30 Fantasy baseball thoughts from Week 14 of MLB action

In this week’s edition I will highlight players who are league leaders, some of them you might know but I think a few will surprise you.

AL East

Baltimore Orioles: Dwight Smith Jr. has a WAR of -.3, the 2nd lowest in the league.

Boston Red Sox: Chris Sale has a 12.87 K/9 rate among qualified pitchers (those with 1 IP per game), this is the 2nd most in MLB behind Gerrit Cole (13.11)

New York Yankees: DJ LeMahieu has the 2nd most hits in the league with 113, three hits behind Whit Merrifield

Tampa Bay Rays: Blake Snell has caught nine runners stealing, the most in the league.

Toronto Blue Jays: Aaron Sanchez has a SIERA of 5.57, tied for highest in the league.

AL Central

Chicago White Sox: Reynaldo Lopez has allowed the most earned runs (and total runs) in the league this year.

Cleveland Indians: Trevor Bauer has hit a league high 13 batters with a pitch.

Detroit Tigers: Miguel Cabrera has a SPD of .5, lowest in the league among qualified hitters.

Kansas City Royals: Whit Merrifield has been caught stealing a league leading 7 times. He did not attempt any through the last half of June but he has since completed two steals in July.

Minnesota Twins: Jorge Polanco leads the league in hits on the road.

AL West

Houston Astros: Justin Verlander leads the league in ERA (.81) among pitchers with at least one IP per game.

Los Angeles Angels: Mike Trout leads the league in OBP at .453, a full .020 higher than Christian Yelich.

Oakland Athletics: Mike Fiers has a BABIP (as a pitcher) of .232, 3rd lowest in the league.

Seattle Mariners: Domingo Santana has struck out a league leading 116 times.

Texas Rangers: Mike Minor is tied for a league leading two complete games pitched.

NL East

Atlanta Braves: Freddie Freeman leads the league in runs at home field with 43. Ozzie Albies is 2nd in hits at home with 62.

Miami Marlins: Starlin Castro has grounded into a league leading 15 double plays, he also has the lowest wOBA among qualified hitters (.257)

New York Mets: Jeff McNeil (74% owned) has a league leading .356 average (among players with at least 3.1 ABs per game.

Philadelphia Phillies: Maikel Franco was walked intentionally 15 times, the most in the league.

Washington Nationals: Max Scherzer has the 2nd most strikeouts at home (91) but has a 3-4 record

NL Central

Chicago Cubs: Yu Darvish has allowed the 2nd most SB against him with 18.

Cincinnati Reds: Derek Dietrich has been hit by pitch 16 times, tied for most in the league

Milwaukee Brewers: Christian Yelich, not Cody Bellinger leads the league in HRs with 31 (one ahead of Cody).

Pittsburgh Pirates: Josh Bell leads the league in doubles with 30, the next closest is Xander Bogaerts and Nick Castellanos with 28.

St. Louis Cardinals: Jack Flaherty induces 23% soft contact rate, 3rd highest in MLB.

NL West

Arizona Diamondbacks: Nick Ahmed has a league leading 8 sacrifice fly balls.

Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon is the only player not on the Kansas City Royals among the top 3 in triples (7).

Los Angeles Dodgers: Hyun-Jin Ryu is walking just .83 batters per nine innings, fewest in the league among qualified pitchers.

San Diego Padres: Kirby Yates leads the league in save opportunities (31) and saves (30) this year.

San Francisco Giants: Madison Bumgarner induces 45.1% hard contact rate, 2nd highest in MLB.