It’s the MLB Game Day Recap Day 46 which means it’s time to talk about something. Yesterday’s recap was all about nothing, so today’s should be about something, right? Something could be anything in baseball. Maybe the something it’s finally seeing your team decide the pay window is closed and they call up their top prospect named Jarred Kelenic. Perhaps the something is just watching baseball on a Sunday afternoon while eating a hotdog. It’s possible the something is watching Pitching Ninja post the best pitches of the day in real-time. What your something it is, it’s great. It’s better than nothing.
Climbing Up
Robbie Grossman is good? He went 1-for-4 today and that’s somehow his worst game in the past week. The number nine overall player according to Yahoo! the past two weeks, Grossman is a gigantic bright spot in what is otherwise a horrible Tigers offense. Four homers and seven stolen bases across the first 46 days of the season pro-rates out to excellent numbers. Yes, it’s Robbie Grossman so he should come back to earth and becomes the Robbie Grossman we all know. But maybe not? Maybe this is his best season where he puts up counting stats instead of just great OBP numbers. It could be this seasons’ something, right?
Letdown
This series has been hyping Huascar Ynoa up left and right, so we have to also admit when he poops the bed. Ynoa gave up five runs across 4.1 innings on nine hits and two walks. The dude got slapped around the field. Not that it actually means anything, but one can take solice in the fact the final score was 10-to-9 and it wasn’t just Ynoa getting battered around. Huascar is still a top flight starter and this is just one bad start. However, I reserve the right to immediately change this take if he throws up another awful out his next time though. Let’s hope life does not come at Huascar too fast, as he’s been one of the best stories in baseball so far this season.
Who’s Hot
Max Muncy remembered he was allowed to do more then walk this week, as he went 10 for 24 with three dingers, seven RBIs and six runs scored this week. He capped the week with a mediocre 1-for-4 against Pablo Lopez and Miami, but when your full week numbers looks like this, who cares right? Forever a guy who goes on hot streaks and then turns cold as heck from a batting average standpoint, Muncy is clearly on right now. Ride this hot streak until he cools off, because it’s going to be a doozy.
Who’s Not
Eddie Rosario went 1-for-19 this week with one run scored and one RBI. That’s really bad. Never an on-base monster at any point in his career, when Rosario hits like this i’ts really tough to watch. His hot streaks always help him balance to a strong even, but this bad is bad. Rosario wasn’t able to do anything against a Seattle rotation that hasn’t exactly been lights out. Eddie hopes to get things on track with this upcomnig series agianst the Angels, but he belongs on fantasy benches until there’s at least one positive game. Hold and wait folks.
The Emilio Bonifacio Award
The Phillies Nick Maton had himself a day Sunday, blasting two home runs and driving in four RBIs while also picking up a stolen base. However, Philadelphia still took the loss against the Blue Jays 10-to-8. Maton entered the game hitting .293, but that was with zero dingers and only one swiped bag. Alec Bohm is not hitting like it’s 2020, so if Maton continues hitting like 2021 Maton, he’s going to have playing time one way or another. If your roster needs a hot 2B, Maton may just be your guy. It’s 2B, so you always can do worse.
The James Shields Award
Kyle Hendricks faced the right team to cure his pitching woes, slicing up the Tigers for 8.0 innings. One run, eight strikeouts, and one win later, Hendricks now looks like a pitcher on the rebound. On one hand, it’s a mirage, on the other hand, he still an NL Central pitcher who has plenty of starts against the Pirates inbound. Erick Fedde and Antonio Senzatela are both names that you would not expect on this list, but both did well against some formidable NL West foes. Fedde shut down the Diamondbacks for seven strong innings and picked up a W for his cause. Senzatela faced the Reds in Cincinnati, which for a Rockies pitcher is like going to Kansas City, so he shut down that offense for only one in seven frames. Kyle Gibson (7.0 innings) & Brady Singer (6.1 innings) both did well in losses, each allowing two runs.
The Brad Lidge Award
JP Feyereisen entered today having allowed one run across 18.0 innings out of the Brewers bullpen. He allowed four times that in Milwaukee’s 10-to-9 win over the Braves. JP only recorded one out and all four of his baserunners scored. Quietly looking like he might be the next Devin Williams, this outing erased that possibility from existence. There’s always risk in adding hot relievers who only add an adequate K rate and good ratios. They have an outing like this and it ruins all the good they’ve done in their previous 18 innings. It happens, but it sucks when it happens to your fantasy squad.
Conclusion
The MLB Game Day Recap is all about baseball. Baseball is absolutely something. At one point in society long, long ago, baseball was everything. Football did not exist in the capacity it does not. Basketball did not have rapid fire offense. Hockey was barely a known entity in America. Baseball was the something that kept competition going in a world without the type of options that exist today. It’s still many people’s “something”, and it should be. Baseball is greatness. That’s something.
Goodnight.
