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2014 MLB Draft: Tonight at 6pm
Today is 2014 MLB First Year Draft day, and you can catch all of the draft day coverage on the MLB Network beginning at 6pm tonight.
For an idea as to who the top fantasy pitching prospects expected to be drafted on Thursday, and several days after, here is Spencer Silva on the Top 10 Fantasy Pitching Prospects in the 2014 MLB Draft:
MLB Draft 2014: Top 10 Pitching Prospects
Prospect Buy and Hold
With the news that Gregory Polanco will be called up on Friday, here is Jason Hunt's list of the players who could be called up in the next few weeks, or later this season. His weekly Buy and Hold series takes a look at players you should look at grabbing off your league waiver wire before they are called up, and before your league mates grab them.
Top 25 Fantasy Prospects for 2014
Matt Mattingly offered Fake Teams readers his midseason Top 25 Fantasy Prospect rankings on Sunday morning, and his rankings will make Cubs fans very happy.
Matt also offered readers his take on which prospects will be called up after the silly Super Two deadline:
Super Two Deadline: Prospect Call Ups
Pirates to call up Gregory Polanco
Last night, Tim Williams from PiratesProspects.com reported that the Pirates will call up top prospect Gregory Polanco on Friday. Here is my take on the call up:
Gregory Polanco to be called up on Friday
After I published that article last night, the Pirates went out of their way to let everyone know that the earlier reports of Polanco's call up on Friday were false. Why does that not surprise me?
Round'em Up
The Mariners might make some noise in the AL West this year if their pitching staff keeps pitching like this. Yesterday, Hisashi Iwakuma silenced the Braves on six hits, no walks and seven strikeouts in the Mariners 2-0 win. Iwakuma moved his record to 4-2 with a 2.66 ERA, a 0.93 WHIP and a crazy 36-4 strikeout to walk rate in 50.2 innings this season. Since starting the season on the disabled list, Iwakumna has given up two runs or less in four of his seven starts, but has given up four runs or more in each of the other three starts. He is a ground ball machine, with a decent strikeout rate and he doesn't walk anyone, so we should expect him to be the pitcher we drafted back in March going forward.
Braves starter Mike Minor has pitched well since returning from the disabled list, but has just two wins to show for it, as he is not getting any run support. The lack of run support continued on Wedesday in the Braves 2-0 loss to the Mariners. Minor pitched great though, giving up just one run on five hits, three walks and ten strikeouts, moving his record to 2-4 with a 3.07 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and a solid 40-12 strikeout to walk rate in 44 innings. He has given up just two runs in his last two starts, but has no wins.
After getting knocked around in two of his last three starts, and not getting out of the first inning in his last start, Angels starter Garrett Richards thoroughly dominated the Astros last evening. Richards shut out the Astros on four hits, no walks and nine strikeouts in eight innings of work in the Angels 4-0 win. Richards is now 5-2 with a 3.25 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP and a 73-27 strikeout to walk rate in 74.2 innings. He has now given up two runs or less in seven of his twelve starts this season.
Richards teammate Albert Pujols is having a solid power season at the plate, but has seen his batting average and on base percentage decline over the past month plus. Pujols went 1-4 last night and is now hitting .253-.313-.498 with 14 home runs, 33 runs scored and 33 RBI. After an excellent April, where he hit .280 with 9 home runs and 22 RBI, Pujols hit just .234-.293-.349 with 5 home runs and 9 RBI in May. June hasn't started out much better. I was watching some of the Angels-Astros game on Tuesday night, and the Astros broadcast team commented about how Pujols wasn't running so well in the series. I wonder if he is playing hurt again.
Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes doesn't get the press that fellow countryman Yasiel Puig, Jose Fernandez and Jose Abreu have received this season, but he is quietly having a solid power season at the plate. Last night, Cespedes went 3-5 with two solo home runs, and is now hitting .250-.316-.519 with 12 home runs, 33 runs scored and 39 RBI in 55 games, and is on pace for 33 home runs and 107 RBI. He doesn't walk much, nor does he steal bases anymore, but if he can stay healthy, he could approach 30 home runs this season.