Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Griff's MLB Notebook

Baseball's back in full swing, and that alone couldn't be any more awesome! Here's three observations I've made during our first couple weeks of baseball:

1) The Early Downfall of Corey Kluber

It's been a really disappointing start for Kluber (and the Cleveland Indians, honestly). Kluber's now 0-2 after losing 6-0 at U.S. Cellular Field to the Chicago White Sox today. Honestly, the slow start for Kluber is just that: a slow start. Kluber's provided the Indians with three quality starts in his four outings and stuck out at least six hitters in each start. He's gotten over 100 pitches in three of those starts, showing that he's still efficient.

Fantasy owners should be patient with Kluber, as hopefully the more starts he'll make, the more run support he'll receive from the Indians' offense.

2) Joey Votto is 2010 Joey Votto.

Votto has been extremely productive these first couple weeks, really showing us a glimpse of the power he possessed in 2010 when he was the NL MVP winner. Small sample-size noted, consider this: right now Votto is projected to hit 65 homers in 2015. While that number will most definitely taper off, it shows the significance of how good of a start he's provided hitting second in the Cincinnati Reds' lineup.

Fantasy owners could sell high for Votto, but I would make sure you are getting top 25 value at least in any trade. If Votto can stay healthy, he'll be one of those top 25 players, along with another shot to win another NL MVP award.

3) Chicago Cubs Prospects

The Cubs brought up Kris Bryant and Addison Russell pretty quick into this young season. Bryant was obviously on a very short path to the Majors, and the Cubs were simply waiting on administrative matters to bring him up. Bryant has seen the ball very well at the plate since making his debut last Saturday, and he could very easily be a top 50-100 player as far as fantasy is concerned. Russell will take more time to develop at the plate, but he's a great addition to the Cubs' defense and will obviously improve offensively with experience. He's definitely not a "must-own" player just yet. This team will be interesting to watch to see if they can hang at the top of the division down the stretch.

Weekend Series to Watch:

Boston Red Sox vs. Baltimore Orioles

This will be a fun series to keep an eye on, as the Red Sox and Orioles split the series this past weekend. Another exciting series is on tap for this weekend.

As always, thanks for reading! Be sure to follow me on Twitter @griffaldo.

No comments:

Post a Comment