10 Important Stories From 05/08/17 Box Scores: A Dominant Alex Wood, Hope For Gausman & More

by Ray Kuhn

With no afternoon games yesterday, we had all day to set our lineups for the upcoming week. The weather claimed the Coors Field game, although the Cubs likely didn’t have any objections after their 18 inning game the night before, but we still had a nice nine game slate to start the week.

It is the Mets, so we have to take it with a grain of salt, but news also came out that we can expect the return of Yoenis Cespedes in about two weeks. For planning purposes, expect him in three to four weeks. In other injury news Jason Heyward went on the disabled list with a finger issue, but perhaps more terrifying, that fate is potentially on the table for Mike Trout and his hamstring.

Let’s take a look at some of the better performances from the night around the league:

1) Hopefully you Didn’t Give up Yet…

That statement could apply to a lot of players after the first few weeks of the season, but in this case, we are talking Kevin Gausman. Having him on your bench for this start, against Washington, was perfectly reasonable, but the right-hander showed why he was such a popular option during draft season. Gausman picked up his second victory of the season on Monday with seven strong innings against a powerful Nationals lineup. The right-hander limited Washington to just five hits and a walk while allowing two runs and striking out eight to lower his ERA 6.63. At this point, there really is no place for that go, but down. The problem though, is that per Gausman’s FIP of 5.24 and BABIP of .331, bad luck isn’t the full story here. So far this season, his strikeouts have been down (15.6% K rate) and his walks have been up (10.6%). He made improvements in both of those categories last night, and while I would still tread carefully, the worst might be behind us with Gausman; I mean it has to be, right?

2) An Interesting Night for Stroman…

The fact that Marcus Stroman picked up his third victory of the season with six shutout innings while lowering his ERA to 3.38 shouldn’t be surprising. What is a bit interesting though, is that he did it while only striking out one batter. However, in the major leagues, Stroman has never truly been a strikeout pitcher. So far this season, he has 6.15 strikeouts per nine innings while last year it was 7.32, with a mark of 7.65 in 2014. Stroman hasn’t lost anything in the velocity department, but he has been throwing his two-seam fastball a lot more than he did last season; at the expense of his cutter. Overall though, it’s hard to notice anything all that different out of Stroman.

3) Was the Revenge Narrative in Play in Tampa Bay…

Based on the way he started the season, and then the way he pitched last night, perhaps it was for Nate Karns. After they way he began the season, four runs in just .2 innings, things could only improve for Karns in his new home, and so far they have. Karns ended April with a 6.26 ERA and after his second straight strong outing, his ERA now sits at 4.58. Facing his old team on Monday, Karns allowed two runs on six hits and two walks in six innings of work while racking up 10 strikeouts. While the strikeouts were a season high, Karns does have 36 strikeouts in 35.1 innings so far this season, so they shouldn’t have truly caught anyone by surprise. The hope now, is that Karns’ performance gets more in line with his 3.61 xFIP. If that is the case, we have a serviceable starting pitcher on our hands.

4) Things Are Looking up for Eric Hosmer…

So far, the start to the 2017 hasn’t been ideal for Hosmer. However, things have quickly turned around for the first baseman once the calendar turned to May, and that continued on Monday. Hosmer went 3 for 5 against Tampa Bay, with his third double of the season, while scoring twice and also stealing his first two bases of the season. That brought Hosmer’s average up to .282 on the season, but more importantly, he is hitting .464 in the month of May. In every game Hosmer has started this month, he has at least one hit, and he has certainly improved upon the .225 mark he left April with.

5) The Yankees Have Four Outfielders, Not Three…

Entering the season, Aaron Judge wasn’t supposed to be this good, this soon, and Aaron Hicks was potentially going to have a larger role. Instead, Judge is leading the league in home runs, and Hicks is making it pretty impossible to keep him out of the lineup. After struggling for most of last season before turning it around for a month in August prior to ending the season with an injury, Hicks appears to be locked in so far this season. Getting the start for Judge last night, and batting second, Hicks was 2 for 5 with an RBI (his 16th of the season), and two runs scored. Hicks is now hitting .342 with an OPS of 1.106, and he deserves your attention even if he isn’t technically a starter.

6) At Least it Was a Quality Start…

Last night, Jacob deGrom was done in by two things; the long ball, and his pitch count. After striking out the first batter of the game, a walk, and a Hunter Pence home run put the Mets behind pretty quickly. deGrom kept the Giants off the scoreboard for the next four innings, but efficiency was an issue as his pitch count continued to climb. He ended his night after six innings of work and 105 pitches (just 64 strikes), but not even Buster Posey put the Giants ahead with a solo shot. The Mets ultimately tied, and then won the game, but that was long after deGrom was removed; although he did get a quality start for his efforts. Overall, the right-hander didn’t pitch terribly as he allowed four hits and three walks while striking out 11, but the pitch count certainly is an issue to monitor.

7) Youth is Served in St. Louis’s Outfield…

The Cardinals aren’t shy about promoting young players when it suits them, and the latest prospect to find their way to St. Louis is Magneuris Sierra. Despite the fact that Sierra is just 21 years old and hasn’t played about High-A ball, the Cardinals brought him up to the majors last weekend after Stephen Piscotty and Dexter Fowler went down. Despite the light resume as far as experience, Sierra has been playing professional ball in the United States since 2014, and in 361 games he is batting .297 with 81 stolen bases. St. Louis is being conservative with Sierra, batting him eighth, but he is at least worth a look. On Monday, he went 2 for 5 with two runs scored, and in 11 at bats, he has three hits with two strikeouts, both coming last night.

8) Jed Lowrie Shows off Some Power…

Maybe instead of the power, we should be impressed that (knock on wood), Lowrie has remained healthy so far this season. The A’s were certainly thankful for that on Monday as Lowrie went deep twice. His second solo shot of the game came in the bottom of the 11th inning to send the Oakland fans home happy. Batting second, ahead of Khris Davis, has worked out well so far this season for Lowrie as he is batting .298. You aren’t going to get much power from him, four home runs and eight RBI, but the production is still pretty good overall; especially since he is healthy, as this season that counts for something.

9) Alex Wood Takes Care of Business…

While he has battled health problems of his own in the past, Wood is doing a good job so far this season taking advantage of the situation. Initially slated for the bullpen, the general health issues of the Dodgers’ rotation have put an end to that for Wood, and he continues to make sure it stays that way. Brandon McCarthy was initially going to start yesterday, but he was instead placed on the disabled list with a shoulder injury, and Wood moved up to take the start. The Dodgers took care of the run support, and Wood took care of the rest. In five innings of work, he struck out 11 batters while allowing just two hits and one walk against a struggling Pirates team. On the season, Wood’s ERA is 2.73, and at the very least, he has to be a streaming option.

10) Trevor Cahill, Ace…

Well that is what it looked like last night against the Rangers. Pitching in San Diego appears to agree with Cahill, and that puts him high atop the list of streaming options for the rest of the season. While he didn’t qualify for the quality start after not making it out of the sixth inning, it is hard to argue with what we got out of Cahill in his 5.1 innings of work. Despite needing 101 pitches (56 strikes) to do it, Cahill held the Rangers to just one hit. The problem though, and something that can’t be ignored when evaluating Cahill, and keeps him as more of a streaming option, is that he walked five batters. We should note too though, that he did strike out seven as he lowered his ERA to 3.06 while picking up his third victory of the season.

Make sure to check out all of our updated rankings: