Note: Don't whiff on this special FanDuel offer. Win your first contest or get your money back (up to $10) to keep playing Try FanDuel now!
Brad Miller homered for the fourth time in six games and the 14th time in 45 games Thursday.
Given what has happened to the shortstop position this year, these are facts that would have once been easy to ignore. But given what has happened to the shortstop position this week, they're suddenly of the utmost importance.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're one of the lucky ones. The owners of Trevor Story, Aledmys Diaz and Troy Tulowitzki can't say the same. All three are among the most valuable and highly regarded at the position, but all three are sidelined now by thumb injuries. Story's torn UCL will cost him the rest of the season. Diaz's hairline fracture already has him on the DL. Tulowitzki's chip fracture might just be a day-to-day thing, but he'll be feeling the effects for weeks to come.
And just like that, the unprecedented depth has taken a serious hit.
1. Short on options
Fortunately, a result of unprecedented depth is overflow. The idea that a shortstop on a 27-homer pace, as Miller currently is, could be so widely available, owned in just 40 percent of CBSSports.com leagues, underscores how much the landscape has changed in such a short period of time.
Shoot, Marcus Semien is on a 33-homer, 13-pace -- numbers that might have made him indispensable as a shortstop just a year ago -- and even he's only 72 percent owned.
Granted, the surge in production is league-wide and not just limited to the shortstop position. The home runs we're on pace to see this season would be the most we've seen since 2000, which was the height of the steroids era, and the average OPS is up almost 20 points from a year ago.
But shortstop is the source of much of that. Semien would be the 34th-ranked outfielder in Head-to-Head points leagues and almost universally owned, most likely. In fact, the 45th-ranked outfielder, which is about the number you could expect to see owned in a standard three-outfielder league, is actually Miller, who ranks behind Zack Cozart, Didi Gregorius and Danny Espinosa at shortstop. Seeing as all three are owned in 65 percent of leagues or fewer, you have your replacements right there.
These injuries also make Orlando Arcia, the high-profile Brewers call-up, a more attractive pickup than he might have otherwise been, the hope being that his minor-league numbers don't speak for his talent, much like Francisco Lindor last year.
2. Steals making a comeback
As plentiful as home runs have been in 2016, stolen bases have been lacking.
The shortage was anticipated coming into the season, and it has been as advertised, with only 15 players on pace for 25 or more -- the exact same number last year. It's why a guy like Travis Jankowski deserves more attention than he's getting.
Never heard of him? You're not alone. But while we await the arrival of prospects Hunter Renfroe and Manuel Margot to the San Diego outfield, Jankowski seems have settled into that third opening, batting leadoff and running wild.
His two-steal game Wednesday came on the heels of a three-steal game Monday and gives him 23 overall just six weeks into having a regular role. And while his batting average leaves something to be desired and may not get much better given his suspect contact rate, it's not even necessary with as often as he gets on base. He's basically becoming what we hoped Billy Hamilton would be.
And he's not the only find for those suffering in stolen bases. Hernan Perez, who took over at third base with the departure of Aaron Hill and has since shifted over to right field, has emerged as a prolific base stealer for the Brewers.
He has offered some pop as well, which is a little more out of character and, as with Eduardo Nunez, hard to believe. But if he has the playing time and speed to make an impact in the greatest category of need, why not take a flier?
Trea Turner is a little more widely owned, being a highly anticipated prospect, but the percentages suggest his owners aren't buying into him completely.
It may be because the Nationals haven't named him a starter at any one spot, but he has started 16 of the past 19 games between second base and center field, and seems to have settled into the leadoff spot. And unlike so many young players transitioning to the majors, he hasn't been shy about running, going a perfect 8 for 8 on stolen bases in only 19 games.
It's true any of these three may already be owned in your league, but it doesn't mean they've become fixtures for the person who picked them up. If you're looking to make up ground in the category, you might want to make a play for them before your league's trade deadline arrives.
3. Perfection put to Bed
With Huston Street sidelined by knee inflammation, the Angels awarded young fireballer Cam Bedrosian his first save opportunity Tuesday -- a move lauded by many pundits, myself included.
He responded by striking out the side in one inning, which was basically just another day's work for him. With that effort, he had gone 25 appearances without allowing an earned run, compiling 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings along the way.
It didn't take long for that balloon to deflate.
Yup, he blew his second chance Wednesday against Athletics and ended his impressive streak in the process. And considering manager Mike Scioscia never officially anointed him the closer, instead saying the Angels would go by committee with Street sidelined, you have to wonder if Bedrosian will get the next opportunity and certainly if he'll be able to overtake Street outright.
Considering he had seemingly put his control issues to bed, to see them flare up again at what could be a major turning point in his career makes you wonder if he's even ready for the role.
"The easiest part about pitching when you're behind or have a huge lead is you very rarely have the feeling that you cost the team the game," Street told the Los Angeles Times back in late July, explaining the importance of Bedrosian's move to what was then just a setup role. "And the hardest part about pitching consistently at the end of the game is that almost every time you have a bad day, you have that feeling. You have to reconcile the fact that you're going to have bad stretches, bad games, but it doesn't make you a bad player."
We'll see if the Angels believe that about Bedrosian ... and then if he believes it about himself. But for now, he ranks behind most of the other newcomers to the role, like Edwin Diaz, Kelvin Herrera and Tyler Thornburg.
4. From relieving to starting
You may not have heard of Joe Musgrove prior to Tuesday, but the 23-year-old put himself in the record books with his performance against the Blue Jays that day. He became the first pitcher to strike out eight while debuting as a reliever.
Going 4 1/3 innings, more than the typical reliever allotment, obviously had something to do with it, but it in no way diminishes the accomplishment. In his first look against major-league hitters, he retired 13 of the 15 he faced, striking out more than half of them.
And now, he gets to start. He'll slide into the injured Lance McCullers' spot after relieving him in Tuesday's game, and if his minor-league numbers are any indication, he could have more good performances in store:
If nothing else, you have to like that he throws strikes, with good enough stuff -- including an abnormal sinker grip that Chris Towers wrote about Wednesday -- to miss some bats along the way.
And he's not the only pitcher making a case to start with his long relief work. Luis Severino, who of course thrived as a starter down the stretch last season, did his best Musgrove impression Wednesday, relieving Chad Green with 4 1/3 dominant innings.
Overall, he has looked good since returning from the minors:
Green was the Yankees' first choice to replace the departed Ivan Nova, but he's back in the minors now, with Severino in line to start Tuesday's game.
"Tonight I think is the best I've seen [him]," manager Joe Girardi told MLB.com, with Severino adding that he had made a mechanical adjustment to avoid tipping his fastball.
Julio Urias didn't fair as well in his long-relief appearance Wednesday, allowing three earned runs over three innings at Coors Field, but as careful as the Dodgers figure to be with the 19-year-old's innings going forward, he may not go much deeper than that even if he gets another chance to start.
5. Bauer outage
It was fun while it lasted, right?
For a while there, Trevor Bauer seemed like he was on the verge of meeting his long-fabled potential, but recently he has reverted to his old ways, namely too many home runs and way too many walks.
Wednesday's start against the Twins was the most egregious example of that. He issued five walks over 2 2/3 innings, and the result was seven earned runs. Over his past five starts, he has issued 6.1 walks per nine innings and served up 1.9 home runs per nine for an ERA of 8.37, which brings his season line to this:
It's not good enough, and with those kinds of ratios, it's not going to come down either. Maybe his mechanics have gone askew, and maybe he's fully capable of getting back to where he was a month ago, boasting a 3.02 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings and looking like one of the 40 most reliable starting pitchers in Fantasy.
But for now, he's back to being completely untrustworthy and, frankly, just waiver fodder in mixed leagues. I mean, it's not like he would have competed for a Cy Young award or anything even at his best.
