| | | | Monday, August 7, 2023 | | Hey, it's Scott White taking the handoff on the newsletter for the next few weeks, and it's fitting that I do so given that this weekend was all about high-profile returns. | | I'm talking specifically within the starting pitcher ranks. Brandon Woodruff (shoulder inflammation) and Max Fried (strained forearm) both came back looking like their studly selves, which was no certainty after multi-month absences. Meanwhile, Nestor Cortes, who had been out since May 30 with a strained rotator cuff, looked like the rest did him extra good. He one-hit the Astros over four innings Saturday, striking out eight and registering 17 whiffs on just 64 pitches. The velocity on his top two pitches (fastall, cutter) was up 1.5 mph. It's an early indication that he's still capable of pitching up to his 2022 numbers despite his rough start to 2023 and was hopefully worth the wait. | | A few more returns are just over the horizon. Rookie Eury Perez, who was pitching like an ace before being sent down a month ago to manage his innings, will rejoin the rotation Monday. He may not be fully stretched out yet, but he lines up for two starts, at least. Meanwhile, Trevor Story is nearing the end of his 20-day rehab window for the Red Sox, putting him in line to be activated at some point this week. | | | | It wasn't all good news, though, seeing as we lost Josh Jung (fractured thumb) and Joe Musgrove (shoulder inflammation) to injuries. Both absences should span multiple weeks -- with the Padres suggesting that Musgrove won't even throw for the next three -- and if you look at the calendar, well, we're running out of weeks. | | Fortunately, the two biggest standouts from the weekend happen to play Jung's and Musgrove's same positions and are available in more than 80 percent of CBS Sports leagues. Indeed, Davis Schneider and Chase Silseth kick off this week's look at the waiver wire. | | If you hadn't heard of Davis Schneider prior to this weekend, suffice it to say you're not alone. MLB Pipeline ranked him 28th among Blue Jays prospects. Baseball America was only slightly more generous, placing him 15th. | | | | But the pint-sized utility player (he stands only 5-feet-9) was actually producing at Triple-A Buffalo prior to his call-up. In fact, it's the main reason he got called up. Sure, Bo Bichette had just gone on the IL with patellar tendinitis, but the Blue Jays had already acquired Paul DeJong to fill in for him. Davis was brought up to provide an offensive spark. | | And boy, did he. It began with him homering in his first at-bat Friday. He added another long ball, a 425-foot shot, Sunday, all the while going 9 for 13. How unlikely is that sort of performance to begin a big-league career? So unlikely that it's never been done before. Indeed, Schneider became the first player in MLB history to collect nine hits and two homers in his first three games. | | | | But how good is he really? Is this someone we should be picking up everywhere, or simply as needed? And how likely is it he'll stick around? Those are real questions that demand real answers, so why keep you waiting? Let's kick off today's Waiver Wire with the surprise weekend standout. | | Davis Schneider | | It's true that Schneider wasn't a highly regarded prospect prior to his call-up Friday, but it's also true that he was doing plenty of damage at Triple-A, homering 21 times in just 87 games while reaching base at a .416 clip. His exit velocities were nothing special, so this isn't a player who's oozing with raw talent. But he's one who has learned to maximize what he has, as evidenced by his high fly-ball and pull rates at Triple-A. Pulling the ball in the air is the most surefire way to make up for middling exit velocities, and it helps explain why Davis homered twice in his first three major-league games. But his 9-for-13 start might give you a false impression of his batting average potential given the likelihood of fly-ball outs. A Spencer Steer outcome is on the table here, but it depends on Schneider continuing to produce. Having him at second base forces Whit Merrifield to the outfield, which may not be an everyday solution. | | Rostered: 10% | | Chase Silseth | | It was widely presumed coming into last week that Silseth would be forfeiting his rotation spot for newly acquired Lucas Giolito. But then Griffin Canning went on the IL with a calf injury, and two starts later, Silseth would appear to be here to stay. The clincher came Sunday when he struck out 12 over seven innings, registering 21 whiffs on 100 pitches. Eight came on his slider, which isn't so surprising given that recent tweaks to that pitch, including dialing back the velocity, are what put Silseth on this path, beginning with a 10-strikeout effort July 19. But the majority of Sunday's whiffs actually came on the splitter, a pitch that Silseth threw 1.6 mph harder and twice as often as usual. Maybe these changes won't stick, but the possibility of more outings like Sunday's makes Silseth worth a pickup everywhere, even as part of a six-man rotation. | | Rostered: 14% | | Eury Perez | | Perez's roster rate is over the usual 80 percent cutoff for featuring a player here, but not by much. I'll break the rule given how rewarding he could be in those leagues where he is available. The 20-year-old is set to rejoin the rotation Monday after a month-long banishment to the minors in order to preserve his innings. There's no guarantee he picks up where he left off, of course, but he was really hitting his stride prior to being sent down, putting together a 1.83 ERA over his final eight appearances. (Remove a six-run disaster against the Braves, and it's a 0.46 ERA.) It would be surprising if Perez goes more than four innings in his first start back -- or six innings, ever, for the rest of the season -- but he can do a lot with a little and lines up for two starts right away. | | Rostered : 82% | | Trevor Story | | Last call for Story, who's right at the 80 percent cutoff for inclusion here and will surely leap over it once he's activated Thursday. That's when his 20-day rehab window expires, and the Red Sox want to give him every chance to hit the ground running after missing the first two-thirds of this season due to elbow surgery. It wasn't full-blown Tommy John but an internal bracing procedure that we've seen others like Rhys Hoskins undergo. Story is killing it on his rehab assignment, batting .300 (12 for 40) with four home runs, which is reason enough for optimism. But when you also consider that he played for some time with elbow issues prior to succumbing to surgery, it's reasonable to wonder if he could get back to being the all-around player he was prior to 2021. He'll be a useful power/speed threat regardless. | | Rostered : 79% | | Ezequiel Duran | | Duran has been sitting more often while batting just .161 (9 for 56) since the All-Star break and, indeed, was out of the lineup Sunday. But he came off the bench and homered in two plate appearances, taking the place of injured third baseman Josh Jung. Turns out Jung has a fractured thumb, which means the Rangers will need a fill-in third baseman for the next couple weeks. That's probably enough to move Duran back into the lineup on a full-time basis, and he may be your best choice to replace Jung in Fantasy as well. Despite his recent struggles, his xBA and xSLG are both around 80th percentile (.271 and .476, respectively), and of course, there's no better place to hit than the Rangers lineup, which provides ample run and RBI opportunities. | | Rostered : 64% | | | | | | | | The First Cut | | Morning Footy | The First Cut takes you inside the ropes of the golf world, on the PGA Tour and beyond. Tournament previews and picks, deep dives into the players and storylines that matter in the sport of golf.
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