Two players compelled me to drop what I was doing Tuesday and check on their availability in all of my leagues. One was the Tigers' Jose Valverde. The other was the Diamondbacks' Patrick Corbin, who delivered his second straight start with seven strikeouts over seven-plus innings.
Before, I was intrigued by his sudden increase in velocity. Now, I'm buying into it. At a time when most pitchers are working to regain what they had last year, he's already averaging a mile per hour more on his fastball, and it's beginning to show up in his strikeout totals.
Granted, he's far from a proven commodity, but he has emerged as one of my preferred early-season waiver claims, alongside Ervin Santana and Jose Quintana.