Tuesday was truly a jam-packed night of baseball that featured both awesome hitting and pitching performances. On one end, Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber just won't stop hitting homers, and then we had German Marquez with a near no-hitter. I know he pitches in Coors Field, but I think it's time to buy in. You can read more about him below.
Another strong pitching performance came from Joe Ross, who limited the Rays to two runs over 6.2 innings with seven strikeouts. He now has a 2.48 ERA over his last four starts that coincide with his fastball velocity being up. Ross averaged a season-high 94.8 mph on his fastball Tuesday. At 56% rostered, Ross makes for a solid waiver wire addition if you're in need of pitching. He also has RP eligibility for those in H2H points leagues.
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Marquez nearly throws no-hitter
Rockies SP German Marquez has quietly been red hot as of late, and that continued on Tuesday as he took a no-hitter all the way into the ninth inning against the Pirates. Marquez finished the complete game shutout having allowed just one hit and one walk. The Rockies won 8-0 and Marquez even provided some offense himself while going 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI.
Under the hood, things weren't as pretty for Marquez. He racked up just five strikeouts and induced 14 swinging strikes on 92 pitches. We've seen worse though. More importantly, he's getting batters out. Over his last three starts -- spanning 23 innings -- Marquez has allowed just one run. He has also only allowed four total hits over those last three starts.
Over his last eight starts, Marquez has a 2.00 ERA (and that includes a start where he gave up eight earned runs). The ceiling isn't quite ace level, with just 46 strikeouts over those 54 innings, but again, he's keeping runs off the board. He's accompanied this ERA with a 54% groundball rate and a 13% swinging strike rate (entering Tuesday's start). He's also managed to keep down the walks.
Ohtani and Schwarber continue absurd power surge
Angels DH Shohei Ohtani and Nationals OF Kyle Schwarber continue to put on display a power surge unlike anything we've seen so far this season. On Tuesday, adding to what feels like a historically great week for offense, both Ohtani and Schwarber went blast off again. Ohtani delivered two homers and increased his home run lead to 28 on the season. He also turned on an inside pitch and delivered a home run that barely makes any sense from a physics standpoint -- you can check that out here.
Schwarber sent another leadoff at-bat out of the park and now has 25 homers on the season and 16 just this month (in 18 games). Although it's fluky in the sense that he's not going to keep this kind of home run pace, there's no question we're seeing a breakout and him realizing the potential we knew he always had. He has also batted leadoff in all but two games during his power surge, and that means he is now getting more plate appearances. Schwarber's previous home run high was 38 in 2019.
More news and notes
- Dodgers SP Trevor Bauer is under investigation for allegedly assaulting a woman earlier this year, according to TMZ. There is not much more that we can add this time but obviously it's a very serious story.
- Astros SP Jose Urquidy left his start Tuesday with right shoulder discomfort. Maybe Cristian Javier gets thrown back into the rotation. He is just 67% rostered.
- We have a trade! The Blue Jays acquired OF Corey Dickerson and reliever Adam Cimber from the Marlins in exchange for infielder Joe Panik and an undisclosed minor-league pitcher. I assume Dickerson just fills a fourth outfielder role and offers a LHB off the bench when healthy. Jesus Sanchez is now locked in as the Marlins' everyday left fielder.
- There were mixed reports on Astros 3B Alex Bregman Tuesday. Bregman said that the ultrasound on his strained left quad went great and that he is way ahead of schedule. Dusty Baker also said Bregman will be out at least another month.
- Padres SP Blake Snell was scratched Tuesday due to dehydration and stomach problems. Craig Stammen started in his place.
- Cubs 1B/3B/OF Kris Bryant was out of the lineup due to side soreness. He's batting .114 with a .445 OPS in June. Anthony Rizzo also remained out of the lineup with a tight lower back.
- White Sox 1B Jose Abreu surprisingly returned to the lineup despite getting hit by a pitch on his knee Sunday.
- Phillies 2B/3B Jean Segura was activated and batted second for the Phillies Tuesday.
- Nationals SP Stephen Strasburg threw off the bullpen mound for the second time since suffering the injury. He remains without a timetable.
- Brewers 2B Kolten Wong remained out with his calf issue.
- White Sox 3B Yoan Moncada was out of the lineup due to his shoulder "barking," according to Tony La Russa. He's batting .275 with five homers and two steals on the season.
- Braves SP Max Fried has fully recovered from his blister issue and will start Wednesday.
- Twins SP Michael Pineda started a rehab assignment Tuesday. He's on the IL with forearm inflammation.
- White Sox OF Luis Robert was cleared to ramp up baseball activities. Remember, he's been on the IL since May with a strained hip. His timeline still remains some time in August.
- Padres RP Ryan Weathers is expected to be recalled from Triple-A El Paso to start during the team's current six-game road trip. He had a 3.60 ERA with a 1.50 WHIP in two starts there. He's 23% rostered.
Prospect updates
- The Brewers promoted pitching prospect Aaron Ashby from Triple-A. He had an 8.71 ERA and 2.03 WHIP across 10.1 innings as a reliever. Ashby pitched well as a starter prior to the move with a 2.93 ERA over 27.2 innings. He'll initially be used out of the bullpen for the Brewers.
- The Phillies optioned pitching prospect Spencer Howard back to Triple-A. He had a 5.82 ERA across 21.2 innings, though they never really gave him a fair shot to just be a starter. Howard didn't go more than four innings in any start.
Hitting options on waiver wire
- Mariners 1B/2B Ty France (65% rostered) went 2-for-4 with his eighth homer on Tuesday. He's now batting .295 with five homers in 33 games since returning from the IL.
- Reds 1B Joey Votto (60%) added two more hits on Tuesday and is now batting .282 with four homers in 20 games since coming off the IL..
- Astros OF Myles Straw (42%) walked twice and grabbed his 12th steal on Tuesday.
Re-drafting the first two rounds
On Tuesday, Scott delivered an excellent piece breaking down how he would redraft the first two rounds knowing what we know now and providing a blueprint of how to rank the top players in Fantasy moving forward. You can find his breakdown of each pick here. This is how the Round 1 played out:
- Braves OF Ronald Acuna
- Blue Jays 1B Vlad Guerrero Jr.
- Padres SS Fernando Tatis
- Mets SP Jacob deGrom
- Nationals OF Juan Soto
- Angels OF/DH Shohei Ohtani
- Nationals SS Trea Turner
- Dodgers OF Mookie Betts
- Cleveland 3B Jose Ramirez
- Padres SP Yu Darvish
- Nationals SP Max Scherzer
- Braves 1B Freddie Freeman