The New York Yankees are winners of four in a row and Aaron Judge’s 121.1 mph blast during Saturday’s win against the Orioles set the record for the hardest-hit home run since Statcast began tracking exit velocities. Judge also boasts the four hardest-hit balls this season as measured by Statcast while leading the AL All-Star balloting – neither he nor the Yankees seem to be slowing down. With the blast that was likely heard around the league, here are the top MLB fantasy waiver wire picks for Week 11:
Jimmy Nelson, SP, Milwaukee Brewers
Last season, the National League “leader” in number of walks and hit-batsman allowed has transformed into the ace of the first-place Brewers. With increased velocity and improved control, the results have been dramatic compared to last year:
2016: 4.62 ERA | 5.12 FIP | 1.52 WHIP | 4.3 BB/9 | 7.0 K/9 | 17 HBP
2017: 3.45 ERA | 3.17 FIP | 1.27 WHIP | 2.2 BB/9 | 9.1 K/9 | 2 HBP
Since May 5th, Nelson has compiled a 1.77 ERA to go along with 48 strikeouts to 7 walks due in part to a much improved curveball. With both scheduled starts this week against weak offenses in St. Louis and San Diego, Nelson should continue to thrive.
Buck Farmer, SP, Detroit Tigers
Having spent most of his career in the minors and failing to win a Major League start, Farmer is starting to prove that he belongs in the Tigers’ rotation. In his first two starts of 2017, Farmer is 2-0 after 13 innings of work, with 0 ER, 16 K, and 3 BB. Seemingly having fixed his control issues, it should also be taken into account that Farmer’s fastball velocity has decreased – likely attributable to sacrificing velocity in order to throw more strikes. Farmer is definitely someone to keep an eye on should you pass on picking him up this week.
The Tigers are now in third place in the American League Central. They are 6-4 in their last 10 games and have moved within 3.5 of the Minnesota Twins, who continue to surprisingly lead the division.
Domingo Santana, OF, Milwaukee Brewers
As one of the hottest hitters in baseball right now, Santana is batting .342/.432/.632 with 3 HRs in his last 10 games in the month of June. Although the Brewers don’t have the best matchups this week, it’ll help that they play seven games. With Santana’s top-15 line-drive rate, buy low on him before the window closes.
The Brewers have been one of the biggest surprises of the young baseball season. They haven’t been fantastic – they are just 33-31 this year – but they are still the top team in the National League Central. They hold a one-game lead on the Chicago Cubs and a 2.5-game lead on the St. Louis Cardinals.
Kole Calhoun, OF, Los Angeles Angels
Since the calendar month flipped to June, Calhoun has been on an absolute tear, batting .419/.500/.806 with 4 HRs in nine games. While the Angels will be facing the Yankees’ and Royals’ back-end rotations, the fact that Calhoun will be facing four lefties may leave some room for concern. Although Calhoun has only 60 plate appearances against lefties so far this year, his .176/.283/.431 line leaves a lot more to be desired. This may just be a matter of a small sample size, as Calhoun batted .290/.366/.465 against lefties last year.
Felipe Rivero, RP, Pittsburgh Pirates
After four straight blown save opportunities while allowing 8 ER in the process, Tony Watson is out as the closer in Pittsburgh. Although manager Clint Hurdle views Rivero as the team’s long-term closer, he prefers to keep Rivero as the setup man for now, with Juan Nicasio receiving the lion’s share of save opportunities. However, this arrangement may change sooner rather than later. Rivero’s electric stuff has been on full display this year. With elite velocity coupled with an effective changeup and slider, Rivero has compiled a 0.56 ERA, 2.34 FIP, 0.71 WHIP, 1.7 BB/9, and 10.3 K/9 in 32.1 innings of work. The future closer role in Pittsburgh looks pretty bright.
The Pirates continue to be the weakest team in the National League Central. While they are only 4.5 games out of first place, they are still the team in the Central that has the fewest wins with 28. However, they do enter the week on a two-game winning streak.
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