10 Important Stories From 08/10/16 Box Scores: Gary Sanchez Homers, J.A. Happ For Cy Young & More

by Will Overton

There were some themes in last night’s games from inconsistent guys showing up…for now. As well as guys having some career resurgence. There was also the young hot prospect, Gary Sanchez, making a name for himself as well by hitting his first career homerun. We’re going to break that down and more in our top 10 stories:

1)      J.A. Happ Is A Legitimate Cy Young Candidate….And We’re Not Joking

In fact, not only is J.A. Happ a contender for the Cy Young crown in the American League, he may very well be the frontrunner right now. Happ picked up his 16^th win of the season last night, the standalone leader in wins in the American League now, and he is 10 – 0 in his last 11 outings. Happ held the Rays scoreless yesterday for six innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out seven. Happ has now allowed one run or fewer in six of his last seven starts. Maybe even more significant is his K/9 rate of 11.4 in these last seven starts. Going into the month of July Happ had a K/9 rate of just 6.2 and the thought was always, he’s looked great, but doesn’t get enough K’s to climb the tiers in fantasy baseball. Now all the sudden he’s striking people out left and right and it’s hard to say he isn’t a top 20 fantasy baseball pitcher at this point, even if you don’t completely believe in this career resurgence. Happ is having a tremendous season and it’s one of those out of nowhere stories you have to love.

2)      Imagine If Troy Tulowitzki Were Able To Start Hitting Consistently Again

I think we have all come to accept the fact that Troy Tulowitzki isn’t going to be the hitter that he was in Colorado and that Coors Field obviously had an impact on his success there. That said, it still remains a mystery how he has so drastically fallen off the cliff it seems and that so much more than his power is affected. Tulo went 2 – 3 last night with 1 R, 1 HR and 5 RBI. This was Tulowitzki’s first multi-hit game in 19 days and first HR of August. July seemed to be a bit of a turning point for Tulowitzki, but August had started out rough until last night. It seems like every time you think he’s stringing something together it gets derailed by injury or he just stops hitting. I think he’s more talented than a .248 hitter, but he has to become more consistent.

3)      Speaking Of Inconsistent; Who Is The Real Jaime Garcia?

Consistency doesn’t seem to be a strong attribute of Jaime Garcia at this point either. After racking up a 6.03 ERA for the last five starts of July, Garcia has come out in August looking like a completely different pitcher. Garcia went eight innings last night, for the second start in a row, allowing two runs to the Reds. Garcia struck out just four, but had good command and was really rarely in trouble. Garcia’s ERA has been all over the place this season from the low 3.00 range to the mid 4.00 range and back again. Garcia has the capability to be really good, as he has shown in his last two starts, I’m just not sure we’re going to get it consistently.

4)      Jason Hammel Is Dealing Right Now

A day after returning from the bereavement list to tend to a personal matter, Jason Hammel came out and shut the Angels down last night. Hammel threw seven scoreless innings, giving up just four hits total and striking out six. Hammel has now won each of his last five starts and has allowed just four runs in 31 innings of work in these last five starts. Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester get most of the attention in Chicago, but Jason Hammel has become a very good pitcher and a solid number two or three starter for fantasy teams.

5)      Is Jayson Werth Still A Guy Worth Adding In Fantasy Baseball?

The 37 year old veteran Jayson Werth is trying to prove he can still produce at the highest level and he’s having a nice little run right now. Last night Werth went 2 – 3 with 3 R, 1 HR and 3 RBI, hitting from the two spot in the lineup. This is the second night in a row that Werth has gone deep and the third time in six games. Werth is far from the player he once was, but he is still getting on-base almost every night and he still has some power in his bat. Hitting second in this lineup is also a big help to Werth and with all of that considered, he should be owned in more than 25% of leagues.

6)      Another Career Resurgence Is Underway With Edwin Jackson In San Diego

If a pitcher is going to get a second chance to make a run at things in this league, the best place for him to do it is in San Diego and pitching at Petco Park. Last night Edwin Jackson left the friendly confines of San Diego for Pittsburgh and still looked great. Jackson held the Padres to seven scoreless innings and allowed two hits, striking out seven batters. Jackson now has four quality starts in five outings for San Diego. I’m not completely convinced by this resurgence given some of the control issues we’ve seen, but in deep leagues, like 14 teams and deeper he could be worth a flier.

7)      Last Year Doesn’t Look Like A Fluke For Brandon Crawford

A couple of nights ago Brandon Crawford made headlines with his record tying seven hits in one game. He kept his hot run of hitting going last night by picking up a couple more hits, including his 11^th HR of the season. While I am not so sure that Crawford can match the 21 HR’s he hit last season, I do think he has proven that his power is real and he’ll at least approach the 20 HR mark. Crawford also now has 71 RBI and has a legitimate shot at 90 which should be near the top of the class at shortstop. A guy with 20 HR and 90 RBI upside is always going to be a great option at shortstop.

8)      Ross Detwiler Has A Successful Transition To The Rotation For The A’s

After not allowing a run in any of his last four relief appearances Ross Detwiler was moved into the rotation to start last night for the A’s. Detwiler was very successful with the move, pitching eight shutout innings against a dangerous Baltimore team. Detwiler allowed six hits and didn’t walk anyone in the outing. Detwiler has had some moments in his career, and actually strung together a couple good seasons in a row in 2011 – 2012 for the Nationals as a starter. My expectations aren’t high for him, and his lack of K’s hurts his upside (he only struck out two last night), but pitching in Oakland has produced unexpected success before.

9)      Another Level: Jean Segura Continues Career Season

Sometimes a change in scenery can do a guy a lot of good and that seems to be the case with Jean Segura who has been sparked big time by a move to Arizona this season. Segura burst on the scene with a fantasy 2013 season, but was a big disappointment the following two seasons before being traded to Arizona. Now Segura is hitting .311 with double digits HR’s and SB’s and is one of the better leadoff guys in the league. Segura went 3 – 5 last night with 2 R and 2 SB. Segura now has eight hits in his last four games and also has four steals in his last three games. Segura is just 26 so it makes sense that he has made improvements and could continue to get better.

10)   Gary Sanchez Hits His First Career Home Run

The Yankees called up Gary Sanchez a week ago and he blew up last night while starting at DH. Sanchez went 4 – 5 in the game and hit his first career homerun, a solo shot. Sanchez is the Yankees catcher of the future and all signs point to the Yankees giving him an extended look the rest of this season splitting time at catcher and DH. Sanchez has big league power, especially for the catcher position, and given how shallow catcher can be at times Sanchez deserves a long hard look in all league formats. I think it won’t be long before Sanchez is owned in almost all leagues, so jump on him now before it’s too late.