After complaining last week about the lack of impending callups last week, they have started to come quickly.
Starting Pitchers
Rafael Montero
Called up by the Mets. Though not thought to have premium stuff, he has been consistently successful throughout the minor leagues with good strikeout rates and great control. He’s a flyball pitcher, but should be able to get away with it in Citi Field. Had a rough first start against the Yankees, but is still worth a shot in most leagues.
Trevor Bauer
I covered Bauer last week. He’s replacing Danny Salazar in the rotation for now and is a tepid recommendation.
Jacob deGrom
The Mets actually called up a pair of pitchers this week. Unfortunately, neither of them is Noah Syndergaard. I’ve heard evaluators say that deGrom is more polished than either Montero or Syndergaard, and he did fare better than Montero in his first start. I’d still go with Montero, though. deGrom’s minor league results are nothing special.
Matt Wisler
A few weeks ago, Wisler seemed like a good bet to come up whenever a rotation spot opened up. Now that Andrew Cashner is hitting the DL, though, nothing seems imminent. Wisler has struggled in his first three AAA starts and in mixed leagues remains simply a player to keep an eye on.
Kevin Gausman
Gausman was called up this week, knocked around, and promptly demoted. For whatever reason, he just hasn’t been able to generate swings and misses in the strike zone at the major league level. He feels like the kind of player that is mediocre for a few years before eventually taking a step forward (a la Homer Bailey). Marcus Stroman has been demoted as well, though I will be looking to buy when he comes back up.
Closers
Three kinda/sorta closer changes this week, and all the newcomers look like good buys.
Jenrry Mejia
Mejia should be good enough to hold the role left vacant by Kyle Farnsworth in New York. However, within a span of three days or so, the team alternately said that they were transitioning Mejia and Jeurys Familia to the role. I’d rather have Mejia, but he could very well stumble and find himself splitting chances.
Zach Britton
Buck Showalter won’t commit to a change, but Britton got the last save opp for the O’s, Hunter pitched in the 8th Saturday, and Britton warmed up in the pen in the 9th during Chris Tillman’s complete game on Friday. Britton has really taken to his relief role so far (84% grounders on the year- seriously), though this could still end up as someone else’s job. Showalter has been known to give breaks before, and Britton’s a left-handed groundball inducer, which are not popular traits in the role. (Though apparently the bias against those traits in the closer role isn’t as strong as the anti-submariner bias; sorry Darren O’Day).
Chad Qualls
Qualls has quietly been pretty good for the past two years, and now his elevation to full-time closer has been made official. The Astros are terrible, of course, but anyone who has played fantasy for long enough knows that even bad teams can generate plenty of opportunities. Of course, Qualls will probably be dealt and moved to a setup role sooner rather than later, but he’s worth owning for now.
Position Players
Kole Calhoun
I mentioned him as an ideal stash a few weeks ago; his ownership percentage is all the way down to 11% in ESPN leagues. He’s set to be activated on Tuesday, so that should be a lot higher.
A.J. Pollock
He’s now hitting better than he did over the course of his minor league career, so don’t be surprised when he takes a step backwards. On the other hand, the batting average and speed should be pretty good. With a few lucky homers in the dry air of Arizona, he could return a profit.