Just how he Drew it up
Drew Ellis (PHI): 3-3, 2 HR, 4 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB.
If I told you a Philadelphia Phillies third baseman went 3-for-3 with two home runs, two walks and four runs scored, would you guess it was Alec Bohm? Edmundo Sosa? Did they move Nick Castellanos back to third base? Wait, was it Scott Kingery? Nope, it was none other than Drew Ellis!
Drew Ellis (PHI): 3-3, 2 HR, 4 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB.
Ellis led the Phillies to an 11-3 victory over Washington, homering twice in just his fourth game with the major league club. Ellis has had a long road to Philadelphia, his third major league ballclub since being drafted in 2017. A second-round pick by the Diamondbacks, Ellis was pushed through the Arizona farm system, climbing to the Diamondbacks’ roster in 2021 for a 28-game tenure. He played six more games for Arizona in 2022 before being designated for assignment. Ellis was claimed by the Mariners, playing one game in Seattle and 70 games in AAA Tacoma over the remainder of the 2022 season. In April 2023, he signed a minor-league deal with the Phillies. With injuries to Rhys Hoskins, Darick Hall, and Alec Bohm, Ellis got his chance at the major league level once more and has made the most of it so far.
Ellis led off the fifth inning on Sunday with a 398-foot drive to the left field bleachers, taking a belt-high fastball deep for his first home run of the day. In the seventh, Ellis struck again with a 389-foot home run to dead center, crushing another fastball. Ellis walked twice and legged out an infield single in his other three plate appearances to complete a perfect day from the plate.
Let’s see how the other hitters did Sunday
Tommy Pham (NYM): 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Last Sunday, Pham swiped two bases. This Sunday, he crushed two home runs. Pham hit both of his home runs off left-handed starting pitcher, Yusei Kikuchi. Pham has hit all five of his home runs this season off of left-handed pitchers. If he were to ever step into a full-time role for the Mets, he would be almost a must-start. However, Pham only featured in three out of six games this week, typical of his playing time for most of the season.
Garrett Cooper (MIA): 2-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI.
Both of Cooper’s hits on Sunday went for extra bases, including a game-tying three-run home run in the fifth inning as the Marlins completed a 7-5 comeback win over Oakland. Cooper crushed a hanging slider 363 feet over the left-field fence to tie the game, his sixth long ball of the year. Cooper has hit three of his home runs in the past two weeks but is still batting just .235 this season.
Miguel Amaya (CHC): 3-3, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Sunday marked a career day for Miguel Amaya, who earned his first-career multi-hit game and his first-career home run as he went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and a pair of RBI. Amaya crushed a high fastball to the left-center field stands for a 415-foot bomb in his second at-bat of the day and added a pair of singles as he went perfect from the plate.
Eddie Rosario (ATL): 1-5, HR, R, 4 RBI.
It was a tough start to the day for Rosario who began the game 0-for-4 … until the ninth inning. With the Braves trailing, 5-4, Rosario stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two out. He drove a 1-0 sinker to the right field bleachers for a grand slam, his eighth home run of the season, giving the Braves an 8-5 lead and the eventual victory.
Ildemaro Vargas (WSH): 2-4, 2B, HR, R, 2 RBI.
Vargas got the start for the Nationals at shortstop and was the Nationals’ lone bright spot, driving in two out of the team’s three runs on the day. Vargas ripped a fourth-inning double off of Ranger Suárez and added a late-inning home run. In the ninth, Vargas pulled a belt-high fastball to the right field stands for a two-run home run, his second of the year.
James McCann (BAL): 1-2, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB.
The Orioles’ backup catcher earned the start behind the plate as Adley Rutschman took a turn at designated hitter. The move paid off for Baltimore as McCann hammered a 418-foot solo shot to left field as the squad earned an 8-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants. McCann has struggled in limited opportunities this season, hitting just .189 despite a 37.3% hard contact rate.
Yainer Diaz (HOU): 2-4, 2B, HR, R, RBI.
Another catcher with an outstanding hard contact rate but very little to show for it, Yainer Diaz is finally beginning to see results. On Sunday he drove his second home run in his last three appearances, driving a Griffin Canning fastball deep to left center field. Entering Sunday, Diaz was striking the ball well with a 35.2% hard contact rate but was batting just .231. Perhaps this is the start of a breakthrough for Diaz, who appeared in four games this past week.
Andruw Monasterio (MIL): 1-1, HR, R, 3 RBI.
Monasterio has been nearly unstoppable at the plate since joining the Brewers in late May. Monasterio is 7-for-19 (.368) in his short time with Milwaukee with a .444 OBP, and he smashed his first career home run on Sunday afternoon. Monasterio drove a ball to deep center field for a three-run home run in the first inning, but his career day was cut short after he took a shot to the face from a baserunner early in the game. He was removed from the game, but it seemed precautionary as he was seen smiling in the locker room in interviews after the game.
Ji Hwan Bae (PIT): 2-4, 2 RBI, 2 SB.
Bae put up a pair of hits, two RBI, and a couple of stolen bases as well, leading the Pirates to a 2-1 win over the Cardinals. Bae slapped a bases-loaded two-run single in the first inning, the Pirates’ only offense of the day. He added a stolen base later in the first inning and another in the fifth, reminding fantasy managers that he is an elite speed option so far this season. Though Bae has now swiped 17 bases this season, he had just two stolen bases between Sunday, May 7 and Saturday, June 3. Hopefully for fantasy managers, he will be more apt to run after Sunday’s two-bag performance.