It's amazing what we can believe when we've never seen a player fail. And there's certainly been no failure from Austin Riley just yet. Riley hit his ninth home run on Tuesday night and now owns a .324/.368/.732 slash line through 18 games. His OPS in Triple-A this year was also over 1.000. He looks like an absolute star. So why did Scott White call him the ultimate sell high candidate? Because he simply isn't this good, and we should all know that.
Riley is striking out more than 30% of the time and currently owns a 45% HR/FB rate. He's swinging and missing at a rate that does not lead to a batting average anywhere close to .300. Riley has pedigree and there's no doubting his pop, but even after home run No. 9 he remains a sell-high candidate.
An interesting contrast is Garrett Cooper. He hasn't been as good, and we saw him fail a little last year, but he's still just 11% owned despite the fact he's hit .380 with five home runs over his last 13 games. Cooper is 28 years old and has bounced around a lot, but he did post a .330/.392/.564 slash line in Triple-A with 23 home runs in 122 games. He definitely deserves more attention than he's getting and probably needs to be owned in 40% of leagues.
What You Need to Know From Tuesday
Lopez has certainly teased us before, but six shutout innings at Miller Park deserves notice. He's now gone at least six innings and allowed a run or less three times in his last four outings. He owns a 3.83 FIP and a 3.82 xFIP (the SIERA isn't as impressive) and has shown very good control. I own Lopez in a couple of 12-team leagues but at the very least he should be more owned than he is.
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Now that we're all over the disappointment of Keston Hiura being sent down it's time to make sure Shaw is rostered in case he remembers how to hit. He went two-for-three in his return with a walk. If Shaw finds his way again, he's a borderline top-five second baseman.
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Laureano has been spectacular in the field this season and it looks like his bat is starting to catch up. He homered and stole a base on Tuesday and now has a 15-game hitting streak that includes 12 extra base hits. At the very least he should be owned in all five-outfielder leagues.
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Since joining the Orioles, Broxton has been an everyday player and looks like he might deserve it. He strikes out too much but has a good power/speed profile and the Orioles can just let him play and see if he develops into more. He should be owned in AL-Only and 15-team leagues.
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Severino launched three home runs on Tuesday night and he's a catcher. Isn't that enough? At the very least you can speculate in two catcher leagues this will earn him more playing time.
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Winners and Losers
I'm getting closer to eating some crow on Murphy. He homered away from Coors Field on Tuesday and is now officially on a heater.
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I'm not sure how much it matters, but Cabrera homered and doubled on Tuesday. He's hit the ball hard this year, just on the ground too often. If he finds the lift, he could return to relevance.
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After everyone else failed for the Orioles bullpen on Tuesday, Givens entered and picked up his fifth save. He's not back yet, but this is a step in the right direction.
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Smith's ownership is probably just about right at 69% but it was nice to see him awake from his slumber on Tuesday with three hits and a home run.
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Goodrum collected three more hits on Tuesday and now has 11 in his last four games. His ownership is up to 40%, which is only a smidge low.
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Dozier left after getting hit by a pitch and then Howie Kendrick replaced him and had another very good night at the plate. Even if he's okay, Dozier may find playing time hard to come by.
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Paddack had his second straight subpar outing on Tuesday and his third in his last four starts. They've all been tough matchups, but it's disturbing nonetheless.
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There's just something about bad AL Central teams with Snell. He gave up six runs to the Tigers on Tuesday, his worst outing since allowing seven to the Kansas City Royals. This was probably nothing to worry about.
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Well, there goes another two-start streamer down the drain. Anderson had been a bit over his skis lately and I thought we could get away with rolling him out there against the Marlins. We did not.
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