Fantasy Baseball Daily Hitting Recap: 5/21/23

All DeJong the Watchtower

Paul DeJong (STL): 2-3, HR, 4 R, 4 RBI, BB.

“There must be some kind of way out of here,” said Paul DeJong to his Memphis Redbirds teammates…

Paul DeJong was an All-Star shortstop in 2019. Three years later, he was batting .130 through 28 games and was demoted to AAA Memphis. He was brought back to the big leagues in late July and finished the year with the Cardinals, but finished the season with just a .157 batting average and a pretty rough outlook heading into 2023. He didn’t break camp with the Cardinals this year but was summoned back to bigs after just 21 games. Since then he’s regained his footing as the team’s starting shortstop, batting .267 with an .892 OPS through nearly a month of action.

Paul DeJong (STL): 2-3, HR, 4 R, 4 RBI, BB.

DeJong began his day with a fielder’s choice and a walk in his first two at-bats but cashed in with an RBI single through the left side in the fifth inning. With two men on in the seventh inning, DeJong took a down-and-in fastball deep to left, sending it 393 feet into Big Mac Land for a three-run home run. DeJong’s resurgence has helped to spur the Cardinals, with the squad going 11-3 over its last 14 games. He may not reach the All-Star caliber level that he performed at in 2019, but if he can add a solid bat to the already deep Cardinals lineup, he could prove valuable for this surging NL Central squad.

 

Let’s see how the other hitters did Sunday

 

Corbin Carroll (ARI): 1-2, HR, 3 R, RBI, 3 BB, 2 SB.

Carroll earned a combo meal (with an extra side of … onion rings? He stole two bases) on Sunday afternoon against the Pirates. Carroll opened the day with a solo home run, crushing a hanging slider into the right-field bleachers for his seventh of the season. Carroll got on base in four of his five plate appearances and swiped a pair of bags, his 12th and 13th stolen bases of the year.

Cedric Mullins (BAL): 5-6, 2 2B, R, 3 RBI, SB.

Mullins recorded his first five-hit game of the season and his first since June 5, 2021, when he posted five hits against Cleveland. Mullins singled and stole a base in the third inning, singled again in the fifth, and doubled in the seventh to finish with three hits off of Toronto ace Kevin Gausman. Mullins came through in the 10th with an RBI single and added to the Orioles’ 11th-inning lead with a two-run double. Mullins’ five-hit effort helped the Orioles to a massive three-game sweep of their AL East rival, Toronto.

Josh Lowe (TB): 3-4, HR, R, 4 RBI, SB.

This season, Josh Lowe has been like a prize dairy cow. It doesn’t really matter what’s going on around him, he just keeps producing. On Sunday, Lowe finished with three hits, including his 11th home run of the season, a three-run shot to right, and his ninth stolen base of the year. In five games this week, Lowe went 8-for-17 from the plate with two home runs and three stolen bases. If the season ended today, he would be on the shortlist for MVP voting. He has been vital to the Rays’ success and could end up with a 25-25 type of season.

Corey Seager (TEX): 3-5, 2B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI.

Another day, another position player pitching against the Rangers because their offense scored more than 10 runs. Seager was a big part of the Rangers’ big day, recording three hits, including his second home run in as many days. In the second inning, Seager worked an 0-2 to full and then lifted a 3-2 slider into the right-field seats for a two-run home run. Seager added an RBI double in the fifth inning, taking a sinker the other way down the left-field line. He added an eighth-inning single and came around to score later in the frame. Seager’s return has made the Rangers’ lineup even deeper and more dangerous than it was previously. Should be a fun summer in Arlington.

Jorge Soler (MIA): 4-5, HR, R, 3 RBI.

Soler smashed his 12th home run of the season, one of four hits on the day in a losing effort for the Marlins. Soler crushed a 2-0 slider for a 436-foot home run to center in the first inning. He added an RBI single in the third inning, another RBI single in the fifth, and found his fourth hit in the seventh but it wasn’t enough as the anemic offense around him floundered against the Giants’ pitching. Soler could be one of the top prizes of the trade deadline later this summer, with his .518 slugging and .842 OPS looking mighty appealing to contending teams.

Riley Adams (WSH): 4-4, 2 2B, HR, R, RBI.

Adams hammered the first pitch he saw on Sunday afternoon for a solo home run in the third inning, taking a changeup 381 feet out to left. Adams followed up with a single and two doubles, completing a four-hit day as the Nationals defeated the visiting Tigers. Despite Adams’ big day at the plate, he likely won’t see enough at-bats to be fantasy relevant as the Nats’ backup to Keibert Ruiz.

Rowdy Tellez (MIL): 1-2, HR, R, 2 RBI, 2 BB.

Tellez showed solid plate discipline, drawing a pair of walks, and then showed his raw power with his 11th home run of the season. In the fourth inning, Tellez sent a 3-1, middle-middle cutter out 429 feet to dead center for his 11th bomb of the year. The two-run home run gave the Brewers a 3-0 lead and proved to be the difference as Milwaukee earned the 6-4 victory at Tropicana Field.

Romy González (CWS): 3-3, 3B, R, 2 RBI, SB.

Gonzalez posted three hits as the White Sox earned a 5-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals. In the third inning, Gonzalez legged out an infield single and swiped second for good measure. In his next at-bat, he laced a first-pitch slider to the right-field corner for a two-run triple. Gonzalez added a single in the seventh, his third hit of the day as the White Sox completed the sweep of their division rival.

José Ramírez (CLE): 2-7, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB.

In the Guardians’ Sunday doubleheader against the Mets, Ramirez homered in consecutive plate appearances, once in each game. Ramirez tied game one with a two-run shot to center field in the eighth inning. He came back in game two and sent a solo shot out to right off of Justin Verlander in the first inning, supplying the Guardians’ only run of the game. Ramirez has been off to a relatively slow start, hitting just his fifth and sixth home runs of the season, nowhere near the scorching hot start he had to begin 2022.