Fantasy baseball sizzlers, fizzlers: Nick Pivetta becoming an elite option
Two surging pitchers and three infield afterthoughts are among those who've seen their fantasy values rise recently, while slumps have relegated several former stars to fantasy benches. Let's see if we can find the reasons behind these major moves.
Sizzlers
SP Nick Pivetta, Philadelphia Phillies: The 25-year-old right-hander has added control to his swing-and-miss stuff, striking out 25 batters and walking only two over his past three starts. Not surprisingly, he's won them all -- shutting out the Braves for seven innings Monday night -- and allowed just one run and 10 hits in 19 innings.
SP Jordan Lyles, San Diego Padres: Taking a perfect game into the eighth inning last Tuesday against the Rockies got him on the fantasy radar. But he's been pretty solid all season long. Since moving into the starting rotation May 10, he's posted a 2.50 ERA with 20 strikeouts and four walks in 18 innings.
SS Brandon Crawford, San Francisco Giants: After hitting .520 last week (13-for-25), the defensive whiz pushed his batting average for the season over .300. He's turned things around since May began, hitting .444 with two homers, 16 RBI and a 1.100 OPS in 19 games.
3B/SS Johan Camargo, Atlanta Braves: With the release of Jose Bautista, it is all systems “Camar-go” at the hot corner. His season totals aren't very impressive, but the youngster hit .286 last week with three RBI and a .474 OBP.
1B Jesus Aguilar, Milwaukee Brewers: Since taking over at first full-time with the injury to Eric Thames, all Aguilar has done is crush it, culminating with this past week when he clobbered four homers — three in consecutive games — bringing his season line to a .321 average with seven dingers and 20 RBI.
Fizzlers
OF Marcell Ozuna, St. Louis Cardinals: Obviously fantasy owners can't drop him, but after going 0-for-20 last week, benching him -- as the Cardinals did on Sunday -- seems like a smart move. After hitting 37 home runs and slugging .548 with the Marlins last season, Ozuna has three homers and a .322 slugging percentage a quarter of the way through this season.
2B Jonathan Schoop, Baltimore Orioles: Schoop gets some slack for being on the disabled list for five weeks, but he batted just .105 last week and has an OBP of .262 for the year.
SP Tyler Mahle, Cincinnati Reds: Mahle had a nice run of starts in mid-April, but the home run ball continues to hurt him. He allowed three dingers Sunday against the Cubs -- and his 13 allowed this season is the most in the National League.
SP Sean Manaea, Oakland Athletics: The southpaw does have a no-hitter to his credit, but over his last three starts Manaea has surrendered 20 hits over 16 2/3 innings, with just nine strikeouts to go with a 5.94 ERA and 1.44 WHIP.
OFs Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies and Carlos Gomez, Tampa Bay Rays: Two years ago both these Carloses were first-round material. But they've begun to show their age (both are 32). Gonzalez hit .167 last week and boasts a .270 OBP. Gomez was placed on the disabled list last week with a groin injury. He's hitting .200/.252/.345.
Find Lawr’s work at Creativesports2.com and listen to The Tout Wars Hour with Lawr, Justin Mason, and Todd Zola every Sunday on FNTSY from 2-4 PM, ET. Follow him on Twitter @lawrmichaels.