BY: SOME GUY NAMED STEVE
AL Batter: Ryan Mountcastle (Baltimore Orioles 1B/OF)
Week Statistics: .458 AVG, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 3 2B, 7 R, .480 OBP, 1.083 SLG
The Orioles were on a 14 game losing streak to end the month of May, but since the calendar switched to June they have won four of their last five. Part of that success was due to an explosion of offense that scored 38 runs in those five games with a lot of help coming from Ryan Mountcastle. This past week Mountcastle was sensational! Mountcastle was able to register a hit and an RBI in all six games he played this week as well as adding four home runs. The 24-year-old was a “sleeper” first baseman going into this season, but had been a big disappointment before this week. However, this week Mountcastle exploded and gave his owners a lot of promise for the rest of the year. Mountcastle had just four home runs on the season before this week and matched his year long total when he hit four in a five game stretch including three consecutive games with a home run. The monster week moved his season long slash line to .249/.278/.442 as Mountcastle looks to ride this momentum into the summer months.
AL Pitcher: Sean Manaea (Oakland Athletics SP)
Week Statistics: 1 GS, 9 IP, 1-0, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP
The Oakland Athletics have always been notorious for having solid pitchers that don’t get the recognition they deserve. Sean Manaea fits perfectly into that category as he is once again having a productive season. This past week Manaea made just one start and turned it into a complete game shutout as he dominated the Mariners lineup. In that outing Manaea allowed just four hits, walked two batters, and struck out eight. The impressive performance pushed Manaea’s season numbers to a 4-2 record with a 3.36 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and 70 strikeouts over 69.2 innings. Manaea is now the 30th ranked SP in fantasy and is on pace to have a career best season. The biggest improvement has been Manaea’s ability to create strikeouts. Sean Manaea was never a big strikeout pitcher early in his career but this season has a K/9 around nine and in his last three starts he has 22 over 20.2 innings. In his complete game shutout this week, Manaea was able to generate 19 swinging strikes and didn’t allow an extra base hit.
NL Batter: Patrick Wisdom (Chicago Cubs 1B)
Week Statistics: .435 AVG, 6 HR, 9 RBI, 1 SB, .458 OBP, 1.261 SLG
Last week I wrote about Patrick Wisdom as one of my top three pick-ups of the week. At the time he was owned in just 1.7% of ESPN leagues but his ownership has skyrocketed to 37.5% after a dominant week. This past week Wisdom batted .435/.458/1.261 with a MLB leading six home runs! Originally called up as an injury replacement, Wisdom’s scorching hot bat has forced the Cubs to give him regular at-bats and he has capitalized mightily with them. This week Wisdom started 6 of the Cubs 7 games and had at least one hit in every game he started. Wisdom had 10 hits on just 23 at bats with 60% of his hits on the week being home runs. Wisdom had multiple multi-home run games and his power surge has helped the Cubs overtake the NL Central lead. Although this power pace is unsustainable, Patrick Wisdom is definitely in a groove right now and is a hot hitter whose wave you want to ride for the time being. Still available in over 60% of ESPN leagues I see no reason not to pick-up Wisdom and ride his scorching hot streak. If you would’ve done so last week, you probably won your match-up.
NL Pitcher: Jacob deGrom (New York Mets SP)
Week Statistics: 2 GS, 13 IP, 2-0, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 19 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.46 WHIP
There is really nothing else I can say about Jacob deGrom anymore. He is without question the best player in baseball and is currently having one of the most dominant pitching seasons we have ever witnessed. To no ones surprise, this week was not an exception. First off, I would like to apologize to all owners who were unlucky enough to face deGrom in a two start week. deGrom pitched 13 innings allowed zero runs and struck out 19. He walked just one batter and allowed only five hits as he once again made every opposing batter look silly. We have reached the point in deGrom’s season where he is just toying with batters. deGrom started the week at the Diamondbacks where he threw six scoreless innings, generated 14 swinging strikes, allowed just two base runners, and struck out eight. On Saturday night, he was even more dominant as he completely shut down one of the best teams in baseball, the Padres. deGrom went seven scoreless, generated 20 swinging strikes, and struck out 11 Padres as he helped lead the Mets to a shutout win. On the year deGrom’s numbers have surpassed the “video game” tier. He now has a 0.62 ERA, 0.57 WHIP, and 93 strikeouts over 58 innings. Folks, we are witnessing one of the greatest single seasons by a pitcher of all time!
For live updates and breaking news, follow Trainwreck Sports, Crossing Swords, 2 Goalies 1 Mic, Happy Hour Hoops, and The Crowd Assist Podcast on Twitter or subscribe to our YouTube channel
The Sports Desk can be reached at editorialtrainwrecksports@gmail.com