Shea’s Stadium

Shea Langeliers (ATH): 5-6, 2B, 3 HR, 4 R, 3 RBI.

Bangeliers, indeed. The Athletics apparently all had some of what Nick Kurtz has been drinking last night, as they erupted for sixteen runs. Eight of those came off starter MacKenzie Gore in just three innings, with another eight from pummelling the bullpen.

At the heart of it all: Langeliers, in what can be officially dubbed his breakout season.

The 2019 first-rounder out of Baylor has quietly shown plus-power, hitting 29 home runs last season, but struggled with batting average and had a nauseating 29% K-rate the last three seasons. Like Cal Raleigh, he was expected to be a three-outcome slugging catcher who’d never sniff a batting average above .225.

But how things have changed. Langeliers is swinging, but he’s not chasing, and his K-rate is down to a more-than-respectable 18.5%. He’s also barreling the ball north of 10% of the time.

Last night, Langeliers led off for the first time all season—not where you’d expect to see a catcher—and hit his first banger on the fourth pitch of the game, taking Gore deep to right-center. He’d then lace a single to left in his next appearance at 105.6 mph. Ironically, his hardest-hit ball of the night was his only out, a 112-mph grounder to short, but he followed that up with his second homer, this time over the left field wall. He’d homer again in the next inning, a 419-foot bomb to center field.

And just to top things off, he led off the eighth inning with a double, which was his only batted ball under 102 mph. All in all, a career night for one of the league’s top-5 fantasy catchers.

Let’s see how the other hitters did Tuesday

Aaron Judge (NYY): 0-3.

After watching the Blue Jays and Red Sox pass them by in the divisional standings and get swept by the Marlins last weekend (there aren’t many points lower, as any Yankee fan will tell you), the Bronx Bombers were relieved to see Judge’s bat back in the lineup. Unfortunately for Judge and the rest of the pinstripe gang, Nathan Eovaldi has been a magician this season with a 1.39 ERA in 110 IP. Judge’s rust was also showing: his first AB was a four-pitch swinging strikeout. So was his second. On the fourth pitch of his third at-bat, he finally made contact, but it was an easy grounder to short. Judge wouldn’t see the batter’s box a fourth time—his team only managed two hits on the night and brought one more batter to the plate than the 27-out minimum.

 

Luke Keaschall (MIN): 2-4, HR, R, 3 RBI.

Aaron Judge wasn’t the only star player returning from injury last night. On the 60-day IL since April with a broken arm, Keaschall came back in style with a pair of hits, including the first home run of what could be an excellent MLB career. Keaschall made noise when he debuted for the Twins, stealing five bases in five games and just being a general all-around baller. Yeah, the sample size is ridiculously small (~30 PA’s), but Keaschall’s got a K-minus-BB-rate of -11.5%—yes, you read that right, that’s negative 11.5% (19.2% BB-rate, 7.7% K-rate). He’s also chipped in a pair of HBP’s this season to get his On-Base Average up to a wild .533. It’s unsustainable (obviously), but if you are in a points league and looking for a middle infielder, he’s a stud. He hasn’t had enough at-bats to qualify for official Statcast percentiles yet, but here’s where he’d be if he did:

 

Daulton Varsho (TOR): 3-5, 2B, 2 HR, 2 R, 6 RBI.

Another injury returnee, Varsho played two of three games in last weekend’s series against the Royals with little to show for it. Still, the altitude in Colorado is a solid cure for any batter’s ailment, and Varsho took advantage with his second and third homers in the series. Where Luke Keaschall shines in points leagues, Varsho shows out on the Roto side (though his batting average can be a drag). At just over 100 ABs, he is now averaging a homer every 12 appearances, which over a full, 600-AB season would net out to fifty dingers. His 25.9% K-minus-BB rate leaves a lot to be desired, but he’s still a threat to steal a few (though he has only one steal this season, he boasts 26 in the last two seasons combined), assuming his balky hamstring holds up.

 

Yainer Diaz (HOU): 1-4, HR, R, 3 RBI.

Diaz may have never seen a pitch he didn’t want to swing at, but he’s turned around a disappointing first half with an .843 OPS and five homers in July, and is looking to carry the momentum over into August. With a 1-0 count in the fifth, Diaz absolutely smoked a pitch from Marlins starter Cal Quantrill to left-center for a three-run homer. Diaz’s .253 batting average is around thirty points lower than his career numbers (and his xBA), so expect some positive regression. One thing you shouldn’t expect: an improvement on his 3.7% walk rate, as his Chase Rate is above any other Major Leaguer. Still, Diaz has time to finally return value on that lofty ADP as the fourth catcher off the board.

 

 

Matt Shaw (CHC): 1-3, HR, R, RBI.

Batting out of the nine-hole, Shaw provided the Cubs’ only run as they were humbled by the newest Reds starter in Zack Littell. Shaw had a lot of hype coming in as a pure-hitting Rookie with plus-speed (think PCA-lite), but a .198 batting average in the first half earned him a bus ticket back to Iowa. He’s looked much-improved since the All-Star Break, though, with a .319 average and a .993 OPS. Shaw’s Average Exit Velocity is in the first-percentile as 84.1 mph and he’s only barreling the ball 5% of the time, but there are signs of improvement, and an impressive last two months might be ahead. The suddenly offensive-challenged Cubs could use it, so the playing time should be there—even if it’s from the bottom of the order.

 

Max Muncy (LAD): 4-5, 2 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI.

Oh look, it’s another player recently returning from an IL stint hitting a pair of homers. Muncy famously switched to glasses earlier this season and instantly became a better hitter. He’s now close to the best batting average of his career (.263), has an impressive xSLG of .532, and is hitting the ball harder than ever at an average EV of 91.5 mph. If he can stay on the field, he’s going to be a league winner for those who held onto him in points formats, as his 99th-percentile walk rate and .380 OBP is gold (and the homers don’t hurt either).

 

Teoscar Hernández (LAD): 3-5, 2B, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI.

It hasn’t been Teoscar’s best season thus far, after breaking out last year as an All-Star with 33 homers and 99 RBIs. Some changes in his approach, perhaps triggered by his historic 30-percent K-rate, have made him more aggressive early in the count. It’s made him strike out less (24.7% of the time this year), but his walk rate is also way down (4.8%, eighth percentile in the league). Most of his expected metrics this year are right in line with his career averages, or at least close enough, but his xWOBACON is 25 points lower than his career average, and his barrel rate is 2.6% down from a year ago. Now at 32 and in his tenth season, Hernández might be starting to show his age a bit, but he’s still got a few nights like these left in him.

 

Josh Naylor (SEA): 2-3, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI, BB, 2 SB.

It looks like Naylor’s starting to fit in with his new team. Both he and Eugenio Suárez were added last week to an already-dangerous Mariners lineup. Naylor, who should become an RBI machine out of the cleanup spot, went deep in a lefty-on-lefty matchup in the fourth inning (Naylor’s historically had solid but not great splits against southpaws). He also added a pair of steals, which brings him up to nineteen on the season. Not bad for someone that Statcast has pegged at third-percentile Sprint Speed. Naylor had been in the midst of a downward spiral in his decision-making, so hoping Seattle’s batting coaches can straighten him out. Still, while he might not get to twenty homers this season, twenty-five steals from a 1B is a nice surprise.