Fantasy Sports

Evans has been shifted to a relief role recently at Double-A Arkansas in an effort to fast-track him to the majors within the next few weeks, potentially as early as the second half of the year. The soon-to-be 23-year-old righty was a 12th-round pick in last July’s MLB Draft and appears to be on the verge of ascending to the majors after a stellar 10-start stretch at Double-A to open the year. He’s a name to watch in deeper mixed leagues, and especially in dynasty league formats.

Despite the Marlins starting left-hander Jesus Luzardo, the Rays decided to keep Brandon Lowe in the lineup. The 29-year-old rewarded them with a 377-foot blast that left the bat at 108.7 mph for a three-run home run. He later added a two-run double, also off Luzardo, which was hit 107 mph. Lowe has frequently been on the bench against lefties, so the fact that Tampa Bay even chose to start him against Luzardo is one thing, but the fact that it went as well as it did is another. We wouldn’t overreact to one start, but if Lowe is going to play against lefties, that would give him more fantasy value than we had anticipated.

Luzardo was scoreless for the first three innings and then the wheels fell off, allowing nine earned runs while only getting four more outs. On the day, he allowed only three extra-base hits but 11 hard-hit baseballs, and the average exit velocity against him was 94 mph. It’s been a tough year for the 26-year-old, who has a 5.30 ERA but remains perhaps the top starting pitcher on the trade market. That market just may not be as enthusiastic as it was over the winter. He has a tough start against the Guardians this weekend.

Mountcastle forced a 12-pitch at-bat against Trevor Richards in the first inning before striking out and turned his second at-bat into a three-run bomb off Bowden Francis to put the Orioles up 4-0. He would homer again in the fifth, sending a two-run shot into the stands to push the lead to 7-0. Mountcastle has now hit safely in eight of his last 10 games and will have another chance to assert his dominance over the Jays on Wednesday.

Flaherty was cruising with four strikeouts and needed just 60 pitches (44 strikes) to navigate five scoreless frames before being lifted from the contest. No word yet on the reason for his removal, but Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press adds that Flaherty was spotted stretching in the dugout prior to his early exit. There should be an update on his status shortly.

Of course. Lewis made an immediate impact in his return to Minnesota’s lineup on Tuesday night in New York, taking Yankees veteran reliever Tommy Kahnle deep for a seventh-inning solo shot to left field. The 25-year-old reached base safely in all three of his plate appearances and has two homers in just two games played on the year. The central question for fantasy managers moving forward is whether he can stay on the field for an extended period to establish himself as an elite fantasy contributor at the hot corner.

The breakout sensation of the 2024 campaign so far, Gil kept rolling on Tuesday evening at Yankee Stadium, scattering one hit and three walks over six nearly-flawless frames against a talented Minnesota lineup. He’s emerged as an early AL Cy Young Award contender this season, allowing one earned run or fewer in seven consecutive starts since May 1. The 26-year-old righty won’t be able to sustain these sublime results long-term, but he’s rapidly evolved into a legitimate upper-echelon fantasy contributor, thanks to his ability to consistently miss bats and avoid hard contact. He’ll carry a microscopic 1.82 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 85/34 K/BB ratio across 69 1/3 innings (12 starts) into a challenging matchup on Sunday against the Dodgers.

Jones allowed three hits on the night and just one extra-base hit, a double to Freddie Freeman. After allowing at least three runs in four straight starts, including five earned runs in his last start against the Tigers, some questions were mounting about whether Jones was tiring. Instead, he came out and shut down the Dodgers. It wasn’t an electric start with just a 21 percent CSW, but he did get 12 whiffs on 51 swings for a 24 percent whiff rate. The rookie has continued to impress with a 3.25 ERA and will look to keep it going in a start against the Twins this weekend.

Witt smacked both long balls off of Triston McKenzie, hitting a 434-foot shot in the third inning and then a massive 454-foot bomb in the fourth inning. He now has 11 home runs on the year to go along with 46 RBI and a .319/.371/.565 slash line. With the injury to Ronald Acuna Jr. and the struggles of Julio Rodriguez, Bobby Witt Jr. is setting up to be the number-one pick in fantasy leagues next year.

Clase struck out two and walked one en route to his 19th save of the season. The right-hander has a minuscule 0.30 ERA and has been the best closer in fantasy baseball this season, earning tons of draft-day value for whoever took him in their leagues.