The Tampa Bay pitching staff caught its share of hype this preseason, and most Rays arms are long gone in deeper leagues. Aside from Blake Snell’s bathroom mishap, there’s really nothing to complain about when it comes to Rays pitching so far this year. And the bats have been fun to own, too.
But I’m clicking around a couple of my Yahoo 12-teamers, and one of the team’s — and league’s — more efficient hurlers is still chillin under 40 percent ownership. Why aren’t people finding room on their rosters for Yonny Chirinos?
The right-hander is fresh off five innings of one-hit ball against Baltimore with five strikeouts and one walk. That’s a tidy 0.40 WHIP for the day. Chirinos followed opener Ryan Stanek, then five innings later handed over a 7-0 lead, earning his third win of the season.
Yonny’s season line looks like something you’d expect out of an early-round starter, save maybe a handful of innings to this point. Through 19.1 frames, the 24-year-old checks in with a 3.26 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, a strikeout per inning and 4.75 K:BB. He’s actually been even more brilliant during three of his four turns, wherein he allowed a single run over 17 innings. Chirinos had a bad day in Toronto April 12, giving up six earned over just 2.1 innings.
It can be tough to plan for guys like Chirinos and fellow Ray Ryan Yarbrough in shallow, daily transactions leagues because the team isn’t super forthcoming with its plans on opener days. But if you’ve got room to leave these guys in a SP spot during other starters’ off-days, it can be pretty, pretty nice to uncover random, ace-like performances out of an SP/RP like Yonny. Last year, Yarbrough won 16 games working in a similar capacity. I’m willing to put in a little extra work to get another piece of the Rays on my teams.
Speaking of low ownership — and sticking with the Rays because they are making fantasy owners very happy in the early-going — why isn’t Kevin Kiermaier getting more love? The lefty-swinging center fielder is off to a .281/.329/.531 start with two homers, 10 RBI and three bags in 18 games. He’s had trouble staying healthy the past three years, but things seem totally fine now — he’s attempted five steals mostly out of the sixth or seventh spots in the Tampa order.
Rewind the tape to 2017 to a time when Kiermaier went yard 15 times over 98 games, adding 16 stolen bases, 56 runs and 39 RBI. His OPS is actually higher now — .860 vs. .788 in 2017 — thanks to the six doubles and two triples he’s knocked so far. Double-digit HRs/SBs are guaranteed if he stays healthy — but the stats still count if he checks out after 10 and 10 for us. Kiermaier’s current 34% Yahoo ownership tag is way too low.
I recently snagged a share of Christian Walker in an NL-only league as the auction winded down. It wasn’t part of any plan — just found myself sitting on a few extra bucks, an open 1B slot and too many Marlins to choose from. Turns out, the $4 he cost might be one of my better deals that day. After further investigation, I’ve started adding him in more shallow leagues (along with Kiermaier), based on an intriguing history that makes me want to see how this early-season success plays out over a few more weeks. Walker actually checks in as the 48th best player in Yahoo 12-teamers to date, rocking a .300 average with six homers, 11 RBI, 11 runs and two bags. He’s striking out at a 31.2 percent clip but walking more than 10 percent of the time. Over 60 at bats, Walker’s hard-hit percentage is freaking 71.8.
Clearly, the 28-year-old isn’t going to hit .300 while striking out that much. But just how much can he give back while batting in the heart of the Diamondbacks order, taking his share of walks and even snagging the occasional bag? The power is definitely real: A quick foray into the MiLB profile shows that he’s put up big numbers in the recent past. Last year, over 84 games in the hitter-friendly PCL, Walker hit 18 home runs and drove in 71. In 2017, over 133 games in the same league, he launched 32 bombs and had 114 RBI. The batting averages were .309 and .299 at these stops.
I’m not totally sure what to make of the former fourth-round pick. But I’ve already called dibs in a couple shallow leagues to see how this plays out. Walker is currently trending at 27 percent ownership on Yahoo.
Follow Danny @_dannycross_.
