Roto Roundup: Evan Longoria Injures Knee, Ryan Braun Hits 3 Homers

Before I get into the Roundup today, I want to let you know about a couple things. One, make sure you stop back at 9am EST this morning, as we are launching our daily Pick 6 game where you can compete against Fake Teams writers and readers in a daily fantasy game where you pick 6 players ( C, CI, MI, OF, SP, RP) while staying under a salary cap of $120.

Secondly, FanGraphs now has LIVE daily stats on their player pages!!! That site just keeps getting better and better.

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria injured his left knee on an attempted steal last night and left the game. He walked off the field gingerly and will be re-evaluated later today. He is trying to one-up Ryan Zimmerman, I suppose.

Orioles pitching prospect Dylan Bundy is human. He gave up a hit and a walk in 4 shutout innings last night. He struck out 4 and now has retired 49 of the 52 batters he has faced in 17 innings pitched, with 25 strikeouts and the league is hitting .020 against him (1-51). Dominant.

Diamondbacks outfielder Justin Upton has struggled to start the season, but is starting to heat up now. He went 2-5 with a HR and a stolen base yesterday. He has hit in 6 of his last 7 games, bring his BA up from .205 to .242, and should be back up around .290 or so in due time. He is recovering from a thumb injury so owners are hoping the power will come back soon.

More Roto Roundup after the jump:

Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun ended April with a bang last night as he homered three times in the Brewers 8-3 win over the Padres at Petco Park. Braun became the first hitter to ever hit 3 home runs in one game at Petco. I saw his first two homers, one to straight away center field and the second was an upper deck job to left. Braun is now hitting .294-.347-.647 with 7 HRs and 17 RBI. Even after his slow start, I think Braun will be one of the top 2-3 fantasy hitters in 2012.

Rangers starter Yu Darvish held the Blue Jays to just one run in 7 innings last night to win his 4th game of the season. He gave up just 4 hits, 2 walks and struck out 9. Since his first start of the season, Darvish has given up just 3 earned runs in 27.1 innings, and has a 19-4 strikeout to walk ratio over his last two starts....vs the Yankees and Blue Jays.

Blue Jays starter Kyle Drabek limited the Rangers to 2 runs in 6 innings last night, giving up 5 hits, walking 2 and striking out 8. Drabek has pitched well this season, as he has struck out 26 in his 30 innings thus far, but he has walked 15 as well, so he has been a bit lucky with the strand rate, which sits at just under 90%. He likes to keep the ball on the ground as his 51.9% ground ball rate indicates.

Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda gave Yankee fans a glimpse of how good a starter he is last night. He held the Orioles to just one run on 4 hits, a walk and 3 strikeouts in 7 innings to beat the Orioles. He is now 2-3 with a 3.69 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP.

Red Sox DH David Ortiz is having one of his best April's ever. He is hitting .405-.457-.726 after going 2-3 with 2 solo HRs and 2 runs scored to help the Red Sox beat the A's 11-6. Ortiz now has 6 HRs and 20 RBI , good for 4th in the American League. Maybe I should have kept him awhile longer in my AL-only league.

Pirates starter James McDonald held the Braves to 3 runs in 7.2 innings last night. He gave up 7 hits, walked 2 and struck out 10 for his second straight quality start. He is now 1-1 with a 2.97 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP and a strikeout to walk ratio of 24-11 in 30.1 innings. Is this the year he breaks out?

Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson continues to baffle me, but he has had luck on his side thus far in 2012. He held the Mariners to just one run in 7 innings last night, giving up 6 hits, no walks and striking out 7. He lowered his ERA to 2.51 and his WHIP to 1.21. His player page on FanGraphs tells me his ERA will be rising in short order, as his strand rate currently sits at 90.6% and his BABIP is just .227. If I owned him, I would be offering him to all owners in my league right now.

Mets outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis went 2-4 with 2 RBI last night, raising his triple slash line to .325-.386-.475 with 2 HRs, 8 RBI and 11 runs scored in 80 at bats since his callup from AAA. But the hot start may not last long if Captain Kirk continues to strike out in almost 30% of his at bats. Hie is striking out in 28.4% of his at bats thus far, and his BABIP is an absurd .440. Don't expect him to hit .300 for much longer.