Sunday Funday Stat Leaderboard: Torkelson going deep, Winn gets the call

Welcome to the Sunday Funday Stat Leaderboard. If you were following my work ahead of my transition to NBC Sports then you might know this as the Samulski Sunday Tribune. It's a new name, but if the same column with just a few sections removed since it's now FULLY FREE.

If you're new to this column, the goal is to present you with the top performers in a few key stats for this week of action. I then try to give some context to some of the names on that list, so we can begin to see just how real this hot week of production was. This way we can together decide if these are players we should be bidding on, bidding BIG on, or maybe trying to trade away or trade for.

I also have a sections of minor league leaders over the last 30 days, so we can see if there are any under-the-radar names that might be worth stashing. So far this season, those leaderboards put us onto Matt McLain , Trey Cabbage , Tanner Bibee , Bryan Woo , Nolan Jones , Maikel Garcia , Dairon Blanco , and many more weeks (sometimes months) ahead of their call-up. That can be valuable insight in redraft leagues.

With that said, let's dive into the leaders from this week. Happy Sunday!

Hitting Leaders (Week of August 14th)

Hard Hit Baseballs

1. Julio Rodriguez , SEA - 16 hard-hit baseballs (61.5%)

2. Bobby Witt Jr., KC - 14 hard-hit baseballs (56%)

3. Brandon Nimmo , NYM - 13 hard-hit baseballs (61.9%)

4. Michael Massey , KC - 13 hard-hit baseballs (54.4%)

5. Jose Ramirez , CLE - 12 hard-hit baseballs (60%)

6. Mookie Betts , LAD - 12 hard-hit baseballs (63.2%)

7. Juan Soto , SD - 12 hard-hit baseballs (57.1%)

8. Six hitters with 11 hard-hit baseballs, including Randal Grichuk, Joey Meneses , Rafael Devers, and Jorge Soler.

Brandon Nimmo had quite a week, hitting .417 with an .833 SLG, three home runs, six runs, and four RBI. He's having a great season with a career-high home runs and barrel rate. He does hit leadoff for a Mets lineup that has taken a hit of late, but this is still a team with Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso , Francisco Alvarez, Jeff McNeil , and enough pieces to score some runs. Nimmo doesn't steal bases, so he remains more of a deep league target, but he shouldn't be ignored just because the Mets decided to sell at the deadline.

Randal Grichuk hit .143 this week but had a 17.6% barrel rate. He's struggled a bit of late, but he's still hitting the ball hard and getting regular playing time, so I would still hold onto him in deeper formats.

Home Runs

1. DJ Stewart, NYM- 4 home runs

2. Jorge Soler , MIA - 4 home runs

3. Christian Walker , ARI - 4 home runs

4. Seven hitters with 3 home runs, including Carlos Santana , Eddie Rosario , Spencer Torkelson, Mookie Betts, and Brandon Nimmo.

DJ Stewart has flashed some power before, but he's always been more of a DFS play due to his inconsistent playing time. He's playing pretty much every day for the Mets after the trade deadline, and is hitting .265/.359/.647 in 14 games with four home runs, six runs, and eight RBI. He's not the cliched "league winner" that people seem to always search for on the wire, but if you're in need of some pop in deep leagues, it seems like Stewart will play the majority of games for the Mets; however, keep in mind that the Mets will face two lefties in their series against the Angels.

The Spencer Torkelson power breakout continues with nine home runs in 34 games in the second half of the season. He's also added 21 RBI and 20 runs scored. His strikeout rate continues to hover around a solid 24% and his late discipline gains are real. Unfortunately, he plays in a pitcher's park, which has kept his BABIP down a bit, and the lineup around him is not all that solid. Still, you're not mad at his .254/.371/.627 August triple slash with six home runs and 12 runs scored. The average will likely not get much higher and he does have just seven RBI on those six home runs, but those are the only real flaws in the ointment.

Stolen Bases

1. Julio Rodriguez, SEA - 6 SBs

2. CJ Abrams , WAS - 4 SBs

3. Fernando Tatis Jr., SD - 3 SBs

4. Nico Hoerner , CHC - 3 SBs

5. Jose Caballero , SEA - 3 SBs

6. Sal Frelick, MIL - 3 SBs

Sal Frelick is playing basically every day for the Brewers, hitting clean-up versus righties and seventh against lefties, unless the Brewers sit him. Since coming up, the rookie is hitting .250/.388/.421 in 26 games with three home runs and five steals. However, he also has just a 14.3% strikeout rate and 18.4% walk rate over that span, which speaks to his plate discipline. He doesn't hit the ball overly hard, so the clean-up spot is a bit weird, but he rarely swings and misses and will clearly run when he gets on. The center field defense will keep him in the lineup, and his plate discipline gives him a solid floor that makes me very interested in leagues where I need speed.

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Pitching Leaders (Week of August 14th)

SwStr% (Starting Pitchers)

1. Eury Perez , MIA - 22% SwStr%

2. Max Scherzer , TEX - 19.8% SwStr%

3. Freddy Peralta , MIL - 19.3 SwStr%

4. Jose Berrios , TOR - 19.0% SwStr%

5. Gavin Williams, CLE - 18.9% SwStr%

6. Sandy Alcantara , MIA - 18.8% SwStr%

7. Tarik Skubal , DET- 18.2% SwStr%

8. Kyle Gibson , BAL - 17.9% SwStr%

9. Corbin Burnes , MIL - 17.3% SwStr%

10. Ken Waldichuk, OAK - 17.3% SwStr%

Gavin Williams continues to show up on this list and has made a bigger jump in his swing-and-miss since he modified his slider to be harder and more of a bullet slider. He has a bright future, but I think he could have a really strong September if he's sitting on your waiver wire.

Ken Waldichuk is also slowly figuring it out. In the second half of the season, he has a 4.36 ERA (4.29 xFIP) with a 27.3% strikeout rate, 16.8% K-BB%, and just a .220 average against. All of his pitches are still grading out below 100 on FanGraph's Stuff+ models, which is not exactly enticing. I think you can use him as a streamer in deep leagues, but I'm not overly excited by anything he's doing.

Saves

1. Paul Sewald, ARI - 3 saves

2. Kyle Finnegan , WAS - 2 saves

3. Jordan Romano, TOR - 2 saves

4. Jason Foley, DET - 2 saves

5. Evan Phillips , LAD - 2 saves

6. Raisel Iglesias , ATL - 2 saves

7. Matt Brash, SEA - 2 saves

8. David Bednar , PIT - 2 saves

9. Emmanuel Clase , CLE - 2 saves

Paul Sewald is building some sneaky keeper league value now that he's in Arizona and not sharing save opportunities. He's arbitration eligible next season, which makes it highly likely Arizona will keep him and see if he can lock down the job.

Matt Brash is now filling the co-closer role in Seattle with Sewald gone. Andrews Munoz is the primary high leverage reliever, but we know that Seattle likes to play matchups, which means Brash basically has the exact same value that Munoz had prior to Sewald being traded.

I know Jason Foley got two saves this week, but I'm not really convinced he can keep this job. I prefer Tyler Holton , who also could look to keep the job next season.

MINOR LEAGUE CALL-UPS

Thursday was the first day prospects could be called up and still retain rookie eligibility for next season, so we saw a few players get promotions. I'll just give my thoughts on these guys here and also give a hat tip to some of the main prospect writers I follow who help provide this info. Guys like James Anderson, Eric Cross, and Chris Clegg. I highly recommend you search them out on Twitter.

Masyn Winn , SS - STL: Winn figures to be the near every day starter in St. Louis for the rest of the season (with their managing his at-bats so he keeps rookie eligibility). Everybody knows about Winn's arm strength but as far as fantasy is concerned, he has a decent power/speed combo and has always kept his strikeouts in check. While he only has 17 steals this season, he had 43 across two levels last year, so the wheels are there to cause havoc, and now he's begun to unlock power by...swinging harder. It's all a pretty appealing package.

Nolan Schanuel, 1B, LAA: Schanuel was the 11th overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, which was less than six weeks ago. He's now in the major leagues after the Angels called up their first baseman from Double-A. The 21-year-old from Florida Atlantic had hit .370/.510/.493 in 21 minor league games. According to ESPN Stats and Info, "The last US-born player to debut within 40 days of being drafted was Texas pitcher Jerry Don Gleaton in 1979. The last position player was Toronto catcher Brian Milner in 1978," so Schanuel is in some rare air. However, all of the prospect writers I mentioned above poured cold water on Schanuel for this season, so be tepid with your bids.

Noelvi Marte - 3B, CIN: Yes, another top Reds prospect is up. Marte came over in the Luis Castillo trade last year and now figures to slide in at 3B with Spencer Steer moving to LF. Marte stole a base as a pinch runner on Saturday and has 18 steals in the minors this year, so there's some value there, but he's not going to win you that category. Marte will bring a little bit of speed and a little bit of power but also put together a solid average. He doesn't have the fantasy ceiling of his teammate Elly De La Cruz , but he has a much safer floor and will likely be more stable week-to-week.

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