After the eventful series that took place between the Cincinnati Reds and the Washington Nationals this past weekend, it seemed pertinent to focus on some of the unsung heroes playing for the team that came out on top twice in three tries. Outfielders Michael Taylor and Brian Goodwin had excellent performances in Friday's and Saturday's games, respectively, to spur their Nats on to victory by scores of 6-5 and 18-3. While Taylor only pinch-hit Friday, he still went 4-10, 5 R, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 3 K for the series; he has plated 15 in June to double his RBI count to 30 on the year. I would argue that aside from the Royals' Jorge Bonifacio, he is the least known name of the 94 guys to have hit 11 homers thus far. The .273 average is more than OK, and the 33 runs he's scored are also not terrible for 209 at-bats' worth of work. Taylor has thrown in seven steals to the mix, and he's only owned in 17% of Yahoo leagues and 10.2% of ESPN leagues. He's honestly an extremely sturdy play at OF right now, given his .284 average in June and the HR/FB ratio and hard contact percentage being where they need to be for you to feel good about using him. The walk rate is super low and the K rate is high, but production is happening so don't let those things dissuade you just yet. Goodwin, on the other hand, is a newer asset with a much smaller sample for us to analyze after having been called up from Triple-A Syracuse just over a month ago. Through 91 AB, he has a .275 average with six homers, 16 RBI, 25 runs and a steal after posting a 6-12, 5 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 2 K line versus Cincinnati. It's tough to break out in an outfield unit featuring the stellar Bryce Harper, but Goodwin is doing a fine job opposite him in relief of Jayson Werth, who's dealing with a toe injury on the 10-day DL. Goodwin's .657 slugging percentage in June and 11 XBH in the same span make him an appealing streamer over the next several weeks. He likely won't have a roster spot when Werth is reactivated in mid-July (after the All-Star Break), but if you need a shot-in-the-dark boost to average and runs with moderate power, Goodwin may be worth a look in the meantime. He's batted second in the productive Washington lineup over his last seven starts, which is food for thought.
Let's take a look at what else happened notably hitting-wise around the league:
Would you drop Yonder Alonso, Christian Yelich, or Keon Broxton for Morrison? Those are my worst hitters as I’m in a 10 team mixed league.