of the changeup in his first outing with the Astros. That being said, it's worth pointing out that he had no whiffs on the changeup and couldn't locate it consistently in the strike zone, so it's not hard to see why there was a pivot there. It was still an effective start for Kikuchi, so who is complaining? | | Paul Blackburn, Mets @COL: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K – In two starts with the Mets, Blackburn has thrown his cutter around 35% of the time and his changeup around 25% of the time, a significant increase in usage for both, and it's led to 12 strikeouts and just four walks while allowing two earned runs in 12 innings. I don't think he's an ace or anything, but I think the Mets are probably doing something smart here, and that should help them continue to eke out better results from Blackburn. He looks like a solid streamer right now. | | Brandon Pfaadt, Diamondbacks @CLE: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K – This was a very good start from Pfaadt … it just wasn't one I think Fantasy players need to get too excited about. He got the six strikeouts, but with just seven swinging strikes, as he relied more on generating mostly harmless contact. That approach worked well, and it led to some pretty decent stretches for Pfaadt, including a 2.86 ERA since July 1. But without many strikeouts, it's hard to view him as much more than just a solid streaming type. | | Ben Lively, Guardians vs. ARI: 5 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K – Like Pfaadt, Lively has mostly thrived on generating weak contact, and when that isn't working, well, you get results like this. His control is typically better than this, but Lively rarely generates many strikeouts or swings and misses, so the margin for error is extremely slim. This is a streamer's profile, and with a 4.61 ERA and only three quality starts in seven tries since July 1, he's probably a pretty easy drop if you see someone with more upside out there. | | Jake Irvin, Nationals vs. SF: 5 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K – Something we've seen a lot of this season is pitchers with just decent stuff and minimal strikeout upside nonetheless finding a lot of success thanks to pinpoint command and great execution. We're also starting to see a lot of those guys come back to Earth as the weather has warmed up, and Irvin is certainly another example of that. He has a 5.48 ERA since July 1, even though the fundamentals of his game haven't changed – he's been an average-ish strikeout pitcher with good control during this stretch, as he has all season, but the results just haven't been there. His xERA is now over 4.00, so toss him in that "decent streamer" pile with the rest of them. | | Andrew Abbott, Reds @MIA: 5 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 7 K – We've started to see a bit more strikeout upside from Abbott lately, but it's coincided with his worst stretch of the season as far as run prevention, so it's hard to care much. His first-half success was built on unsustainable success on balls in play, and now we're starting to see that regress, so even the increased strikeout rate lately hasn't overcome that. I never expected Abbott's success to be sustainable, and he's pretty easy to drop after an outing like this against a team like this. | | Valente Bellozo , Marlins vs. CIN: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K – It's a low-90s fastball and mid-80s cutter, and those were the only pitches he threw more than 13% of the time. It's a bit of a kitchen-sink approach for Bellozo, but despite the solid results, I really don't see much to get excited about here. He now has a solid 3.92 ERA with 19 K in 20.2 innings and that goes with a career 3.68 ERA with 343 K in 335 IP in the minors. None of which is particularly exciting, even before you get to the fact that the Marlins are simply not going to put him in position to win very often. Pass. | | | | | | | | Canadian Football League | | 24/7 Sports News | Get excited for Canadian football all weekend long. First up, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats take on the Montreal Alouettes at 7 PM ET on Saturday, then it's the BC Lions at Edmonton Elks at 7 PM ET on Sunday, both live on CBS Sports Network.
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