Fantasy Baseball Stats: Daily All-Stars from May 15
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
In the fantasy baseball stats world, we can look back on May 15 as “March 4 Day”. Confused? Well, all three of the hitters who made today’s recap went 3/4. How do we write March 4 in shorthand? 3/4. Okay, that was a really bad joke.
Keeping the 3/4 theme going, three of the four players in today’s recap are hitters. But we start with a pitcher who’s about as unbeatable as it gets right now.
Daily Fantasy Baseball MVP
Johnny Cueto — Cincinnati Reds
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Shutting down the Padres may not look like much, but they have been swinging the bats much better in recent weeks. Heck, they even scored six runs in the second game on Thursday.
Cueto is throwing as well as anyone in the game now. He’s thrown three complete games, two shutouts, and hasn’t gone fewer than seven innings or allowed more than two earned runs in any start. If Cy Young voting happened in May, this would be your runaway NL winner.
Daily Honorable Mentions
1. Edwin Encarnacion — Toronto Blue Jays
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Edwin had cooled down after a great few games last week, but he may well be heating up again. Not much else was going right for the Blue Jays hitters, who’s only other offense came on a solo shot from Juan Francisco. But that, along with Encarnacion’s dingers, was enough for a win.
Fantasy owners would certainly like to see more consistency, but these kinds of power performances show why he was a high round fantasy pick this season.
2. Michael Morse — San Francisco Giants
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Just like Hunter Pence in yesterday’s recap, the right-handed hitting Morse hit a home run to right field at AT&T Park. Let’s make that an automatic criteria. Do that, and you automatically earn a spot on the next day’s fantasy baseball stats recap.
Kidding. It is impressive, but I’m not that much of a homer. As for Morse, the issue has always been staying healthy but right now, he’s showing much of the same power that we saw in 2011 and looking like one of the best sleepers in 2014. With Brandon Belt hurt, Morse is playing more first base and in turn, not losing at-bats late in games to a defensive replacement. As long as he stays healthy, expect more power.
3. Rickie Weeks — Milwaukee Brewers
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Look who’s all of a sudden on a hot streak. Weeks has hit safely in seven games. It’s a small sample size, but he only recorded one at-bat in three of them, so he’s definitely seeing the ball well right now.
I’m not sure what the long term value is but if you’re in need of a second baseman or middle infielder in the short term, Weeks may be worth a look.