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Aaron Judge RF | NYY
Yankees' Aaron Judge: Draws two walks Friday
Judge went 0-for-1 with two walks in Friday's 9-1 rain-shortened loss to the Giants.
The Yankees weren't able to generate much offense in a game that was halted in the sixth inning due to inclement weather, but Judge managed to reach base twice by drawing walks in each of his first two plate appearances. Judge leads the American League in both home runs (six) and RBI (20) and is slashing .347/.458/.776 across 59 plate appearances to start the season.
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Dillon Dingler C | DET
Tigers' Dillon Dingler: Stays hot with three hits
Dingler went 3-for-5 with one RBI and one run scored in Friday's 7-6 win over the Twins.
Dingler has four multi-hit efforts over nine games this season, including two in his last three contests. The catcher has taken over the No. 1 job behind the dish while Jake Rogers (oblique) is out. Dingler is batting a toasty .387 with two home runs, eight RBI, five runs scored, a triple and a double over 32 plate appearances. The one concern early on is his 10 strikeouts, which shows he hasn't made much improvement from the 34.5 percent strikeout rate he had over 27 games in the majors last year.
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Tommy Kahnle RP | BOS
Tigers' Tommy Kahnle: Converts second save
Kahnle allowed a run on three hits and struck out one without walking a batter over one inning to earn the save in Friday's 7-6 win over the Twins.
Kahnle gave up a run for the first time in five innings this season. Ty France connected for a two-out single in the ninth inning, but Kahnle got Mickey Gasper on a groundout to end the threat. Friday's outing wasn't the best show of Kahnle's early work, but he now has two saves with a 1.80 ERA, 0.60 WHIP and 5:0 K:BB this season. That's put him atop the Tigers' closer committee so far -- he's tied for the team lead with Brant Hurter with two saves, but Hurter's saves have been of the three-inning variety as a long reliever. Kahnle represents a decent speculative option for fantasy managers in search of saves, but the Tigers' bullpen could end up being one where the hot hand at any given time is the one getting the ninth-inning duties.
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Reese Olson SP | DET
Tigers' Reese Olson: Fades in fifth inning
Olson allowed four runs on six hits and three walks while striking out three over 4.1 innings, taking a no-decision Friday versus the Twins.
Olson was doing fine initially, but the Twins put together a three-run tally in the fifth inning that chased him from the game. The right-hander finished with 90 pitches (48 strikes), and he's failed to complete five innings twice in three starts so far. He's pitched to a 6.00 ERA, 1.67 WHIP and 13:8 K:BB over 15 innings. Getting the walk rate down closer to his career-average mark coming into the season (2.8 BB/9) will go a long way to getting the rest of his numbers in line. Olson's next start is projected to be at Milwaukee next week.
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Jack Kochanowicz SP | LAA
Angels' Jack Kochanowicz: Struggles against Astros
Kochanowicz (1-1) allowed six runs on six hits and three walks while striking out one over 4.2 innings to take the loss Friday versus the Astros.
Kochanowicz entered the fifth inning with the Angels up 2-1. He quickly ran into trouble and couldn't complete the frame, instead leaving the bases loaded for reliever Garrett McDaniels, who allowed a grand slam to Yainer Diaz. This was the worst of Kochanowicz's three starts so far, inflating his ERA to 5.74 to go along with a 1.28 WHIP and 9:6 K:BB over 15.2 innings. He struck out just 25 batters over 65.1 innings across 11 starts in 2024, and all that contact makes him a volatile option. Kochanowicz's next start is projected to be on the road versus the Rangers.
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Jake Meyers CF | HOU
Astros' Jake Meyers: Nabs two steals Friday
Meyers went 2-for-3 with a walk, one RBI, two stolen bases and one run scored in Friday's 14-3 win over the Angels.
Meyers has hit safely in his last six games, with two multi-hit efforts in that span. All five of his steals this season have also come during this strong stretch at the plate. The outfielder is now batting .313 (10-for-32) with three RBI, five runs scored and a 5:8 BB:K. He's still searching for his first home run, but he has two doubles across 12 contests while seeing steady time in center field recently after fending off challenges from Chas McCormick and Mauricio Dubon.
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Isaac Paredes 3B | HOU
Astros' Isaac Paredes: Goes yard in big win
Paredes went 3-for-4 with a solo home run, two walks and a total of three runs scored in Friday's 14-3 win over the Angels.
This was Paredes' third multi-hit effort over the last five games. The homer, an eighth-inning solo shot, was his first as an Astro and just his second extra-base hit of the season. After a slow start, Paredes is batting .275 (14-for-51) with a .736 OPS, five RBI, six runs scored and no stolen bases over 60 plate appearances. He's made a home for himself in the No. 2 spot in the lineup and should rack up plenty of counting stats -- aside from steals -- in a strong offense.
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Cam Smith RF | HOU
Astros' Cam Smith: Hits first big-league homer
Smith went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run, an additional RBI, one walk and one stolen base in Friday's 14-3 win over the Angels.
Smith's starting to figure things out in the majors -- this was his second multi-hit effort in a row. He's also driven in five runs over his last three games, and he supplied some insurance runs with an eighth-inning homer Friday. The 22-year-old is batting .241 (7-for-29) with a 3:10 BB:K across his first nine major-league contests. He's getting a chance to play a starting role in right field after being acquired by the Astros in their trade with the Cubs that sent Kyle Tucker to Chicago in the offseason. Smith was drafted 14th overall in the 2024 First-Year Player Draft and has skipped Triple-A to begin 2025 in the majors after logging just 32 minor-league contests over three levels in the second half of last year.
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Austin Martin LF | MIN
Twins' Austin Martin: On IL with hamstring injury
Martin (hamstring) was placed on the 7-day injured list at Triple-A St. Paul on Friday, Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic reports.
Martin suffered the injury running to catch a ball in the outfield in Thursday's game. He was hitting .419/.526/.452 in nine games before the injury.
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Yainer Diaz C | HOU
Astros' Yainer Diaz: Erupts with five RBI, two XBH
Diaz went 3-for-5 with a home run, a double, five RBI and two total runs scored in Friday's 14-3 win over the Angels.
Diaz had more hits Friday than he did in his first nine games of the season combined. This big effort at the plate also included his first extra-base hits of the year as well as his first RBI since Opening Day. Diaz delivered a grand slam to cap a six-run fifth inning and added an RBI double as the Astros rallied again in the sixth. That raised his batting average to .132 (5-for-38) with six RBI and three runs scored across 10 contests. Diaz is likely to continue playing in a starting role at catcher -- he's shown potential with 39 homers and 144 RBI across 252 games over the last two seasons, so his slow start to 2025 may just be a brief slump.