10 fantasy baseball thoughts from Week 3

Welcome back to Mark’s (somewhat) random fantasy baseball thoughts from this week! Is it Week 3 or Week 4? Who knows! Depends on your site, I guess!

1.) Clint Frazier is UP! Four plate appearances including three hits, 1 HR and 1 strikeout. So....he’s 43% owned on Fantrax and 11% owned on Yahoo.

2.) Jalen Beeks (21% owned on Fantrax, 3% owned on Yahoo) currently has 11 IP this year with 19K! And a 4.63 ERA. Due to injuries from Yonny Chirinos and Charlie Morton, he could see 1-2 spot starts in the near future. He's 94th percentile in K% and 89th percentile in whiff rate. The hard hits are affecting his ERA but the K-upside is there. Plus, I always trust the Rays pitching staff to get the best output from their pitchers.

3.) Zack Godley (12% owned on Fantrax, 2% owned on Yahoo) Don’t fall for it! It’s a trap!! His whiff rate is good, but he has an average strikeout rate and he’s in the 82nd percentile for exit velocity.

4.) Seth Romero made the jump to the big leagues. Maybe it’s his large ERA already (after striking out his first batter), maybe it’s my lack of trust in the Nationals pitching cultivation...but ultimately this is his first start above A-ball and he doesn’t look exactly ready yet. That said, the strikeout capabilities are legit.

5.) I apologize for the heavy pitching run here, but David Peterson (48% Fantrax, 16% owned in Yahoo) continues to deliver!! He’s now 3-1 with 17 strikeouts among 21 IP and a 2.12 ERA. Nothing is off the charts, he’s perfectly average, all of these categories he’s between the 35th and 67th percentile: Exit Velocity, Hard Hit%, xERA, K%, Whiff Rate, xBA, xSLG etc.... I don’t know how long this will last, but I'm riding it in the meantime—especially at his current ownership rates.

6.) I continue to scoop up Touki Toussaint everywhere I can. You will see this across the industry. Everyone is shouting a potential breakout with his elite pitches. I spoke about him last week. Pick him up now, or you will regret it.

7.) Since August 1st, the Milwaukee Brewers are striking out 28.5% of the time, most in MLB (Red Sox and Athletics are #2 and #3). The Diamondbacks are 19.3%, the lowest rate in MLB (Dodgers and Phillies are #2 and #3).

8.) Catcher Sean Murphy leads the league in Avg HR distance (455 feet). Sean. Murphy. I know it’s just two homers, but Murphy would not have been among my first 30 guesses.

9.) I think the Alec Bohm call-up could benefit others on the Phillies, like Jean Segura (moving him off hot corner). And he should be driving in other players more (J.T. Realmuto, Bryce Harper)? He’s batting sixth on Day 1, but that will change if he continues to rake.

10.) The Los Angeles Dodgers are the only team without a stolen base in August.