Happy Tuesday, everyone! It was our lightest Monday slate in a long time after the Guardians-Rangers game was postponed. In all, we had five games finish, but the story of the night -- and star of the show -- was Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene. On Monday, Greene reminded the Fantasy Baseball world exactly what his upside looks like when he's in full command and on top of his game. Greene threw seven shutout innings against the Diamondbacks in a game where Sportsline's Larry Hartstein and Allie O'Neil both convinced me that Arizona moneyline was a surefire winner.
I can forgive them both -- especially Larry who has delivered me plenty more winners over the past several years -- but I can't say for sure that Fantasy managers can forgive themselves if they left Greene on their bench ahead of this two-start week. Greene not only threw seven shutout innings in this one, but he also allowed just one hit and didn't walk a batter. He racked up eight strikeouts with 17 induced swinging strikes on just 87 pitches. That flame-throwing fastball of his collected 12 of those swinging strikes.
The crux with Greene remains even after this dominant performance. On the positive side, he has a 34% called swinging strike rate on the season, and that's awesome. He also has 72 strikeouts on the season -- placing him inside the top-10 overall. On the negative side, this is only the second time all season that he has not walked a batter in an outing. To go along with that, he has a 51% flyball rate allowed and a 3.9 walk per nine. Greene is 78% rostered, so it's not like we're talking about a waiver-wire play here but the better question is when should managers leave him in their lineup vs. on their benches? He's becoming more of a matchup-based consideration, but I am going to continue to handle Greene with training wheels until he strings together a few starts without any -- or just without many -- walks.
Below, we'll dive into more of the action from Monday with a few leftover pieces from the weekend. Also, make sure you're all caught up with everything going on from the Fantasy Baseball Today team over at CBSSports.com/Fantasy/Baseball. Live on the site are Scott's newest waiver wire suggestions including the case to be made for emerging middle-infield options Christopher Morel and Ezequiel Duran. You can find that here.
And of course, as always, you can follow to make sure you get the latest episodes of Fantasy Baseball Today right when they drop on Apple and Spotify.
Ohh Wacha-cha-cha
If you didn't pick up on the convoluted reference I just made in the headline for this blurb, well then you probably never listened to the band Disturbed. Here's where I'm drawing this from -- the intro. It's not exactly normal, but ever since Red Sox SP Michael Wacha debuted in the MLB, I have always thought of this Disturbed 'Down with the sickness' intro in conjunction with him. Now that we've gotten that out of the way -- and thank you for letting me get it out of my system -- let's talk about what he did on Monday. Wacha dished out a three-hit shutout against the Angles -- a complete game three-hit shutout. He allowed just one walk and struck out six.
Wacha has now lowered his ERA to 1.99 on the season. That's the good news. The bad news is that his xFIP is 4.27 and he has just 33 strikeouts through 49 2/3 innings pitched. Wacha is 63% rostered and won't ever be a sexy add this late into his career, but he pitches behind an exciting Red Sox lineup and I can think of a lot worse ways to add to your starting pitcher corps.
Ray continues to struggle
If we're being completely honest here, Robbie Ray doesn't look anything like the Cy Young pitcher he was in 2021 with the Blue Jays with his new team, the Mariners. Ray had another subpar outing on Monday -- this time against the Astros in Houston. Ray went just five innings deep and allowed eight hits and three walks. He allowed three earned runs and worst of all, the strikeouts weren't there. Ray struck out just three and induced just 10 swinging strikes on 98 pitches.
Ray allowed three home runs in this one and he has now allowed a homer in seven straight starts. He also allowed 12 hard-hit balls in this one and that's not something that can continue if we expect him to rebound as a Fantasy asset in the final four months. Ray's ERA is now up to 4.97, his WHIP is 1.32 and the box-score bottom-line stats aren't the only concerning ones here. He also has an elevated walk rate and home run allowed rate while seeing a drop in his velocity. Those who drafted Ray were hoping that the Seattle ballpark and division schedule wouldn't slow down his momentum from last season, but it's starting to look more and more like his career best walk rate and strand rate from 2021 was the outlier.
Most added hitters this week
Christopher Morel: Since being called up, the 22-year-old is batting .291 with two homers, six bags, 12% walk rate, 22% strikeouts rate, .849 OPS
Alejandro Kirk in his past 25 games: .358 average, five homers, eight doubles, 1.072 OPS, 6.5% strikeout rate.
Kyle Farmer: In his past 13 games: .422 batting average, four homers, one bag, 1.203 OPS.
Andres Gimenez: He's now up to a .307 average with seven homers, four bags and a .869 OPS.
Vinnie Pasquantino: So far in 2022 at Triple-A, he's batting .284, with 15 homers, three steals, a 1.003 OPS, 12% walk rate, 14% strikeout rate, and 45% flyball rate.
News and lineup notes
Every night the Fantasy Baseball Today team dives into all of the happenings around the MLB from top performers to injuries, trades and more. The podcast is a must listen for any diehard, if I do say so myself. Tune in to the podcast to hear the FBT crew expand on the news and notes below.
- Fernando Tatis will undergo a CT scan on his left wrist later this week in hopes of getting cleared to hit.
- Wander Franco has yet to resume baseball activities since suffering a right quad strain on May 30.
- Jack Flaherty struck out three over three perfect innings in his first rehab start Sunday.
- Shane Baz struck out 10 over 4.1 innings Sunday in his fourth rehab start with Triple-A. He's up to 84% rostered, and rightfully so.
- Clayton Kershaw allowed one run over four innings Sunday in a rehab start at Single-A. He's expected to rejoin the Dodgers this weekend and pitch against the Giants.
- Tylor Megill has joined the Mets on the West Coast. He's tentatively lined up to pitch this weekend against the Angels.
- Jonathan India will begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A on Tuesday. He hasn't appeared in a game since April 30.
- The Astros officially signed Yordan Alvarez to a six-year, $115 million contract extension. The deal buys out the rest of his arbitration seasons along with three additional free-agent years.
- Andrew Benintendi missed Monday's game with calf tightness.
- As expected, Jarren Duran was optioned back to Triple-A with Jackie Bradley returning to the Red Sox.
- Bailey Ober is headed back to the IL with a right groin injury.
- Jeimer Candelario may be headed to the IL with a shoulder injury.
- David Peralta was removed Monday with back spasms.
- Mike Moustakas was placed on the IL without a designation, which sounds like COVID.
- Sheldon Neuse was optioned to Triple-A on Monday.
- Jake Odorizzi threw a 57-pitch bullpen session Saturday and had no complications. He's on the IL with strains in his right foot/ankle.
- Reds prospect Jose Barrero was reinstated from the IL and then optioned back to Triple-A. He's a name to watch with sneaky power and speed.
- Dallas Keuchel signed a minor-league contract with the Diamondbacks.