Fantasy Baseball: Week 3 Stock Watch

Senior Fantasy Baseball Expert Adam Ronis lists three players trending in the right direction and three players whose stock are plummeting quickly.

Nick Pivetta
Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

STOCK UP

Nick Pivetta, Philadelphia Phillies

Pivetta wasn’t drafted in most leagues outside of NL-only leagues. I drafted him in a few draft champions leagues, including our Scout 44s. Those are large rosters, so he’s likely sitting on the waiver wire in some leagues. Pivetta had a 6.02 ERA and 1.51 WHIP last season in 133 innings with the Phillies. The one thing that was a positive with Pivetta was a 24-percent strikeout rate and an effective slider. He’s 25 and averaged 94 miles per hour with his fastball. It’s only three starts, but Pivetta has shown improvement. He is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 0.96 WHIP. In 16.2 innings, he has allowed 14 hits, two walks and struck out 19 and has yet to allow a home run. He has a hard hit rate of 20.9 percent and has improved his swinging strike rate 2.7 percent to 11.4 percent. He’s using a curveball more and he’s throwing more first-pitch strikes going from 59.3 percent to 66.2 percent. He’s worth adding if he’s on the waiver wire.



Looking for some MLB DFS advice? Check out our packages where members are DOMINATING day in and day out! Two of our experts just grabbed live final seats in FanDuel’s third qualifier of the season! Members are winning their subscription costs back in one night and the Optimizer has been straight up fire! And of course, special contributions from Dr. Roto, Adam Ronis and Shawn Childs! So what are you waiting for? Sign up today!


1B Jose Martinez, St. Louis Cardinals

In one of my last auctions, I got into a bidding war for Martinez in a 15-team league. The price got to $7 and it was late in the auction and I stopped and lost him. Yes, I wish I went to $8. Martinez was one of the better bargains in drafts because it wasn’t clear how much he would play. After hitting a homer off Noah Syndergaard on Opening Day, the Cardinals announced Martinez would play first base every day. Martinez is batting .364 with four runs, three home runs, 14 RBIs and a 1.056 OPS. Martinez has six walks and four strikeouts and had one of the highest exit velocities last season.

Jose Martinez
Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

SP Dylan Bundy, Baltimore Orioles

Bundy was the fourth overall pick in 2011 and he’s living up to those lofty expectations. Bundy showed improvement in the second half last season when most thought he would wear down as he threw a career-high 169.2 innings. In three starts over 20 innings, Bundy has allowed 14 hits, three runs, walked five and struck out 25. He has a 1.35 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. Bundy has a 27.7 Bundy has improved his swinging strike rate to 17.1 percent and a big reason is the slider he’s throwing 26.1 percent of the time. He’s 25 and well on his way to a breakout season.

STOCK DOWN

Robbie Ray, Arizona Diamondbacks

I wasn’t a fan of Ray’s price in drafts. He was my National League bust in our Preseason Pro Picks. It’s early, but people were paying an ace price for someone who had one good season and showed flaws despite the success last season. Through three starts, Ray’s velocity is down on his fastball from 94.3 to 92.4 miles per hour. Sometimes pitchers take several starts to get into full form, but it’s something to monitor. Ray’s walk rate last season was too high at 10.7 percent. He overcame it last season because of the high strikeouts, but it’s difficult to have long term success when you put that many men on base and work deep pitch counts. Ray’s walk rate is up to 15.5 percent. He’s going to get a lot of strikeouts with a 32.4 percent rate. When he allows contact, it’s hard contact. Last season it was 40.4 percent and this season he’s at 48.6 percent. Ray has pitched 15.2 innings in three starts. He couldn’t even get out of the fifth inning on the road against a bad Giants offense in his last start. The red flags were there before the season.

Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins

Once again, Buxton is off to a slow start. After a strong finish to 2017, Buxton was being drafted in the first four rounds of most drafts with the expectations of another leap forward. Buxton is batting .195 with two runs, no home runs, two RBIs, four stolen bases and a .476 OPS. Buxton batted .147 without a homer in the first month of the season last year. Buxton owners need to stay patient. It could be the cold weather affecting the slow start.

2B Yoan Moncada, Chicago White Sox

Moncada is striking out a ton. Moncada went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Thursday and has a 42.1 percent strikeout rate. While he has 24 strikeouts in 49 at-bats, he has walked eight times as he continues to hit lead off. Moncada is batting .184 with six runs, one home run and three RBIs. Moncada started slowly when he was called up last season and got better each month. When Moncada is making contact, he’s hitting the ball really hard with a 52 percent hard hit rate. Stay patient.


Hit up our brand new Premium Forums to join the discussion today!!

About Adam Ronis 309 Articles
Adam is a rare and true triple threat in the Fantasy Sports industry as he's a top ranked competitor in all three major sports (MLB, NFL and NBA). Adam is the one MLB player that every expert fears. He's a two-time repeat Tout Wars winner and he makes it look easy. In football, it's the same story. Many so called experts get eaten alive when they enter high stakes, but Adam did the exact opposite winning both of his inaugural year Online Championship Leagues. That's when we knew Adam needed to be at FullTime Fantasy. We only hire winners, and Adam doesn't just win, he DOMINATES. Listen to Adam and Dr. Roto every day right here on FullTime Fantasy Monday through Friday from 2-4 PM eastern.