Fantasy Baseball Stats: Daily All-Stars from April 14
Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
As is typical, we got an abbreviated schedule on Monday, but we saw plenty of excitement. As a result of that excitement, plenty of guys put up some impressive fantasy baseball stats.
Four players hit two home runs on Monday. The one who shone the brightest is a name that hasn’t been fantasy relevant for a few years.
Daily Fantasy Baseball MVP
Dan Uggla — Atlanta Braves
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Raise you hand if you saw this one coming. Whoa, there. Not all at once.
All kidding aside, Uggla hasn’t been at the top of his game for a few years, but he’s still not a comfortable guy for pitchers to face. When the bases are loaded and he knows you have to throw strikes in the late innings of a close baseball game, many of his flaws at the plate become greatly hidden.
Jake Diekman of the Phillies found that out the hard way on Monday as Uggla hit his second home run of the day, driving in his second, third, fourth, and fifth runs in the process. A lot of fantasy baseball is more about the opportunity given to player by his teammates than what the player himself does. Still, two homers and five RBI is awfully hard to beat.
Daily Honorable Mentions
1. Neil Walker/Gaby Sanchez — Pittsburgh Pirates
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These two get grouped together because they’re on the same team and unfortunately, Mother Nature wouldn’t let either finish the game. The Great American Ballpark was clearly favoring the hitter on Monday and these two took advantage.
With the rain postponing this game, we may not be entirely done with either player.
2. Lance Lynn — St. Louis Cardinals
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Lynn was 2-0, but hadn’t pitched well. Facing the league’s hottest team in the Brewers, fantasy owners certainly wouldn’t have been blamed for benching Lynn.
While nobody would have blamed them, any owner who did Bench Lynn is probably regretting it today, as he twirled an absolute gem for seven innings. If you have Lynn on your team, the smartest move would be to start him for the next several starts, as he’s capable of doing this every time he toes the rubber.
3. Evan Gattis — Atlanta Braves
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As we went over with Uggla, opportunity is just as important as performance. Uggla didn’t do anything more to make his homers more impressive, but more men were on base and really, why the numbers were better doesn’t matter.
Gattis did record one fewer hit, so Uggla nudged him there as well. It’s gotta be very encouraging for fantasy owners to see El Oso Blanco putting the ball over the fence.