AL Central Notes
AL Central
Cleveland Guardians
Hitting
Angel Martinez is up to five home runs and four stolen bases. His playing time has been sporadic with George Varela coming off the IL but Martinez is doing everything he can to get full playing time. Daniel Schneeman is playing nearly every day between second base, third, and the outfield. Seems like he terrorizes my pitchers with long at-bats and then finishes them off with a hit. He’s batting .310 with two homers and a steal. Last season, he got silly hot and finished with 12 homers and nine steals. Bat speed and skills suggest there’s not much upside from last season’s numbers, but ride the hot streak in those deeper leagues
Pitching
Joey Cantillo needs to be owned in all leagues. He has a high walk rate so the WHIP is going to be a concern but Cantillo strikes out nearly 30% of the hitters he faces. At worst he’s a streamer in good matchups.
Chicago White Sox
My preseason love of Luisangel Acuna faded quickly. The bat speed gains and “bigger” swing we saw in the Spring are just not translating. He just isn’t taking the same swing with intent to do damage. Sam Antonacci is a similar story. Antonacci was a high plate skill, high contact, slappy hitter until the fall league when we saw a completely different swing. He had success, then took that to spring training and popped four homers between the WBC and exhibition games. He’s owned in 15 team leagues but ownable in 10-12 leagues if the power and playing time show up.
Everson Pereira may be the most intriguing. Everson hit 21 homers in 78 games with the Yankees last season. His 74.8 mph bat speed is near elite levels but it does come with some swing and miss. What’s impressive is Pereira’s LA sweet-spot is 50%, best in the league, to go along with a 15% barrel rate. Pereira reminds me of Addison Barger from last season. First, we got intrigued by the tools, and then the results came. It’s worth finding out about Everson Pereira
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Kansas City Royals
Hitting
At this point Jac Caglianone is just a platoon OF guy. In shallow weekly lineup leagues he’s droppable. The reason I’d hold is
93rd percentile bat speed
98th percentile avg exit velo
16 % barrel rate
54 % hard hit rate
Now we can sit here and say he has been unlucky, but Cags is hitting the ball on the ground 50% of the time. There’s a swing adjustment that needs to be made but I don’t have much faith in the Royals “old-school” hitting methods. He’s going to start hitting at some point.
Maybe let him face more lefties?
Pitching
All of the Royals starting pitchers should be owned. There likely won’t be many strikeouts with Cameron, Lugo, or Wacha, but they offer great ratios. Keep an eye on Daniel Lynch IV in sv/hlds leagues. His stuff is playing up in the bullpen, and he may have SP eligibility.
Detroit Tigers
Hitting
Colt Keith is an interesting case. He added bat speed and is 95th percentile in hitting the ball hard (HH% and avg exit velo). BUT he doesn’t play against left handed pitching. He gets pinch hit for up six runs in the 4th inning when a LHP comes in.
Here’s his savant page. All of the batting skills are impressive. Now, have a look at his spray chart. The balls he hits well for hits they’re pull-side; when he does go the other way, they’re sawed off the other way. This is the perfect illustration of a guy who cuts his hands/barrel inside. Think of the barrel working from 7 o’clock to 2 o’clock. That’s not terribly uncommon, but hitters like this lose plate coverage of the outside pitch, and it’s difficult to hit a left-handed breaking ball. Thus, Keith doesn’t play vs LHP. With so much rotation in the lineup, Javy Baez is finding full-time at-bats between CF and SS. I don’t see much upside here, but 12-15 homers and playing time across 3B, SS, and the OF can help deep league teams
Pitching
Jack Flaherty is a decent source of strikeouts, but I think you have to be careful with most starts. Therefore, he’s droppable in 10-12 team leagues. He just doesn’t have a clear way to get LHH outs. As a result, he gets caught in long counts, works too hard, and inevitably makes a mistake. That’s why he has never been a guy who gets many quality starts. A very hard guy to predict
Minnesota Twins
The Twins have seven games next week, with six of them against RHP. Insert Larnach and Wallner into their lineup, but I’d avoid doing so in fantasy lineups. They just haven’t been good at all. I’ve been happy with Brooks Lee where I have him. He offers good at-bats and has been productive but don’t look at his skills. He doesn’t swing hard, nor does he hit the ball hard. I guess there’s something to be said for league average Exit Velo’s for a guy with low bat speed. Add him where you need some flexibility
Pitching
I watched Connor Prielipp’s first start and added him where I could. His slider is disgusting. Hardly any good swings, pause…. It was the Mets. I still think the mix play. Prielipp uses a 4-seam fastball with that slider, and I’m wondering if his poor extension allows him to tunnel those together, as opposed to the curveball - 4s most pitchers use. Catch his next start Monday vs the Mariners.
