By Curtis Bailey and Matthew Rosser
I don’t want to jinx anything but the injuries are slowing down. Maybe all the duct tape we wrapped the car in is finally enough and we can get back on the road towards good baseball. So we are back in the driver’s seat to deliver you some green, yellow, and red lights. Greens are the guys you need to go grab, Yellows are the guys who make you need to slow down and think before you act, and Reds are the guys that you need to stop fooling yourself about and drop.
Green Lights
Miguel Andujar:
Here we go again. Miguel Andujar was an absolute monster in 2018 when he batted .297/.328/.527. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, and was seemingly on the road to being New York’s next mega superstar. He then played in just 33 games total in the next two years due to injuries. Now in 2021, Andujar is back in action, and his bat is starting to heat up. All of his underlying numbers look just as good, if not better, than they did in his breakout 2018 season. Andujar has the contact skills and the raw power to be a true star in this game. Get him while you still can. -CB
Justin Dunn:
Justin Dunn is pretty ordinary as far as major league pitchers go, but so far this year he has been a cut above the rest. Through 10 starts, he has a 3.91 ERA and is striking out almost 9 guys per 9 innings. He has yet to go 6 innings in an outing, so he doesn’t rack up quality starts, but he has also yet to give up more than 3 runs in any outing this year. Dunn’s pitch counts are trending up and so are his strikeouts. I expect him to start going further into games to lock down more quality starts and more wins. He is coming off an injury right now, but I expect him to continue being the above average pitcher he seemingly has become. Pitching can be difficult to come by, so don’t let this opportunity pass you by. -CB
Amed Rosario:
I was really excited for Rosario when he got called up. He was a top 10 prospect and was supposed to hit for a little average and a little pop, while being an absolute demon on the base paths. Unfortunately, so far his batting average has been very mediocre, his power has been poor, and as advertised he is quite fast but he is not the stolen base monster he was supposed to be. Now in 2021, since the beginning of May, Rosario is hitting for more average and more power than he ever has in his career. He is on pace for a career high in home runs and a career high in average. Rosario has the pedigree to be great, and now that he has escaped the Mets, the sky is literally the limit. This is a classic post hype sleeper that is waking up before our eyes. -CB
Yellow Lights
Jake Cronenworth:
Cronenworth started out the year looking more real than most other 2020 breakouts, and according to his season line of .272/.341/.407, he’s still doing just fine. He’s had a bit of a power outage, and is on a slower steals pace than he was last year, and his past few weeks he is hitting .181 with a .488 OPS. Cronenworth backers may be tired of watching him chug along with less power, speed, and average, but I want to be heard very clearly here: Do not drop him. While his statcast is a lot more middling this year than what we saw last year and his stats back that up, he is still a solid producer with elite discipline. Consistency and availability are some of the most important things in this slog of a season, and Cronenworth has both. You may have to settle for a role player more than the stalwart you thought you were drafting, but he belongs on a team, and it might as well still be yours. -MR
Charlie Morton:
Morton was supposed to be one of the bounce back pitchers of the year after a lackluster Covid season, but it just hasn’t happened. Every halfway decent start he’s had has been followed by two lackluster ones, and recently he seems to run into one disastrous inning every game. If someone wants to buy low from you on Morton and you think the return is too bad, I’d do it, but I also wouldn’t drop him willy nilly. The ceiling is too high and the alternatives have floors that are too low. -MR
Dinelson Lamet:
On one hand, if you held onto Lamet this long, you have not been very rewarded for your patience. On the other hand, if you’ve made it this far, what’s a little longer? He hasn’t pitched very deep into games since his return from perpetual arm problems, but he’s averaging well over a strikeout per inning, and is getting more and more leash every start. It’s only a matter of time before Dimelson Lamet is picking batters apart during quality innings. -MR
Red Lights
Jesus Luzardo:
This is very disappointing. Luzardo was supposed to be a front line ace. Unfortunately that is not the case. Luzardo was not good last year and now this year he has been significantly worse in just about every single category. He is only 23 so there is still time for him to develop into the stud we all want him to be, but it’s not happening this year. So cut bait and get him for a cheaper price next year. -CB
Eduardo Rodriguez:
‘Member when I said Charlie Morton followed his few good starts with not so good starts? Well, E-Rod is doing that, but on a totally different level and not in a good way. Every not disastrous start has been bookended by downright terrible ones. His statcast implies that he is getting unlucky with his 6.03 ERA, but this is who Eduardo Rodriguez is. He throws hittable pitches in a hitters ballpark and gets dinked to death when he’s lucky, and rocked when he’s unlucky. Time to move on. -MR
Jarred Kelenic:
We here at DraftID were as high on Kelenic as anyone in the industry. So obviously I am not going to admit that I was wrong. Kelenic is still going to be really, really good. He just isn’t good right now, and the Mariner’s decision to send him down to the minors was the correct decision. Kelenic didn’t even bat .100 in his first taste of big league play. So if you are in a redraft league you are in the clear to cut bait and keep an eye on him because he isn’t going to be back quickly, but when he does get the call again expect him to be ready. -CB
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