Fantasy Baseball 6-Pack: Kyle Schwarber, king of June
These six SHOCKING facts will change everything you thought you knew about fantasy baseball!
No, sorry, that's a lie. But we do have a half-dozen mildly interesting MLB notes for your review, some of which are relevant to your fantasy life...
81 - Last week, the Kansas City Royals promoted a pair of players from Omaha who had already combined for 81 steals in the minors. EIGHTY ONE. Dairon Blanco led the International League with 47 stolen bases in just 49 games and Samad Taylor had swiped 34 bags. Both of these guys were reaching base at a .400-plus clip, too. It appears the plan is for each of them to play regularly for KC, so go grab one (or both) if you need a speed boost. Blanco and Taylor are each just 3% rostered in Yahoo leagues.
30.8 - You probably didn't need arcane Statcast data to reveal the fact that Elly De La Cruz is, in fact, quite skilled, but here's a nugget for you nevertheless: His top sprint speed so far this season is 30.8 feet per second, which is the best in MLB. The man just made his debut for Cincinnati a couple weeks ago and he's already in the 95th percentile for exit velocity and at the top of the charts in sprint speed. Players don't get toolsier than this. De La Cruz is a gift.
37 - Hey, remember Darick Hall? He's the 27-year-old Phillies first baseman we were all hyping in the spring following the season-ending injury to Rhys Hoskins. Hall soon suffered a thumb injury of his own, but he's back from the IL and has been optioned to Lehigh Valley. Hall homered 37 times last season between Triple-A (28) and the majors (9), so he's a potential power source for fantasy purposes. We should see him back with Philadelphia soon enough. He's available in 96% of leagues.
15.0 - Emmet Sheehan's career minor league K/9 is an outrageous 15.0. He struck out 88 batters over 53.1 innings at Double-A Tulsa this season before his June callup, then fired 6.0 no-hit frames against the Giants in his big league debut. Sheehan has multiple plus pitches in his arsenal, including a high-90s fastball and evil change. Texas League hitters certainly had no good answers for him in the opening months. Just have a look at this nonsense:
Dodgers fans, get excited for Emmet Sheehan
In Tulsa this season:
• 1.86 ERA
• 14.9 K/9
• 0.88 WHIP
• .131 AVG
The youth movement is happening pic.twitter.com/wbTffGwncl— Blake Harris (@BlakeHHarris) June 16, 2023
Rude, bordering on unfair.
1.002 - Per his usual, Kyle Schwarber very much came alive this season as soon as the calendar flipped to June. His OPS this month is currently 1.002 and he's hit seven bombs in 17 games. When Schwarbs is hitting opposite-field shots off left-handed pitching, he's in a good place.
Schwarber has now hit 54 of his 219 career homers in June and his lifetime OPS for the month is .965. He won the National League Player of the Month award for June in each of the past two seasons, which is wild, and he's building a pretty decent case to claim his third straight. If it happens, MLB should probably just name the award in his honor. Congrats to anyone who acquired him on the cheap back in May.
.433 - In case you missed it, Pittsburgh just called up top prospect Henry Davis, the first overall pick in the 2021 draft. Davis had delivered 23 extra-base hits (including 11 homers) over 51 games in the high minors this season while getting himself on base relentlessly, at a .433 clip. You aren't going to find many catchers with a better power-plus-OBP profile; Davis is currently unattached in over 70% of leagues.
