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Roto Roundup: Matt Kemp, Jason Kipnis, Wily Peralta and Others

Ray Guilfoyle highlights some of the top fantasy performers from Sunday's roto action, including my thoughts on Matt Kemp, Wily Peralta, Matt Harvey and others.

By Ray Guilfoyle
USA TODAY Sports

Midseason Fantasy Position Rankings

In case you missed our Midseason Fantasy Position Rankings, here are links to each of our rankings published thus far. Our Consensus Third base rankings published earlier this morning, and we follow that with our shortstop rankings on Tuesday, our outfielder rankings on Thursday and our starting pitcher rankings on Friday.

Fake Teams Podcast, Episode 19: Sticking to our guns

I had the pleasure of joining Zack and Andrew on Thursday night's podcast to discuss our Midseason First Base Rankings, where we discussed Chris Davis and his pursuit of 60 home runs, Albert Pujols, Michael Cuddyer andYonder Alonso, among others. You can listen to our thoughts as follows:

MP3

ITunes

Matt Kemp has big day at plate, injures ankle

Dodgers much injured outfielder Matt Kemp returned from the DL and had himself a big day at the plate, but the day ended on a down note for him as well. Kemp went 3-4 with a HR, double, a walk and 3 RBI in the Dodgers 9-2 win and weekend sweep over the Nationals. Kemp batted twice in the Dodgers 7 run second inning, homering and doubling in his two at bats. He left the game in the 9th inning with an ankle injury, but manager Don Mattingly stated after the game that Kemp would not need a DL stint.

Kemp has struggled at the plate after offseason shoulder surgery. I was concerned about the shoulder coming into the season, and think it will affect him all season. I was listening to the SiriusXM MLB station on my way to church yesterday morning, and Jim Bowden told one Dodger fan that he should be concerned with the shoulder for the rest of the season. Kemp has been a disappointment this season, but I think he will be 100% healthy in 2014.

Jason Kipnis: #1 Fantasy second baseman?

We here at Fake Teams published our consensus second base rankings on Friday and Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis ranked 2nd in our rankings. But, if he keeps hitting like he is now, I will move him up to the #1 spot in my rankings heading into 2014 drafts. Kipnis went 2-4 with 2 runs and 3 RBI in the Indians 7-1 win over the Twins. Kipnis raised his triple slash line to .303-.386-.527 with 15 HRs, 56 runs, 62 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 27 attempts.

Kipnis is on pace for 25 HRs, 93 runs, 102 RBI and 35 stolen bases. If he can reach these projections, he will not only be my #1 ranked fantasy second baseman, but he will be a first round pick, and I could see him being picked in the top 6-8 picks overall. And I wouldn't be surprised he goes higher.

Wily Peralta: Taking the next step

Brewers pitching prospect Wily Peralta might be the hottest pitcher in the big leagues right now, as he tossed eight shutout innings vs the Marlins in Sunday, limiting the Marlins to just 2 hits, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts in the Brewers 1-0 win. Peralta did not factor in the decision, but is now 7-9 with a respectable 4.30 ERA, 1.43 WHIP and a 77-47 strikeout to walk rate in 121.1 innings.

Over his last 6 starts, Peralta has given up just FOUR earned runs on 25 hits, over 41.1 innings. Over his last 8 starts, he has lowered his ERA from 6.16 to 4.30. He has to work on his command, and fantasy owners would like to see a boost in the K%, but he keeps the ball on the ground at a 54% rate, which is a plus pitching in hitter-friendly Miller Park.

Round'em Up

Mets ace Matt Harvey will be one of the few starters who challenge Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw for the National League Cy Young award this offseason, and he showed why on Sunday. Harvey limited the Phillies to just three hits over 7 innings, walking none and striking out 10 to win his 8th game of the season. Harvey is now 8-2 with a 2.23 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and a 157-28 strikeout to walk rate in 137 innings this season. There is talk of an innings limit for Harvey, so that is something to be aware of come the end of August. He has given up two runs or less in 14 of his 20 starts this season.

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is widely considered the best starter in the game and he didn't do anything to tarnish that on Sunday. Kershaw limited the struggling Nationals lineup to two run on two hits, both solo home runs to Jayson Werth, walking none and striking out 9 to win his 9th game of the season. He is now 9-6 with a 2.01 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and a 148-35 strikeout to walk rate in 152.1 innings of work. He has given up two runs or less in 15 of his 21 starts this season.

I opined earlier in the week over the Twitter-verse, that if the Rangers ever deal top prospect Jurickson Profar, they could deal him to the Rays for Rays ace David Price. Time will tell if this deal ever happens, but it would make sense for both teams. One reason why the Ray would consider dealing Price, on top of the rising salary issue, is the performance of starter Chris Archer. Archer tossed another gem on Sunday, limiting the Blue Jays to just one run on 5 hits, 4 walks and one strikeout in the Rays 4-3 win on Sunday. Archer is now 5-3 with a 2.76 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and a 41-25 strikeout to walk rate in 58.2 innings.

In the three game series vs the Dodgers, Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper went 3-12 with a walk and 7 strikeouts. He made 9 outs in the series with 7 of them being strikeouts. Every hitter goes through a bit of a slump during the season, and I see this as Harper's slump right now.

Mariners second baseman Nick Franklin has been a surprise for fantasy owners since his call up. On Sunday, he went 2-6 with a grand slam and 4 RBI in the Mariners 12-5 win over the Astros. Franklin is now hitting .268-.330-.458 with 7 HRs, 17 runs, 24 RBI and 5 stolen bases in just 168 at bats. Projected over 500 at bats, he would hit 20+ home runs and steal 15+ bases, so he is someone to push up your second base rankings in the offseason if he doesn't slump in the second half.

I made a trade in my AL only league on Saturday night where I gave up Twins power hitting prospect Miguel Sano and Chris Parmalee for Mariners DH Kendrys Morales. Yeah, I may live to regret this trade, but there are only a few teams bailing right now, and of the teams that should bail, they don't have any power hitters, or power hitters they would be willing to deal. I needed another power bat and Sano was a prospect I was willing to give up. Looking back, maybe I should have kept Sano and countered with Nick Castellanos, but I had already offered him to this owner with no success. I still have Xander Bogaerts, George Springer and Castellanos, along with pitching prospects Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman, so my farm is still solid. I am pretty high on Springer, and I don't need to tell you how well he has performed at the higher levels of the minors this season.

Did I get enough back for Sano?

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