Chris Meaney tours the league and finds 30 things you might have missed during Week 5 of the fantasy baseball season.
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Week 5 Fantasy Baseball
Arizona Diamondbacks
- Christian Walker had three multi-hit games in Week 5 and is hitting .316 on the season.
- Eduardo Escobar hit two home runs Sunday to give him five on the season. He’s dusted off the cold start as he has four multi-hit games in his last six contests. Three of those games were three-hit showings. He scored eight runs in Week 5.
- Don’t be surprised if Zack Godley gets skipped in Colorado this week. He shouldn’t be owned unless you are in the deepest of leagues.
- Get to know Jon Duplantier who may find a way in the rotation. He spun four scoreless innings Sunday against the Cubs while striking out four. Walks were an issue in the minors, but he had a 2.69 ERA or less in every minor league stop since 2016. Having said that, Duplantier only has 8.2 Triple-A innings on his resume.
Atlanta Braves
- Mike Foltynewicz returned in Week 5 and has already been dropped in leagues. Be patient. He did some good things in his first start which came against the Rockies. He should be able to rack up a few K’s this week in SD.
- A.J. Minter gave up four runs on two hits and a pair of walks Saturday. He was charged with a blown save and a loss. The Braves went back to Minter Sunday and he gave up two singles and was pulled in favor of Luke Jackson who got the job done. Jackson may be in the mix for saves going forward. I’m not giving up on Minter, but would the Braves just sign Craig Kimbrel already.
Baltimore Orioles
- John Means is a popular pick up in Week 6. It helps that he has two starts. He’s been the best Baltimore pitcher this season and it’s not even close.
- Baltimore pitchers have allowed a league-high 69 home runs including 35 from their starters.
- Trey Mancini (finger) suffered a contusion. He missed Sunday’s game and is considered day-to-day.
Boston Red Sox
- Michael Chavis has three home runs in eight games. He’s much better than Dustin Pedroia, Eduardo Nunez, and Brock Holt.
- Chris Sale struck out eight over seven innings against the Rays, but he allowed four runs (two earned) and three walks. His ERA now sits at 6.30. A buy-low candidate if you’re a believer. I have no shares and I don’t want any.
Chicago Cubs
- Yu Darvish is coming off his best start of the season and he still walked four guys. Darvish allowed one run on two hits over six innings in Arizona and he came away with eight strikeouts. It was his first quality start of the season. There’s a good chance he’s on your waiver wire, but proceed with caution.
- Kris Bryant is alive. He has two home runs in his last three games to give him three on the season.
Chicago White Sox
- Reynaldo Lopez struck out a career-high 14 batters in six innings Sunday against Detroit. The one run he allowed wasn’t earned and it was his third straight quality start. He’s more of a points league pitcher due to the strikeouts upside, because the blow ups are going to happen. Lopez has Boston this week and I wouldn’t trust him.
Cincinnati Reds
- Sonny Gray is 0-4 this season but he’s actually been pretty decent. He has 36 strikeouts in 29.2 innings with a 3.64 ERA and 0.98 WHIP.
Cleveland Indians
- Carlos Gonzalez was moved down to sixth in the lineup on Sunday, but he did pick up his first home run of the season in Week 5.
Colorado Rockies
- Daniel Murphy returned to the lineup in Week 5 and finished the week with homers in back-to-back games. Murphy scored a run in all four of his games and he had five RBI.
Detroit Tigers
- Miguel Cabrera hit his first home run of the season this past weekend. Many have given up as the power seems all but gone. He does have a .283 average.
Houston Astros
- Robinson Chirinos hit his third home run of the season Sunday and he pushed his average to .286. That’s the fourth-highest of any catcher with at least 60 at-bats.
- Carlos Correa is really starting to heat up as he has four home runs in his past eight games. He enters Week 6 on a 10-game hit streak.
Kansas City Royals
- I went into great detail about Hunter Dozier last week. He returned to the lineup after missing two games with a back injury and he didn’t miss a beat. He finished 6-for-12 with six RBI in the weekend series with the Angels.
- No surprise, Homer Bailey came back down to earth.
Los Angeles Angeles
- Angels’ top pitching prospect Griffin Canning will make his first career start Tuesday at home against the Blue Jays. Canning has 81 strikeouts in 75 AAA innings dating back to last season and he’s only allowed one run in 16 Triple-A innings this season.
- Tyler Skaggs returned to the rotation Friday and he picked up his second win of the season. Skaggs tossed five scoreless innings in KC and he struck out five in the process. I believe he has value if he can stay healthy.
- Cody Allen had already lost his job before landing on the IL. Hansel Robles allowed a run in a non-save situation Sunday, but he appears to have first crack.
- Shohei Ohtani is close to returning to the lineup, but he’s probably at least another week away.
- Albert Pujols hit a two-run double Sunday to give him 1,997 RBI for his career. He passed Barry Bonds for the third-most all time.
Los Angeles Dodgers
- Rich Hill made his first start of the season Sunday and he only allowed one earned run over six innings. He struck out six and will likely see the Padres in his next start.
- Clayton Kershaw won his first game of the season in Week 5 as he struck out 8 Pirates in seven innings. He only allowed one run on four hits. So far so good for Clayton.
Miami Marlins
- Jorge Alfaro hit two home runs last week and he has three straight games with two hits. Alfaro is hitting .297 and has five home runs. He’s the loan bright spot on the Miami roster.
Milwaukee Brewers
- Jesus Aguilar sat out five straight games in Week 5 before returning to the lineup on Sunday. He failed to pick up a hit and his average dropped to .123. He’s getting hard to hold onto, but I’d give him a few more games.
- Eric Thames on the other hand is taking some of Aguilar’s at-bats and he enters Week 6 with a .294 average. He has five home runs and 16 RBI, with seven coming in the last week.
- Gio Gonzalez allowed two runs on six hits in his Milwaukee debut against the Mets. He walked one and struck out two. Gonzalez doesn’t have much fantasy appeal.
Minnesota Twins
- Max Kepler is the latest to have his slump ended thanks to the Orioles. Kepler had at least two hits and a home run in all three games this weekend with four total homers.
- Minnesota feasted on Baltimore again as they scored 19 runs over a three-game sweep. They now have 45 runs in six games against BAL this season – all in the last 10 days.
- Blake Parker picked up his fifth save of the season Sunday.
- Willians Astudillo landed on the 10-day IL due to a hamstring strain.
New York Mets
- Jed Lowrie started his rehab assignment Sunday at second base. He has the ability to move around the diamond when he’s ready to return to the Mets.
- Jacob deGrom (elbow) was rocked for the third straight time.
- Zack Wheeler was amazing in his last start as he struck out 11 over seven scoreless against Philly.
New York Yankees
- Luke Voit is your number one fantasy baseball player for Week 5. He had four multi-hit games and three games with at least three hits. He has eight home runs and 25 RBI.
- Somehow, the Yankees have won nine of their past 10 games.
Oakland Athletics
- Matt Olson is expected to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday.
- Chris Bassitt has only allowed one run in 12 innings this season and he has 16 strikeouts. He has a favorable matchup this week in Pittsburgh.
Philadelphia Phillies
- Vince Velasquez has a 1.99 ERA through 22 innings and is a decent streaming option this week vs DET.
- Jean Segura returned to the lineup and he went 3-for-4 Sunday with two runs.
Pittsburgh Pirates
- Gregory Polanco made his season debut in Week 5 and he picked up six hits in five starts.
- Josh Bell hit two more home runs this week and is up to six on the season. He’s hitting .280 and should get more RBI opportunities from the cleanup spot with the return of Polanco.
San Diego Padres
- Fernando Tatis Jr. left Sunday’s game after suffering an apparent hamstring injury. He looked like he was in a lot of pain. Tatis was off to a great start: .300 average with six home runs and six stolen bases.
- Hunter Renfroe hit two home runs and collected five RBI in nine at-bats this weekend.
- Chris Paddack tossed seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts against Seattle. He has a 1.67 ERA over 27 innings.
San Francisco Giants
- Drew Pomeranz picked up his first win of the season last week thanks to a six-inning shutout in Toronto where he struck out five. He has the Dodgers in Week 6 which is a much more challenging outing.
Seattle Mariners
- I’ve been hard on Yusei Kikuchi all year and now I just feel bad for his owners. Kikuchi is coming off a start where he pitched one inning. He struck out two, but the Mariners pulled him. It sounds like they want to be cautious with Kikuchi’s innings. He’s not worth holding onto.
St. Louis Cardinals
- Alex Reyes fractured his left pinky after he punched a wall following a start this week in the minors. It was his non-throwing hand, but it’ll probably cost him a couple weeks.
- Carlos Martinez is reportedly expected back at some point in May.
- Dexter Fowler had a pretty good week: nine hits and six RBI.
Tampa Bay Rays
- Yandy Diaz was in the sleeper articles so I’m not surprised one bit to see the success this season: .289/.385/.600 with 7 HR.
- Emilio Pagan picked up three saves in Week 5 but he pitched in the seventh on Sunday and it was Diego Castillo who grabbed the save. It’s going to be a committee all season long.
Texas Rangers
- Texas outscored Seattle 29-2 in their last two games if Week 5. They had 27 hits and seven home runs.
- Nomar Mazara enters Week 6 on a six-game hit streak. He had three home runs in Week 5.
- Shin-soo Choo hit his third home run of the season Sunday and pushed his average to .330. He’s under owned.
- Elvis Andrus is now hitting .365 on the season.
- Rougned Odor returned to the lineup this past weekend and he hit a home run. He also scored four times.
Toronto Blue Jays
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made his MLB debut Friday and he picked up his first hit in the 10th inning. It was a double which led to the game winning run. I was fortunate to take in the game live and was impressed with his patients at the plate. He even made a couple nice defensive plays. Guerrero went 1-for-4 in all three of his games. His first road game will be in Los Angeles where his dad played so many great games. Expectations are really high and I would see what I could get for him in redraft leagues. Doesn’t hurt to see.
- Eric Sogard is somehow hitting .415 in his 10 games with the Blue Jays. He has three home runs, eight runs and nine RBI. Sogard has some value as the leadoff hitter.
Washington Nationals
- Anthony Rendon (elbow) has missed six of Washington’s last seven games.
- Carter Kieboom hit a home run in his first MLB game and his second came in his third game on Sunday. Kieboom is a hot pick up in redraft leagues and it’s warranted. If he continues to hit like this he may keep a spot in the lineup, but Trea Turner is expected back in a couple weeks. It may be a short term play but it’s worth finding out.
Chris Meaney is a contributor for FantraxHQ, covering fantasy football, baseball, and hockey. Chris covered NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB as a producer, writer, and host at FNTSY Sports Network. He was the lead host of the daily live shows, “Home Ice Advantage” and “Fantasy Sports Today.” Meaney has several years of radio and television experience both in the sports world and music industry. He’s written for The Athletic, Associated Press, New York Daily News, Fantasy Footballers, NBA Fantasy, Play Picks, NewCap Radio and more. You can follow him @chrismeaney.
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