10 fantasy baseball thoughts from Week 5

As we wrap up the fifth week of MLB action, here are 10 fantasy baseball thoughts from the week.

1. The Padres had grand slams in four consecutive games (Fernando Tatis Jr., Wil Myers, Manny Machado). Just the fifth team to do this feat. I would like to introduce you to this years Minnesota Twins where all the stars align and it is home run haven (more on them in #10 below).

2. Chad Kuhl from the Pirates currently has a number of things trending in the right direction. He is hard hit a fair amount, in fact his barrel rate is typically among the worst in the league. That said, his ERA is below 3.25, his K% is 33.3, his BB% is below 8% and his WHIP is at 1.00 through two starts (Detroit and Cincinnati).

3. I’m sure a number of people have made this comment but I first saw it from Gregor Chisholm on Twitter so I will give him credit:

4. Two of the bottom six teams in runs scored are .500 or better...and it’s not due to them having played so few games like St. Louis Cardinals (Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers). The Indians are there due to having the lowest ERA in the league. The Brewers are 5-2 in one-run games, the second-best record in MLB behind Arizona.

5. Just to recap: the Dodgers have the second-lowest ERA, the most wins, the best record against teams over .500, the most runs...I mean, where is the blemish on this squad?

6. Three of the top five teams in LOB% are in the AL Central: Indians (1st), Twins (2nd) and Royals (5th).

7. Consider me among the few that are still all in on Brendan Rodgers (who got the start yesterday). It will take time ultimately, but I think he has top 10 shortstop potential. He struggled in his first call-up last year but he was .350 at Triple-A and seems to be on a slightly slower learning curve than other players.

8. I swear you blink and the Astros’ slight falter is over. They’ve won eight straight and have seven batters above .250 over the last two weeks—to go with four pitchers who have at least 12 innings pitched with a sub 1.70 ERA.

9. Between the great rookie pitchers: Dustin May, Brady Singer, Justus Sheffield, Spencer Howard etc.. I did not expect it to be Randy Dobnak and Brandon Bielak as the two pitchers with over 15 IP and under a 2.50 ERA (I know Spencer doesn’t have enough innings pitched but his 6.00 ERA is a rough start).

10. Jake Cronenworth, whose playing time was cut (some, not all) with Eric Hosmer returning is currently: first among rookies in triples, ninth among rookies in walks, 14th in stolen bases, sixth in batting average, ninth in OBP, sixth in slugging, seventh in homers, fourth in hits, and first in doubles.