During last night's game between St. Louis and Cincinnati, a friend texted both me and Nick this gem: "Who is Scooter Gennett and how is he doing this?" He was, of course, referring to how Gennett somehow managed a 5-5, 4 R, 4 HR, 10 RBI performance in the game to etch his name into the history books as just the 17th player in MLB history to hit four jacks in a single game and the first ever to have five hits and 10 RBI with the quartet of bombs. One of them was a grand slam, which would have been a really cool event to witness among all else that transpired. Perhaps without realizing it, though, our mutual pal nailed the principle of how every flukishly awesome display of baseball excellence should be viewed from a fantasy standpoint: feel free to revel in the achievement as a fan of the sport, but do not allow it to convince you that a relative no-name is now a fantasy powerhouse. Gennett was batting just .270 entering Tuesday's contest, a respectable average but nothing that is going to raise any eyebrows. I don't put much weight in the fact that his average is now .302 after one exceptional night, but he had flirted with an average in the low .300s during the month of May so I can concede that point. Also consider, though, that Gennett had just 18 RBI to his name 48 hours ago. Unless it's severely offset by a huge amount of runs scored or steals, that figure does not impress and I absolutely have more productive options available to me on the free agency market or waiver wire. A mere three homers, 14 runs scored and 20 RBI as of June 5 do not equate to fantasy excellence. There's a reason Gennett was only owned in 5% of Yahoo leagues before his explosion last night: as a 2B/OF, he is a utility guy for Cincinnati but not an everyday starter. He has just 116 at-bats in 47 of Cincy's 57 games, as compared to Joey Votto's 202 AB. Hilariously, Gennett is owned today in 9% of Yahoo leagues because people are impulsive and made roster moves with a knee-jerk reaction to one stat line. I am advising you to steer clear and stick with the guys who have been consistent all season long, as detailed in my Hitter List.
Let's take a look at what else happened notably hitting-wise around the league:
