Fantasy Baseball Stats: Daily All-Stars from April 2
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The name of the MLB day on Wednesday was pitching. Four games ended in a shutout. Two of them were 1-0, one was 2-0, and the other was 3-0. Five more games ended with the losing team scoring only one run. So, on a day like that, which players produced the best fantasy baseball stats for their owners?
Daily Fantasy Baseball MVP
Mark Buehrle — Toronto Blue Jays [table id=541 /] No shortage of great pitching performances today and we’ll get to some of those, but Buehrle was a step ahead of the rest on Wednesday. Maybe Buehrle just brings his A-Game when going against the Rays. He’s had a pretty good outing against them in the past, after all. But even going 27 up and 27 down, he “only” struck out six guys. As our math experts can surely see, he fanned almost twice as many guys in this outing. Strangely, I’m almost considering the K’s a negative when evaluating his future fantasy value. Buehrle’s never been a strikeout guy, so I feel really good calling this a false positive. But false positive or not, he was completely dealing and deserves this mention.
Daily Honorable Mentions
1. Matt Garza — Milwaukee Brewers [table id=542 /] If we’re giving an honorable mention for an honorable mention, it would certainly go to Aaron Harang, for actually getting the win here, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and allowing no earned runs. But Garza also took a no-no into the seventh, went deeper into the game (earning a lower WHIP), and striking out more Braves hitters. So while Harang gets the win here, Garza gets the consolation prize by getting this spot. Be sure to tell Mr. Garza if you know him, I’m sure he’ll be ecstatic. 2. Jose Bautista — Toronto Blue Jays [table id=543 /] Much like Alejandro De Aza on Day 1, and Freddie Freeman on Day 2, Bautista slugged two home runs. Unlike those guys, Joey Bats was up against some fierce pitching competition. So, he can’t quite get to the top spot, but we can’t drop him this far. The best thing a hitter can do for a fantasy team is to hit a home run. He positively impacts four of the five stats with one swing of the bat, and that can’t be topped by anything else — not with one swing, anyway. So, when someone pops two, fantasy owners would have a hard time asking for more. He hadn’t started the season well, so it’s nice for fantasy owners to see him get his power locked in relatively easily. 3. Gio Gonzalez — Washington Nationals [table id=544 /] First thing’s first. I have nothing against any of the following players: Emilio Bonifacio, Alexei Ramirez, Dustin Pedroia, or pitchers Max Scherzer, Tim Hudson, Scott Kazmir, Jason Vargas, Kyle Kendrick, James Paxton Tony Cingrani, Michael Wacha, John Lackey, or Dan Haren (man, that is A LOT of pitchers). I won’t list their stats for the day, but they were all big performers on Wednesday. As for Gio, most of those guys produced better pitching lines. But while it won’t help fantasy owners, I can’t not even give an honorable mention to a guy who pitched that well and hit a home run. If he got lit up, I wouldn’t put him in this spot against so many strong pitching performances. But hitting a bomb, as well as producing an ERA of 1.50 and WHIP of 0.667 in a start that produces a win? That has to get some mention.