Happy Thursday, everyone! The two hottest teams in baseball continued their winning ways on Wednesday, and a case can also be made that they're the two best moving forward. The Dodgers won their 10th straight game with a little help from Yankees castoff Joey Gallo, who they got for pennies on the dollar. Gallo cracked the whip on a three-run homer in the seventh inning. The Dodgers have now won each of their past 10 games by at least two runs and have dominated opponents 70-24 over that streak.
The other team that keeps winning game after game is the Mets, and they did Wednesday against the Reds. The Mets are finally reaping the benefits of acquiring Francisco Lindor, who continues to fill up the box score game after game. On Wednesday, Lindor got things started with home run No. 20 before really kicking the game into blowout mode with a two-run single in the second inning. He now has 81 RBI, a Mets team record among shortstops (topping Jose Reyes). He also needs one more consecutive game with an RBI and run to top that all-time team record. The Mets have won 20 of their past 26 games.
Below, we'll break down some other key takeaways from Wednesday's action including a big-time prospect call up. But first, make sure you're caught up with everything going on over at CBSSports.com/Fantasy. Scott White's broke down several prospects you need to stash for your stretch run in his latest prospects report. You can find that here. Scott also writes about Vaughn Grissom and other waiver-wire targets here.
Grissom rips em' in his first game
The Braves placed Orlando Arcia on the IL, and that opened up a spot in the infield, so they did exactly what they did earlier this season when they surprisingly called up Michael Harris. This time they called up Vaughn Grissom, a top prospect. What makes the call up surprising is that Grissom made the jump straight from Double-A.
It didn't take him long to make an impact. In his first game, the 21-year-old had a monster debut. He went 2-for-4 with a home-run blast, a stolen base, two hard-hit balls (the homer had a 101.7 mph exit velocity and traveled 412 feet). He may not be up for very long, but he is worth immediately targeting on waivers with his power/speed profile. Although it was Double-A, he ripped up the minors this season to the tune of a .324 batting average, 14 homers and 27 bags in just 96 games.
When Ozzie Albies returns, Grissom could be sent down, but that's no reason to leave him unclaimed. If he hits strong enough, the Braves could leave him up as they look to compete for a World Series.
Beat the wire on this two-start SP
It's already time to start thinking about next week's slate as we're nearing the Fantasy playoffs, and that means you should get ahead of the game by scooping up a two-start pitcher for your H2H matchups. We're calling for Jeffrey Springs to be that starter after he delivered another solid outing in his last start vs. the Brewers. Springs has two games next week -- vs. the Royals and on the road against the Yankees.
In his most recent outing, Springs allowed two runs through five innings but also racked up eight strikeouts and 16 swinging strikes. He has a 2.56 ERA and a 13% swinging strike rate on the season.
Who's hot
When Salvador Perez returned sooner than anticipated from the IL, everyone kind of just forgot about Royals C/OF MJ Melendez, who stuck in the lineup in the outfield and continued to mash. Melendez went 3 for 4 with his 14th homer on Wednesday, and all three of those were hard-hit baseballs -- including a 109.4 mph exit velocity on the homer. Melendez now has a .268 average with eight homers, 22 RBI and a 16.4% barrel rate over his past 30 games. He's 77% rostered.
Who's not
Sean Manaea just can't get it together. He allowed three earned and four runs over five innings against the Giants on Wednesday. Manaea has now racked up a 6.68 ERA over his past seven starts with a 91.8 mph average exit velocity against. The walks are up. He's still 93% rostered, but it's impossible to feel safe with him in your rotation now.
Fantasy news, injuries and notes
For a complete recap of every injury, update and more, make sure you're locked into the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast where Frank, Scott and Chris dive deep into every player note. For the CliffsNotes version, we'll recap the biggest news and notes you need to know right here:
- Fernando Tatis had a big game at Double-A Tuesday with two doubles and a triple. We're close, folks.
- Wander Franco could be ready to resume live batting practice as soon as Friday. He had surgery to repair a fractured hamate bone in his right wrist about a month ago. Franco could be back by the end of August.
- Dustin May will make one more rehab start Sunday before rejoining the Dodgers rotation next week. May struck out eight over five innings of work in his fifth rehab outing Tuesday. He built up to 68 pitches. He's' 76% rostered and could be floating around in some leagues.
- Speaking of the Dodgers, Ryan Pepiot was recalled to start Wednesday night. I'm guessing he'll head back down to make room for May.
- Lance McCullers will make his season debut Saturday against the A's. He's up to 81% rostered.
- Paul Blackburn went to the IL with an inflamed right middle finger. JP Sears started in his place, making his A's debut.
- Chris Flexen will shift to the Mariners bullpen, which means George Kirby should be able to remain in the rotation for now.
- Reds manager David Bell said prior to Wednesday's game that Hunter Strickland will be moved out of the closer's role. Alexis Diaz makes the most sense and he's just 19% rostered.
- Kyle Lewis was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Dylan Moore.
- Spencer Howard was placed on the IL with a right shoulder impingement.
- Orioles' pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez threw off a mound Wednesday for the first time since he suffered a Grade 2 right lat strain at the beginning of June. It's extremely unlikely we see him this season, but he could be in the mix for the Orioles' Opening Day rotation next year.