Welcome to the SP Roundup, my daily fantasy baseball article reviewing every starting pitcher’s performance from every Monday game. I apologize for the jokes written in my delirium in advance. Have questions? Ask me during my office hours on Twitch weekday mornings from 9 am-11 am ET.
Noah Syndergaard (PHI) vs CIN (W) – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks – 2 Whiffs, 18% CSW, 89 pitches.
Noah Syndergaard may be one of the more difficult pitchers to handle in fantasy and tonight’s Win against the Reds – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks – 2 Whiffs, 18% CSW, 89 pitches – is a fantastic display of the inherent problem with Syndergaard. Put simply, he’s a Toby who relies too much on BABIP, and while this start obviously went his way – just one strikeouts in 21 outs?! HAISTBMBWT?! – it doesn’t preach a whole lot of confidence that the future outings will go that much better.
On the flip side of that, the Phillies have a marvelous schedule ahead. Thor will get the Pirates, Giants, and Marlins x2 across his next four games and that seems like something you can’t turn down. Seriously?! All that doom and gloom just to say “oh hey, he gets the worst offenses ahead so what the h*ck keep starting him?” …yeah, exactly that. I know, sorry. It’s a funny situation where if this were a season outlook, I’d be running for the hills, but you really can’t turn down a guy who can go six innings against those paltry offenses.
Let’s just hope for the best that the BABIP doesn’t rear its ugly head in those future games and celebrate this lovely performance tonight. Yay. Never do that again. No promises.
Let’s see how every other SP did Monday:
Jordan Montgomery (STL) @ CHC (W) – 9.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hits, 0 BBs, 7 Ks – 14 Whiffs, 29% CSW, 99 pitches.
Oh my. The party keeps on kickin’ as Monty has allowed just one earned run in his four starts with the Cardinals, here adding a one-hit Maddux to the trophy room. Absolute madness. Huge props to those who stuck around with The Bear all year, though who could have seen a deal to St. Louis + this kind of run coming? Increased four-seamer usage is still present, dipping back in the changeups and curveballs to just 33% usage, and it’s clearly working. Doesn’t hurt having the sinker still return 30% CSW as well as all the outs in play – he’s spotting them incredibly well armside. Sigh, it’s great to see him come together.
Edward Cabrera (MIA) @ OAK (W) – 8.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks – 15 Whiffs, 35% CSW, 101 pitches.
The man had 12 changeup whiffs for a 47% CSW on the pitch, tossing it nearly 40% of the time and that’s really all you need to know. Sure, I’d love if his fastball and slider dominated nearly the same way, but that slow ball is so dang good, earning him a Golden Goal for the evening. Now the real challenge arrives with a start against the Dodgers and I’ll be slotting him in the Questionable Start tier for that one. I’d be cautious there – with only his changeup working, it seems as if the Dodgers’ patience will expose his fastballs a bit too much. Get excited for the starts in September, though.
Eric Lauer (MIL) @ LAD (W) – 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 21% CSW, 98 pitches.
It wasn’t whiff central, but Lauer pitched well to navigate through five frames against the Dodgers. The Cubs are next and I think that’s fine. Nothing to get amped about, but it should be fine.
Julio Urías (LAD) vs MIL (L) – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 Hits, 1 BBs, 7 Ks – 9 Whiffs, 25% CSW, 84 pitches.
Aces gonna ace. Bad news: The velocity fell down to 92.7 mph here – we saw 94.4 mph last time out! – but he located well and still gave you a fantastic evening. Please get that velocity back, Julio, it made me feel so warm and fuzzy.
Drew Smyly (CHC) vs STL (L) – 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks – 15 Whiffs, 34% CSW, 99 pitches.
The velocity is still over 93 mph and he’s executing the BSB like a champ, catalyzing a share of the Gallows Pole and another fantastic start. Yeah, I’m still in on this as he gets the Brewers next. Great stuff Smyly, please keep this up.
Domingo Germán (NYY) vs NYM (W) – 6.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 3 Ks – 5 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 86 pitches.
The curveball is still legit and he was able to get outs and called strikes with heaters, heaters placed…kinda in the middle of the zone. So he got away with this one? Yeah, I think he did. Five whiffs ain’t gonna cut it on most nights, either. Good news is he gets the Athletics next and that should be fine, but I’m not jumping on and closing the train doors.
Jake Odorizzi (ATL) @ PIT (W) – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 7 Ks – 13 Whiffs, 27% CSW, 90 pitches.
Ayyyy it worked! Odorizzi struggled in his last two, but this was the Pirates and that’s often a lovely retreat. Welcome to your evening of relaxation. Solid command here as well with the patented red paint at the top of the zone, though it’s a hard call on the Cardinals up next. I think he’s okay for it, but don’t push it if you don’t need it.
Jeffrey Springs (TB) vs LAA (W) – 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 3 BBs, 7 Ks – 15 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 98 pitches.
That’s a share of the Gallows Pole for Springs as the changeup was brilliant once again. If only the slider were a bit better, he may have escaped with a legit WHIP, too. Keep starting him.
Cole Ragans (TEX) @ MIN (ND) – 4.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 18% CSW, 89 pitches.
Hmmmm. I still wonder if he can be a decent streamer at some point and this was the Twins, after all. His day of judgment is ahead with a start against the Tigers. I’m kinda excited to see how wrong I was. That’s only for AL-Only leagues.
Roansy Contreras (PIT) vs ATL (L) – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 Hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks – 12 Whiffs, 30% CSW, 89 pitches.
The slider was fantastic once again – 43% CSW! 8/28 whiffs! – but I still have some concerns about the fastball. That said, the Brewers are mediocre enough that the sliders can do well enough to pull him out of a poor-heater night, kinda like they did here. Here goes nothing.
Sonny Gray (MIN) vs TEX (L) – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks – 8 Whiffs, 26% CSW, 69 pitches.
The curveball wasn’t as filthy as before, but 71% strikes on the hook is a great sight to see. I’m still waiting for the slider to kick in, but let’s be thankful the outs came his way and he was able to toss six frames in just under 70 pitches. As for the early hook, the Twins are weird about third-time through the order, and by weird I mean pretty much right about how worse pitchers get the longer they stay in. Most of the time.
Tucker Davidson (LAA) @ TB (L) – 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks – 6 Whiffs, 21% CSW, 92 pitches.
Is this experiment working…? That’s a super Dusty Donut as the only benefit is a pedestrian 3.60 ERA and there’s Harley hardly anything to latch onto here with Davidson.
Luis Cessa (CIN) @ PHI (L) – 2.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks – 3 Whiffs, 24% CSW, 41 pitches.
Cessa led this bullpen game as Hunter Greene sits on the IL and the Reds had no other choice. Whatareyagonnado.
Adam Oller (OAK) vs MIA (L) – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 Hits, 5 BBs, 2 Ks – 7 Whiffs, 20% CSW, 111 pitches.
A VVPQS isn’t the worst thing, but when it’s with five walks and two strikeouts against one of the worst offenses around, you know there’s a problem.
Daniel Lynch (KC) vs CWS (ND) – 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 Hits, 4 BBs, 0 Ks – 7 Whiffs, 22% CSW, 87 pitches.
Oh dear, this is terrible. His stuff was all over the place with moments of respite with his slider, and once again, we’re not close to jumping back in on Lynch. I feel like we won’t see him thrive until he leaves Kansas City, so I guess we’ll check back in about four years or so.
Max Scherzer (NYM) @ NYY (L) – 6.2 IP, 4 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks – 13 Whiffs, 28% CSW, 101 pitches.
Aces gonna stumble against the Yankees…? Huh. Weird. Welp, he’s still dope and makes us feel dope. Nothing to worry about here.
Michael Kopech (CWS) @ KC (ND) – 0.0 IP, 4 ER, 1 Hits, 2 BBs, 0 Ks – 0 Whiffs, 26% CSW, 19 pitches.
Okay so here’s what happened. Kopech was injured before the inning during warmups, they elected to let him try to figure it out, then started his game with an 88 mph heater. EIGHTY. EIGHT. He slowly tried to ramp up and got to 93.5 mph, but this was not a man trusting his body in any way and they pulled him after allowing a hit, two walks, and hitting Witt Jr. on an 0-2 heater. What a mess this has been and I honestly hope they put him on the IL for the rest of the year so we can tackle this again next season. I want a 100% healthy Kopech who is able to get into a legit rhythm. He deserves that.
Game of the Day
Corbin Burnes vs. Tony Gonsolin – The #2 SP vs. a contender for the Cy Young. You love to see it.
But Nick?! Where are the streaming picks? – I’ve moved them to the daily SP Matchups & Streamer Rankings article.
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Featured Image by Ethan Kaplan (@DJFreddie10 on Twitter and @EthanMKaplanImages on Instagram)