X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Gain Access Now

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Compare Any Players
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

Top Fantasy Baseball Stories of the Week - Jo Adell, Jack Flaherty, and Nationals' Hitters

Jo Adell - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Corbin Young looks at big fantasy baseball stories from the sixth week of the 2024 MLB season: Jo Adell is making changes, one of Jack Flaherty's best games, and Nationals' hitters making waves.

A friend told me once that the days will be long and the years will be short. That's the case for real-life and fantasy baseball when we're looking at the top stories of the week. Most teams play six or seven games in a week, with about 25 plate appearances for most hitters. For pitchers, it's usually only one start, with several throwing two in a given week.

It's important to keep track of the trends, but not overreact to a week or two of data because sometimes numbers trick us into thinking the player is making a legitimate change. Regardless, we have a few fun and notable highlights, including a post-hype player, revenge game, and hitters that may have burned us in the past.

Take the time to appreciate the days and weeks of the sport we love because time flies.

Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball lineup tools and resources:

 

Jo Adell is Doing What?

When we remove the games when Jo Adell pinch hit or run, he batted in the bottom third of the lineup in 13 games. Since the Mike Trout injury news, Adell moved up to second in the lineup for a few contests. Though Adell hasn't exploded this past week, the early production warrants our attention. Adell has four home runs, 11 runs, 11 RBI, and five stolen bases (five caught stealing), with a .273 batting average. 

Over the past week, Adell has one home run, zero stolen bases, and a .143 batting average in 21 plate appearances, with luck factors shifting away from his favor. We shouldn't overreact to one or two weeks unless the playing time reduces. That's where checking the skill changes comes into play for a post-hype sleeper like Adell.

Plate discipline has been an issue for Adell, with a 37.7 percent chase rate and 73.4 percent zone contact rate from 2020-2022 across 557 plate appearances. Meanwhile, we saw a slight improvement in zone contact rate of 79.3 percent in 2023 and 2024.

The other notable change for Adell involves not pulling the ball as much, with a 45 percent pull rate (2020-2022) to a 37.8 percent pull rate (2023-2024). He hit more line drives with the lower pull rate, with the groundball and flyball rates staying the same, though they may not be correlated. 

Hitting the ball hard has never been an issue for Adell, but the challenge involves spraying them at optimal launch angles. That's evident in the barrel rates, yet it's early to declare if that will stick in 2024. Adell destroyed line drives and flyballs in 2023 at 101.8 mph (No. 1) with 99 mph (No. 6) in 2024 among hitters with a minimum of 25 batted ball events. Several of Adell's expected stats point toward the results being legitimate. 

We'll see if the skill and batted ball profile changes stick over the long term. The data points to Adell breaking out as a post-hype sleeper in 2024. Given the sample size, the projection systems may not catch up and realize what Adell is doing before it's too late. 

 

Jack Flaherty Had One of the Best Games of His Career

Besides Tarik Skubal, it might be challenging to identify which Tigers' starting pitchers have been performing well to begin the 2024 season. Many of us playing in deeper leagues know the names, but the casual fan might not realize they have an underrated group of starting pitchers. One to highlight is Jack Flaherty, who dominated against his old team, the Cardinals, on April 30. 

Speaking of Flaherty, he had a career-high in strikeouts at 14, with the second-best strikeout minus walk rate (56.5 percent) and third-best swinging-strike rate (22.8 percent) in a game throughout his career. Flaherty likely had the adrenaline flowing because the four-seam averaged 95.1 mph, over one mph above his season-long average. The last time Flaherty reached 95 mph or higher on the fastball in a game came on August 24, 2020. 

Flaherty's four-seamer never had above-average induced vertical break. However, his four-seamer shifted back to 15.4 IVB with more than an inch less arm-side run in 2024 than the career average. Flaherty's career-best swinging-strike rate on the four-seamer at 12.7 percent seems partially inflated by Flaherty's career-best recent outing. We can't expect the ace-like outcomes often for Flaherty, though the underlying metrics appear to be bouncing back closer to his peak seasons. 

 

Nationals' Hitters Having Career Revivals

The Nationals have several hitters seemingly reviving their careers, and this isn't a joke. Over the past week, Nick Senzel is the most notable, with Jesse Winker also showing signs of life. Senzel hit two of his five home runs and four of his three barrels in the past week. That raises eyebrows because Senzel is nearly halfway to the 2022 and 2023 marks with over 220 batted ball events each season. 

Senzel might be making a swing change with a career-high flyball rate of 47.2 percent by a longshot, over 12 percentage points above his career norm. Unsurprisingly, Senzel's home run rate ballooned to 29.4 percent, nearly three times his career average. Interestingly, Senzel has been pulling the ball 32.4 percent of the time, over six percentage points below the norm. 

Besides barreling up the ball more often early in 2024, Senzel averages 93.2 mph on FB/LD (No. 155), up over two mph from 2023 (91.1 mph) and 2022 (90.6 mph). While it's not a drastic improvement, Senzel elevating the ball more and posting slightly better exit velocities will translate to middling power production of 15+ home runs. There's something intriguing brewing with the Nationals.

From one afterthought to another, we have Winker, who is healthy and playing nearly every day. Though Winker will likely platoon at times, he played against three lefties over the previous six contests. He has 49 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers, accounting for 38.2 percent of the total. For context, Winker faced left-handed pitchers in 20.6 percent of his plate appearances in 2022-2023.

After four weeks of being red hot, with a .300 batting average or higher in each. Winker posted a .946 OPS and 172 wRC+, with a .400 BABIP in the first four weeks of the season across 82 plate appearances. Since then, Winker cooled off over the past two weeks, with a .130 batting average, .411 OPS, and 23 wRC+ in 51 plate appearances. Unsurprisingly, Winker's BABIP fell to .156 over the past two weeks, indicating some luck factors impacting the results. 

That indicates Winker's productive start seems fluky with the zone contact (83.2 percent) and chase rates (25.7 percent) looking similar to past seasons. It's early, but Winker is hitting tons of groundballs (50.6 percent), nearly seven points above his career average. Besides Winker's days with the Reds, injuries and power metrics haven't reached those peaks since. Hitting too many grounders could negatively affect the power if he doesn't destroy flyballs and line drives. 

Winker has been on a downward trend in EV on FB/LD since 2021, but playing with the Mariners in 2021 and injuries in 2022 caused the numbers to plummet. He might be slightly bouncing back via the EV on FB/LD in 2024, but we'll need to see more than luck factors to buy into the sustainability. 



Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App

Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy baseball app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, sleepers, prospects & more. All free!



More Fantasy Baseball Advice




POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Compare Any Players
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

TreVeyon Henderson

Signs Rookie Contract
Christian Watson

Goes on PUP List
Austin Riley

Hopes to be Activated Next Week
Ketel Marte

Lands on Restricted List After Burglary
Ricky Pearsall

Heads to PUP List
Brandon Aiyuk

Placed on PUP List
Luther Burden III

Signs Rookie Deal
Washington Nationals

Eli Willits Expected to Sign Contract on Saturday
Grayson Rodriguez

Being Shut Down Again - Will We See Him Again This Year?
Ezequiel Tovar

Activated and Back in Lineup on Friday
Max Fried

"Hopeful" to Pitch Next Week - Looks Like He'll Avoid IL Stint
Steven Kwan

Receives Injection in Wrist, Considered Day-to-Day
CJ Abrams

Back to Start Second Half
Alec Bohm

Back From Rib Injury on Friday
Trey Hendrickson

Holdout to Spill into Regular Season?
Jalen McMillan

Bucs Offensive Coordinator Not Forgetting About Jalen McMillan
Levi Onwuzurike

to Miss at Least Four Games
Nick Emmanwori

Seahawks, Nick Emmanwori Reach Agreement on Rookie Deal
Max Holloway

Set For Main Event
Brandon Lowe

Back From 10-Day Injured List
Dustin Poirier

Set For His Final UFC Fight
Roman Kopylov

Set For Co-Main Event
Paulo Costa

Returns At UFC 318
Luis L. Ortiz

to Remain on Leave for Another Month - Will he Pitch Again?
Daniel Rodriguez

Looks For Third Win In A Row
Kevin Holland

Set For His Fourth Fight This Year
Dan Ige

Looks To Win Back-To-Back Fights
MMA

Patricio Freire Set For His Second UFC Fight
Daniel Zellhuber

Set To Open Up UFC 318 Main Card
Michael Johnson

Looks For Third Consecutive Win
Elijah Arroyo

Signs Rookie Deal
Jaydon Blue

Described as "Borderline Lazy"
T.J. Sanders

Bills Sign T.J. Sanders to Rookie Deal
Christian Wilkins

Raiders Put Christian Wilkins on PUP List
Jabari Small

Lions Add Jabari Small to Backfield
Quinshon Judkins

Remains Unsigned, Won't Report With Rest of Rookies
Mason Taylor

Agrees to Rookie Contract with Jets
Hendon Hooker

Leading Lions QB2 Battle Entering Training Camp
Ozzy Trapilo

Agrees to Rookie Contract with Bears
Tate Ratledge

Agrees to Rookie Contract with Lions
Jack Bech

Signs Rookie Contract with Raiders
Yegor Chinakhov

Requests Trade
Dakota Joshua

Maple Leafs Acquire Dakota Joshua
Lukas Dostal

Signs Five-Year Extension with Ducks
Shemar Stewart

Not Practicing With College Team
Eugenio Suárez

Eugenio Suarez Expected Back Friday
Damian Lillard

Returning to Portland
Paul Skenes

Pirates Could Preserve Paul Skenes in Second Half
Brooks Barnhizer

Grabs 19 Points, Nine Boards in Summer League Win
Jeremiah Fears

Scores 22 Points in Summer League Loss to Thunder
Isaiah Collier

Collects 17 Points In Summer League Win
Caleb Houstan

Joins Hawks
AJ Johnson

Erupts for 25 Points in Summer League Loss
Washington Wizards

Leaky Black Logs Double-Double in Loss to Jazz
Connor Norby

Undergoes Surgery, Expected to Miss 6-8 Weeks
Trey Alexander

Tallies 25 Points in Losing Effort
Johni Broome

Records Second Consecutive Double-Double
Jahmir Young

Has Historic Summer League Outing
Rob Dillingham

Plays Big Role in Wednesday's Win
Tyrese Proctor

Erupts for 35 Points Against Kings
Cody Williams

Leads Jazz to Victory Against Wizards
LeBron James

Mavs Not Interested in "Gutting its Roster" For LeBron James
Josh Hart

Undergoes a Procedure on Right Finger
Jake Burger

Goes on 10-Day Injured List With Quad Strain
Sal Frelick

Dealing With Grade 1 Hamstring Strain, TBD for Start of Second Half
Chris Sale

Plays Catch
Los Angeles Clippers

Bradley Beal Heading to Los Angeles to Join Clippers After Contract Buyout
Rayan Rupert

Scores 24 Points in Summer League Win
Derik Queen

Collects Third Consecutive Double-Double in Summer League Loss
GG Jackson II

Records 13 Points in Summer League Action on Tuesday
Johni Broome

Logs Double-Double Against Wizards
DaRon Holmes II

Records Double-Double in Summer League Loss to Raptors
Kyle Schwarber

Named All-Star Game MVP
Harris English

Takes Stellar 2025 Performance to The Open Championship
Aldrich Potgieter

Seeks Better Result in Northern Ireland
Cameron Young

Likely to Hang Around at The Open Championship
Cameron Smith

Just Trying to Make the Cut at Royal Portrush
Jordan Spieth

Is Jordan Spieth Still a Natural for Links Style Golf?
Patrick Reed

a Viable Option at The Open Championship
PGA

Sungjae Im Wants to Rebound from Last Experience at Royal Portrush
Xander Schauffele

Looks to Defend His Claret Jug at Royal Portrush
Tony Finau

Trying to Turn Tide at Royal Portrush
Daniel Brown

Seeks a Rebound at The Open Championship
Rory McIlroy

Will be the Most Watched Player This Week at Royal Portrush
Daniel Berger

Trending Poorly as The Open Championship Looms
Clayton Kershaw

Retires Both Batters In ASG Appearance
Eugenio Suárez

Eugenio Suarez Hit In Pinky In All-Star Game, X-Rays Negative
MLB

NL All-Stars Win On Tie-Breaker Home Run Swing-Off
Robert MacIntyre

Hoping to Bounce Back at Open Championship
Shane Lowry

Hopes to Repeat at Royal Portrush
Brian Harman

Hopes to Rekindle Some Magic at the 153rd Open
UTA

Michael Carcone Returns to Utah on One-Year Contract
Bowen Byram

Signs Two-Year Deal with Sabres
Morgan Barron

Jets Re-Sign Morgan Barron for Two Years
PGA

Chris Gotterup Punches Ticket to Royal Portrush With Win at Scottish Open
Bryson DeChambeau

Hopes to Reverse Links Golf Struggle at the 153rd Open
Keegan Bradley

Needs to Find The Weekend at Royal Portrush for Ryder Cup Hopes
Justin Thomas

Finishes Tied For 22nd at Genesis Scottish Open
Scottie Scheffler

Finishes Tied For Eighth at Genesis Scottish Open
Jon Rahm

Finishes in Second at LIV Andalucia
Tallison Teixeira

Suffers First-Round TKO
Derrick Lewis

Scores First-Round TKO
Stephen Thompson

Loses Controversial Split Decision
Gabriel Bonfim

Wins Controversial Split Decision
Calvin Kattar

Gets Outclassed At UFC Nashville
Steve Garcia

Extends His Win Streak
Nate Landwehr

Gets Knocked Out
Morgan Charrière

Morgan Charriere Scores Third-Round Knockout
Austen Lane

Suffers Submission Loss
Vitor Petrino

Scores First-Round Submission In Heavyweight Debut
Tuco Tokkos

Earns His First UFC Win
Chase Elliott

Charges to A Finish of Third At Sonoma
Chase Briscoe

Finishes Second With his First Career Road-Course Top-Five at Sonoma
Christopher Bell

Rollercoaster Day Ends With Top-5 Finish at Sonoma
William Byron

Maintains the Regular-Season Points Lead
Kyle Busch

Earns A Hard-Fought Top-10 Finish At Sonoma
Alex Ovechkin

Not Thinking About Retirement
PIT

Penguins Acquire Arturs Silovs
NHL

Nikolai Kovalenko Returns to Russia
Tyler Reddick

Evades Near Upset to Remain Alive in In-Season Challenge
Ty Gibbs

One of Three Tylers to Make In-Season Challenge Semifinals
Kyle Larson

Curiously Mediocre at Sonoma Before Late-Race Crash
NASCAR

John H. Nemechek Edges Out Teammate to Make In-Season Challenge Semifinal
Alex Bowman

Ty Dillon Bumps Alex Bowman to Advance to In-Season Challenge Semifinal
Shane Van Gisbergen

Can Anyone Beat Shane van Gisbergen at Sonoma?
Tyler Reddick

Better at Sonoma Than Record Shows
Chase Elliott

a Prime DFS Option at Sonoma
Michael McDowell

Struggling a Bit at Sonoma
NASCAR

Christopher Bell Has Never Finished Better Than Ninth at Sonoma
Ryan Blaney

Has Top-10 Upside at Sonoma
NASCAR

Sunday at Sonoma Will Likely Be a Long Race for Bubba Wallace
Kyle Larson

Is A Likely Top-Five Contender for Sonoma
Ryan Preece

Points Position Could Affect Race at Sonoma
Todd Gilliland

Struggling to Find Speed at Sonoma
Ty Gibbs

May be an Underrated Favorite to Compete for the Win at Sonoma
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF