Isiah Isiah Looka Here

Isiah Kiner-Falefa (TEX): 3-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI, 3 SB.

Who said Isiah Kiner-Falefa couldn’t keep up the stolen base rate? With the three steal night, Kiner-Falefa has collected 14 steals on the season and sits in second place in the category, only trailing Whit Merrifield across all of baseball. The three-hit night also extended his current hit streak to 10 straight and the Rangers have shown little to no signs of slowing him down as they continue to trot him out at the top of the lineup every day.

He may not provide much power, especially with a sub 33% hard-hit rate and an average exit velocity in the bottom 10% of the league, but the Texas shortstop’s speed should continue to be his best feature, allowing him to beat that close to 60% ground ball rate a few more times than most. If you roster Kiner-Falefa in a league where he qualifies at catcher just be grateful, but even if he’s available in leagues where he’s only available at shortstop or third base he should be rostered and starting for the speed aspect and potential continued volume production alone.

Let’s see how the other hitters did Saturday

Brian Goodwin (CWS): 2-5, 2B, HR, 3 R, 5 RBI, BB.

Not a bad way to make your 2021 debut. Brian Goodwin signed a minor league deal with the White Sox last month and was selected to join the major league squad with an opening on the 40-man roster opening up due to Nick Madrigal being placed on the 60-day injured list. Despite the impressive debut in Chicago, Goodwin should be expected to take on a similar role as he’s had with his four former MLB teams, coming off the bench and filling in as needed. He can be ignored at this juncture in all but deep AL-only formats.

DJ LeMahieu (NYY): 2-5, 2B, HR, R, 3 RBI.

Saturday marked DJ LeMahieu’s second straight 2-hit performance and his first long ball since his two-homer game on May 7th. Despite both his hard-hit rate and batted ball percentages being in line with his career norms, LeMahieu has continued to disappoint overall on the season. Beyond a slightly decreased barrel rate, there’s not too much to be concerned about in LeMahieu’s underlying stats, and fantasy managers should have faith that the Yankees’ everyday lead-off hitter will find better production soon enough.

Dylan Moore (SEA): 2-4, 2B, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB, SB.

Dylan Moore wasted no time getting comfortable as he made his return to the Seattle lineup, starting at second base on Saturday. The combo meal marked Moore’s second such performance on the season, and despite his overall hitting struggles to start the season, Moore has continued to run around the bases, collecting eight stolen bases before hitting the IL in mid-May. His 12% walk rate should help provide him with more opportunities to run as he pushes himself back into an everyday role with the Mariners. He’s worth a flyer in leagues where he was dropped by a frustrated league mate earlier in the season.

Adam Duvall (MIA): 1-4, HR, R, RBI, SB.

Speaking of combo meals, Adam Duvall would like to place an order. Yes, that Adam Duvall. The stolen base on Saturday marked Duvall’s 17th of his career and fourth on the season. Miami tends to be a bit more aggressive on the base paths than most teams, so it’s less of a surprise to see them sending Duvall in the right circumstances. The long ball marks his 12th of the season and is a bit more in line with what fantasy managers expect from him. Duvall continues to be a waiver target where you need a power boost, but don’t expect much above the Mendoza Line as far as his batting average goes, especially with a 33% strikeout rate holding him back.

Francisco Lindor (NYM): 1-3, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB.

After a nice little eight-game hit streak as the months were changing over, Francisco Lindor has returned to his early-season form, collecting just two hits in his last 20 plate appearances. Luckily for those who continue to run him out there, one of those hits came Saturday in the form of Lindor’s fifth home run of the season. Though much of the Mets’ shortstop profile remains in line with his past performance including his barrel rate, exit velocity, and overall hard-hit rate until Lindor starts bringing the ball off the ground a bit more fantasy managers who spent a late first-rounder or early second-rounder may continue to be disappointed. Lindor is currently sitting at a 49% ground ball rate compared to his career average of 45% and a line drive rate of 18.5% compared to 26% career average.

Josh Rojas (ARI): 2-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.

This marks the second straight Saturday that Josh Rojas has put up a double homer stat line. Now only if he could sprinkle in some production throughout the week. Prior to Saturday’s performance, Rojas has not enjoyed much success in the current month, slashing .133/.188/.289 through 48 June plate appearances. He continues to bat leadoff for the Diamondbacks and should see his fortune turn around as long as he continues to play basically every day in Arizona. At the very least, here’s hoping he continues this weekly tradition but with a few more crooked numbers in the stat line in between.

Anthony Rendon (LAA): 2-3, 2B, HR, R, 4 RBI, BB.

Putting aside the injury that forced him to miss some time early in the season, did anyone really expect Anthony Rendon to be hitting his fourth home run of the season in mid-June? Well, here we are. The Angels’ third baseman is actually hitting more balls in the air than is typical but has failed to barrel up most of those batted balls enough to lift them out of the park. Rendon has started to put up a bit more production for his fantasy rosters as of late, now collecting 13 hits through 44 June plate appearances with 16 RBI.

Matt Olson (OAK): 4-5, 2B, HR, R, 4 RBI.

Matt Olson is quietly having the type of season many expected to see out of him in 2020. With his Saturday performance, Olson sits comfortably in the top 10 of multiple power-hitting categories across baseball, including home runs, RBI, ISO, SLG, and wRC+. He’s doing all that while striking out at just a 17% clip, down from his 25% career average mark and his 31.4% mark set in 2020. There’s a lot to like here moving forward, especially as he sits in the top 7% of the league in both exit velocity and wOBA, and should be a fixture in lineups all season.

Matt Chapman (OAK): 3-5, 2B, HR, 3 R, 3 RBI.

Now teammate Matt Chapman has not been as generous to his fantasy rosters this season, so this rare three-hit performance on Saturday was a welcome change. Chapman’s struggles at the plate have carried over from 2020 as he continues to strike out at an alarming 32% clip in 2021 while any noticeable power he has shown in the past seems to have declined to a point of obvious concern. His current 8.7% barrel rate, average exit velocity of 88 mph, and 36.2% hard-hit rate would each easily be career lows for Chapman and while he seems to be attempting to make up for it with a bit more patience at the plate in the form of a 13.7 walk rate, he shows little signs of regaining regular power production he’s shown through the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (TOR): 1-2, HR, R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, SB.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr./strong> is a lot like Barry Zuckerkorn in that he’s very good.

 

Featured Imaged by Ethan Kaplan (@DJFreddie10 on Twitter)