Detroit Tigers Starting Roster: STAT Cast Breakdown

JaCoby Jones

Good HR/FB rate for a ground ball leadoff hitter making this an interesting new bunch of Tigers. Surprisingly very good exit velocity and decent runner.

2. Niko Goodrum

Goodrum did nicely at the cleanup towards the beginning of the year of 2019 as he can get on base and steal a bag as well. Top 50 in speed ranking.

3. Miquel Cabrera

Good Hard hit contact and decent exit velocity. Can still hit a barrel every once in a while. One of the few to go only GPP on in DFS. Must lose weight! he knows it, so we’ll see.

4. CJ Cron

Impressive hard contact, exit velocity, and barrels, for a guy who’s been around for a few years and I believe has not hit stride as he’s hit value the last 2 years of play in DFS.

5. Christian Stewart

I believe Stewart can get his numbers up towards his minor league performance, as he had a grand slam doing well early on in 2019 but did not provide as much value down the stretch. This improved lineup will help.

6. Jonathan Schoop

As a groundball hitter his numbers with Min. jumped up for a number of reason, but at this spot in the lineup hard to believe it could go either way as a volatile play in DFS.

7. Jeimer Candelario

With bottomed out bottom of the barrel numbers there is some upside for the future as

8. Austin Romine

I know he’s a higher profile signee from the Yankees but it concerns me that his power is not diplayed more as he had only one decent ISO or pure pwr yr.

P1: Matt Boyd 29 yr old L

5.7 IPG, abotu 4.5 ERA, as they rank 28th last yr as a team with 5.24. 11.5 K/9 showing massive SO improvement last yr. Fastball slider specialist, does not use much curve, and is working on weight training to get stronger to be able to get better down the stretch.

P2: Spencer Turnbull: 27 yr old R

5.8 IPG, Good fastball and slider., is a so so matchup for lefties or righties batting against him.

P3: Jordan Zimmerman 33 yr old R

Only 4.8 IP per game. 1-13 record. not much K/9. Attack with Lefties at 2 homers/9!! He’s a placeholder for young guns stepping in.

P4: Daniel Norris 27 yr old L not a traditional starter, as he was limited to 3 innings per game in his last few outing, they have plans to use him a bit more with shortened season, resulting in more time for BP.

5 IPG, had a nice 2018 with over 10 K/9, so has upside in using him. 20 HR’s given up to Righties. Can attack with all hitters.

Prospects:

RHP: Casey Mize: Righty.

#1 overall pick in 2018, 3+ pitches and outstanding command. Was limited by his shoulder in his minor league results.

RHP: Matt Manning: cut his walk rate and hits per inning in 2019 going 11-5 with a 2.56 ERA in AA as a 21 yr old. Is up towards the level of Mize as a younger prospect.

OF: Riley Greene: widely considered the best pure hitter in the 2019 draft at 6’3″ 200 lbs. hitting .271 with 5 steals, and 29 HR’s across 3 levels of the minors being drafted 5th overall out of a florida high school.

FINAL thoughts. 1-18 vs. Cleveland.

KC Royals Starting Roster: STAT Cast Breakdown

Whit Merrifeld

Usually as more of a GB then a FB hitter, always consistent in the #1 role. No trade seems to be in the works during a Virus time at least, as his steals perhaps is slowing down due to age. Great line drive rate.

2. Adalberto Mondesi

Hi Xwoba dropped dramatically with concerns of him being anything beyond a base stealer. Something was wrong last year. 11th in MLB in sprint speed rankings.

3. Jorge Soler

Could have been even better then his 2019 campaign as he’s currently a complete stud, able to hit high 500 Slugging. He’s not a base stealer but his breakout is well backed by full season of High performace incl. 1st in Barells

4. Hunter Dozier

A fly ball hitter who has a lot of pop in his exit velocity and nice ISO for raw power numbers. It would be nice if he could sustain it as a great prospect with high rating per prospects reports.

5. Salvador Perez

Very good in barrels, exit velocity, and hard contact. This is all 2018 data as who knows how good he would have been. Let’s see about a bounce back.

6. Ryan O’Hearn

Can get you decent exit velocity, occasionally scoring you a HR. Is young enough to improve but seems limited as an MLB DFS player.

7. Maikel Franco

There is reason to think he can get his Homers back up, however his ground ball rate is higher then his FB%. A decent hitter in the 7 hole.

8. Nickey Lopez

Bottom of the barrel in every category except speed. Maybe they should send back down. Usually not a DFS option.

Cleveland Indians Starting Roster: STAT Cast Breakdown

Francisco Lindor

Leading off a mid range batting team in the majors last year, Lindor provides excellent skill ranges in Power, Speed, OBP, and Defense. His numbers I see progressing back to better performances back to the previous 3 years in a positive way. Hope that makes sense, but he’ll get better.

2. Oscar Mercado

As a 25 yr old, he’s ready to improve on his power and speed combo, as he interestingly has hit on his minor league numbers, matching them in his rookie campaign. Stat Cast shows him as a top 20 speed guy.

3. Carlos Santana

Becoming an expert in Exit Velocity in a addition to his On base and plate discipline skills, he’s mastered multiple categories, which makes him more viable perhaps in DFS then yr past. His HR/FB & BAPIP ARE outliers, however he maintains a nice FB%. His season was similar to 2016.

4. Jose Ramirez

Batting cleanup in this lineup should set up better for him this season, as these guys get on base and steal nicely for Santana to get on base, and Jose to pop his numbers back up or adjust from his lower Stat Cast, driving in runs. Finished 3rd in MVP voting 2 straight yrs before slumping.

5. Franmil Reyes

Low BAPIP, great ISO, Hard contact, and FB rate, make for a DFS option that will meet or exceed 2019 as long as his salary stays lower then the Big sluggers, as he’s top 1-5% in Stat Cast Power numbers.

6. Cesar Hernandez

Provides stolen bases vs. Righties. A switch hitter who can hit righties as a lefty as well, so that’s when we’ll look at playing him in DFS.

7. Jake Bauers

Can’t figure out what they will do with Bauers as he’s a lefty thats not outstanding vs. Righties. It would be unusual it seems to use him vs. lefties instead but he was better vs. the latter last season in a short career.

8. Roberto Perez

As many of these catchers are, there is a lower BAPIP with a high HR/FB rate, along with a high GB rate. This translates to one of the best catchers hitting in the game potentially in the game.

9. Greg Allen

Always a speed threat. Extra stolen bases leading to Lindor is the DFS key here.

Bench: Domingo Santana: 6’5″ 220, had 21 HR, and career .797 OPS, Tyler Naquin, Delino DeSheilds, and Jordan Luplow. Basically platoon split guys, with pop and DeSheilds with speed, he can lead off if needed.

Prospects: Bobby Bradley. 1B/DH bats L. Tlyer Freeman. Had .306 BA as he has enough physical ability to improve his power as he’s already showed in limited time in majors that he’s a good hitter.

P1: Mike Clevinger R 6’4″ 6 IPG

12 K/9, avg for career is about 10. Kept his HR/9 very low at .7, 0.93 for his career. This is his 5th year. I hope theres no drop off such as what we had with Beiber and Kluber. Last yr had a 2.71 ERA and 1.06 whip

Exit velocity allowed, 86.1 which is in tune with his career, that combined with all-star caliber wOBA allowed, SO % and BA allowed. His curve and slider is most effective pitches, and his 4 seamer gets up above 95 mph.

Says he’s fully healthy already, his partially torn miniscus is all set, he’s gotten strong and should have no restrictions heading into ST, should be working all 4 pitches into his mix and should be really good as long as he mixes it up and is not predictable.

P2: Shane Bieber 24 yr old, R 6’3″ Went 6.5 innings regularly.

ERA of 3.28. 15-8 record, 11 K/9 and 1.3 HR/9 he needs to improve.

Named opening day starter, as he was the 5th pitcher to start last yr. and had a 30% SO rate, showing great upside and a 4.7% walk rate, hoping to feature his changup, as he’s needing to get the HR rate down, which is caused by allowing a 90.4 mph average exit velocity. So that 4% compared to Clevinger makes a big difference in allowing HRs. Velocity being so important as the underlying stat as he hopes to allow less hits off the barrel of the bat this season.

P3: Carlos Carrasco R 33 yr old

recovering from elbow inflammation R side. Looks to get simulated. throwing sessions. 10-11 K/9 had luekemia. All-star caliber SO rate, fastball and curveball spin.

P4: Aaron Civale R 24 yr old 5.7 IPG, giving you 2.34 ERA, very consistent specializing in the fastball even though its not as fast as other guys topping out about 93-94. specialing also in the curve, changeup and slider. Elite quality in allowing hardly any barrels, resulting in very low SLG allowed. NOt a SO guy, about 7 K/9.

P5: Zack Plesac R 25 yr old

ERA 3.81, 6.85 K/9, did a lot better in minors, high A for a couple years. Dosen’t do anything really well, gives you up to a 95 mph fastball. He will start out in the minors, leaving way for the next guy.

P6: Adam Plutko 28 yr old R

4.86 ERA, given the right splits you can attack these guys with low upside,

Other: Brad Hand all-star quality closer, fans 13+per 9. Terry Francona was the master at using pitchers in certain matchups, however that will not be any advantage this yr. 3rd Best Bullpen.

Emmanuel Clase, who should be groomed as the closer after a couple yrs, throws average of 99.6 mph.

Overall pitching last year:

6th in opposing BA

4th in ERA

Chicago White Sox Starting Roster: STAT Cast Breakdown

Yoan Moncado

Surprisingly good exit velocity and hard contact. XSLG also very nice. If you buy into him with his numbers you are looking at a top 10 hitter in the majors.

2. Tim Anderson

With a .399 BAPIP, he SLGed .508 last year, way beyond anything normal form him, however only got 18 HR’s and had 20 the year before. Al realistic SLG % is much lower. Don’t expect much upside except for stolen bases.

3. Jose Abreu

Top 7% of league in hard contact. He should be hammering 25-33 HR’s if healthy for the season. 6th in MLB in barrels and 17 in Exit Velocity.

4. Yasmani Grandal

Very interesting that he was top 1% of league in BB%. His ISO and very good Barrel, Hard contact, and HR/GB rate. He may off the 4 yr 74M contract.

5. Edwin Encarnacion

No one is buying sustained numbers like his from last year as a rent a DH 37 yr old. In a shortened season though, he looks he’s still pretty legit with his career numbers for now before regression hits.

6. Eloy Jimenez

Very good in average Exit, SLG, and Hard contact. His career minor league and last season’s ISO numbers concurrently agree he’s a real power hitter.

7. Nomar Mazara

A very consistent career HR producer of about 19 HR’s, he’s put together a nice 4 yr carer at only 24. There is massive upside as as well as he had the 505ft blast, which came in 1st among all Max HR distance. His numbers popped up a bit overall from the previous seasons of course.

8. Leury Garcia

Rounding out this exciting lineup, Garcia can get you a stolen base vs. a righty as a switch hitter leading to the top of the lineup for a wraparound stack in DFS with Moncada heading up to the plate if getting past the #9.

Twins Starting Roster: STAT Cast Breakdown

Max Kepler

It would appear he still has some room to improve his game as he had but I would rather expect a regression towards his mean in slugging and HR/FB. He still has some of the upside as I see in the barrels he gets.

2. Jorge Polanco

I would also expect regression towards the mean overall with his hitting. A switch hitter that is better vs. Righties with .891 vs.

3. Nelson Cruz

Loved his power hitting last year with some of the best ISO and Slugging. In 2015 he had the same BABIP, hit more HR’s with less ISO. Amazing! As I find it hard to believe his particular numbers will come down much. Also with hard % of 52%, he may hit more homers then last year!

4. Eddie Rosario

I can see Rosario sustaining his numbers even at a low BAPIP like he hast last year because he has done it a couple years ago. Even if dropping a bit in production he should still be a good for power and extra base hitter.

5. Mitch Garver

Garver had outstanding numbers that don’t seem real. He did not fare well at all in his previous rookie season in any stat whatsoever. He has the hard contact % to make him an interesting upside candidate.

6. Luis Arraez

On on base type guy. Not very exciting in any stat cast metric. I am looking for guys like these only if I can get more stolen base upside. Not with Luis.

7. Sano goes up and down in terms of BAPIP and HR/FB ratio every year. He is due for a down year. Last year’s numbers were surprisingly good as I never seemed to hit on the right days as he bring XSLG, Exit Velo, & Barrel.

8. Marwin Gonzalez

Hit his peak in 2017 as the HR hitting year did not help him. Decent average exit velocity. Had 12 bases stolen in 2016.

Baltimore Orioles Starting Roster: STAT Cast Breakdown

Austin Hays

In only 69 PA’s we have to go with minor league data as there is nothing outstanding that I see there. What he has done in the majors in 21 games is get on base. He should be the lead-off hitter.

Too bad they lost Jonathan Villar

At SS/2nd base.

2. Hanser Alberto R .305 avg 2b/3b

Interesting sophmore guy as he had the majority of his PA’s in 2019 in the majors despite spending 3 years on the Rangers roster. He’s a batting average guy with high ground ball numbers.b

3. Anthony Santander R OF with 21 hrs last year due to his .216 ISO, with 261 BA.

As a popular low cost DFS option this could be the heart of the lineup. He could get better as the season progresses.

4. Trey Mancini OF- has a tumor in his colon.

This cleanup hitter showed impressive ability to drive in runs with .244 ISO last year. His XSLG, Barrel, and Exit Velo back it up but only for a season. He could be steadily improving instead regressing back to the norm. 28 yrs old. Replacement:

Dwight Smith: 27 L in 357 AB .241 avg 13 HR 53 rbi 5 SB

DJ Stewart: 26 L OPS and OBP were higher vs Lefties, only 4 HRs those were vs vs Righ

5. Renato Nunez R 26 3b/dh

Has potential to increase his exit velocity. His .216 ISO 31 HR season did not seem like a fluke. Also a good spot for DFS on this salary saver team. BA avg low but wOBA of .323 not bad.

6. Rio Ruiz 25 L 3b

Did not excel any category. However he does get his HR’s off of Righties. He will either regress back to the minors or get better. Made to the Astros and Braves high A ball but I couldn’t find anything outstanding.

7. Chris Davis 34 L 6,3 230 1b

With 2 consecutive years all his numbers being below avg. for any MLB player, does he have anything left?

8. Pedro Severino C 26 R

He’s worked his way up to good Xwoba. Last yr was only .221 Don’t expect much power. In over 600 PA in career.

9. Richie Martin: 25 R SS only 283 ABs

Low BA 10 SB good fielder.

P1: John Means L significantly better vs lefties in every category. His innings went down in 2nd half of season. Only 39 innings pitched vs lefties. 12-11 record as young call up last yr.

The good news is;

officially named the Opening Day starter before play was suspended, but his schedule lined him up for the duties. Whenever play resumes, Means figures to lead the Orioles’ rotation, working ahead of veteran Alex Cobb. Means is coming off of a breakout 2019 season, during which he posted a 3.60 ERA and 1.14 WHIP while walking just 38 batters across 155 innings.

Alex Cobb: 32 R 6’3”

Really highGB rate guy. Only 2 games started last year. SO to Walk rate 3% higher vs. lefties so higher SO higher there.

completed a simulated game Inmarch, . Cobb developed a blister earlier in the week that resulted in him being scratched from his scheduled Grapefruit League outing, but his ability to face hitters in a controlled setting implies that the affected finger isn’t much of a concern. should be completed healed by the time the Orioles reconvene for workouts.

Toronto Blue Jays Starting Roster: STAT Cast Breakdown

Bo Bichette R 200 PA performed well, power 30 HR upside, good eye at the plate 20 SB upside

Bichette made his anticipated major league debut last year in a big way. I thought we would get more steals from him as I would expect more this season. I also think his ISO will regress as his BABIP was high.

2. Cavan Biggio

He throws Right but Bats Left only. Seems much better vs. Righties as he showed some power there. Also has good speed and plate discipline. avg .234

3. Vladimir Guerrero

Looking like a DH spot guy due to poor fielding. Looking back at his Father’s stats which you can do with any of these BJ’s, I found that he was a great power hitter. He has Great ISO, SLG, and BABIP was .316. The son stands out as of course potentially reaching that some day, but I believe it will take a couple years, as his minor league numbers also implied, not swing up to a great level out of the gate.

4. Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

A decent player. Does not stand out in any way. Decent XSLG and Hard contact. Did not get enough playing time last year.

5. Randal Grichuk

Nice Isolated power numbers along with low BAPIP that stand out to me here, he could be the most productive hitter on the team. Has proven potential for better SLG per his XSLG then he did last year.

6. Rowdy Tellez

With just about benchmark for Exit Velocity, Tellez could power his way into a Decent amount of RBI’s. I would like to see him hit more vs. Lefties, as it appears he had better numbers even though he’s a Lefty himself.

7. Teoscar Hernandez

Hernandez had a 7% increase in HR/FB rate over the previous year. A large increase in XSLG vs. the fast ball should have teams throwing the other stuff vs. him. He has the good exit velo though.

8. Danny Janson

The BAPIP was very low as well as the HR/FB ratio. Maybe an average catcher. Good pipeline player. DK, having on radar.

P1: Jin-Ryu 33 R 6.2 IP impressive for being with the dodgers. 14-5 as staerter projecting as best starting pitcher. 8 K/9 for career. Career ERA just under 3 3.2 xfip last yr

P2: Chase Anderson: 32 R 5.1 IP with Brews. ERA 4.2 but xfip of 5.26 start to think about attacking with righties gave up .532 SLG vs that side. .280 BA.

P3: Tanner Roark; 33 R 5.3 IP

had 8.6 K/9 with 1.5 HR/9 susceptible to lefties with .502 slug allowed but gave up plenty of homers to righties as well.

P:4: Trent Thornton 26 righty. 5.3 IP

look to attack with all batters. 1.4 hr/9 and is a fly ball pitcher. Era for career 4.8.

Boston Red Sox Starting Roster: STAT Cast Breakdown

Andrew Benintendi

Some say Benintendi will be a bust like the rest of the Red Sox this season. However, this may be a good spot as a lead-off hitter. It appears to me that he has enough to be productive at that or any other spot in the lineup as his fly ball rate has increased even though he’s decreased in other areas.

2. Rafael Devers

Devers has overall great numbers last year. You just don’t hit 32 HR’s and not have proven yourself to some extent. His is backed by a consistent 17% HR/FB ratio. Amazing improvement last year.

3. Xander Bogaerts

Bogaerts had some interesting power numbers that we don’t know for sure if they will sustain, While he also 33 homers, these numbers are irregular compared with his previous 5 seasons.

4. J.D. Martinez

All X numbers remain consistent over his career span. You really just want to play the Righty vs. Lefties. Not good vs. Righites in the road. Fine at home

5. Alex Verdugo

Verdugo put up some solid mid range numbers overall for a rookie. He may not be slugging .475 based on his XSLG of only .452 unless he improves in extra base hits. Not a lot of power.

6. Michael Chavis

His .347 BABIP may have him a bit lucky for his rookie campaign, I wonder if he can get his his ISO and SLG up, he could develop when given the opportunity if he can get his SO’s down.

7. Christian Vazquez

The season was very out of the ordinary you could say compared to all prior seasons. He showed substantial improvement as a power hitting catcher but he is too old to really develop beyond this point.

TB Rays Starting Roster: STAT Cast Breakdown

In this article and video I am giving you a breakdown as the title states “stat cast breakdown for the TB Rays starting roster.” This is because the advanced stats along with where to find them give you some options to look for as we come closer to home when it comes to getting sports back in some safe way. You would need some basic knowledge of baseballl stats in order to obtain some takeaways from this post.

StatCast Season Evaluation

This will help gauge what kind of production to expect from this TB Rays lineup moving on into post sports blackout days.

Austin Meadows

Meadows showed off top 25 Power with bat strength. His 547 XSLG % shows evidence of a really, really good hitter who did his time in the minors.

2. Brandon Lowe

Lowe has secured a starting spot in the lineups without losing his coveted #1-3 slot as his X numbers are in line with his seasons performance. Not sure if he can sustain those numbers vs. Lefties.

3. Yandy Diaz

Diaz started hitting homers with one of the best exit velocities on the planet once he was traded to TB. Combine that with very good hard hit contact and you’ve got yourself a hopeful value this season.

Here’s a video for 5/1 if you want to have some fun with these numbers on fanduel and see what happens. Play for free by clicking on the Blue logo to the right if have played daily fantasy baseball.

4. Hunter Renfroe

Renfroe has progressively gotten better over his few years in the majors, he seems like a seasoned power veteran that I have used many times in GPPs the last few years, now has a better lineups around him. Seems like a lock for 25-35 homers.

5. Ji-Man Choi

With more potential for power, his XSLG vs. fastballs is .523. His Exit Velocity supports that potential and good BB% for very good OBS.

6. Nate Lowe

Showing very good exit velocity and launch angle, he may be able to improve on his HR. This I would back by his .191 ISO.

7. Kevin Kiermaier

Can get you a home run and/or a steal. Ranked 23rd in sprint speed.

8. Willie Adames

Looks like his 20 home runs came from an increased launch angle he created after his rookie year. Had too high of a ground ball rate, as you can’t say his batting average helped him to justify the low power numbers.

9. Mike Zunino

I would expect his HR/FB rate will go back up as consistent as he’s been with his BABIP, he should be hitting fine for ISO well into the .200 range, which gives him good bounce back potential as proven. He had a 116 Max Exit Velo, which was one of the best last year.

New York Yankees Starting Roster: STAT Cast Breakdown

In batting order:

DJ LeMahieu

He has improved his exit velocity, ISO, and is just hitting the ball hard with improvement over the last 5 years. His average exit velocity ranked 19t in MLB last year, so this was better then all of his previous yrs in Col. He has an established track record, and upped his hard contact last year, which was hopefully not only an outlier and still in the top compared to the other hard contact hitters in the league.

2. Aaron Judge

Judge is top of the line in Hard Hit %, Exit Velo, and XSLG, which are all great numbers to be in line with. The ISO I would hope would go back up a bit with a healthy hot start.

3. Gleyber Torres

Torres has put together 2 solid seasons and showed a lot of improvement over 2018 as he lowered his SO rate, while specializing in Homers.

4. Giancarlo Stanson

Stanton has had streaks of high BAPIP before in his career with MIA, so this high small sample dosen’t matter for 2019. His HR/FB rate is right in line other then a couple spikes in 15′, and 16′.

5. Gary Sanchez

For the 2nd year in a row hit as 2nd in all MLB for the Max highest Exit Velocity. Other then being hurt, has produced fine power numbers over his 4 seasons with increased ISO over 2017.

6. Luke Voit

It seems he may be able to sustain a high 350+ BABIP. Loved his XSLG in 221 AB’s.

7. Brett Gardner

The sprint speed specialist had himself a really good XSLG season, interestingly his BABIP was very low for his standards, and is HR/FB rate increased showing nice improvement in his extra base hitting.

8. Gio Urshela

Without a lot of history as a rookie, the kid shows a lot of slugging potential. He’s hitting the ball fairly hard with a launch angle comparable to some guys higher up in this order.

P1: Gerrit Cole 29 R 6.5 IP

ERA right in line with Xfip SOs really increased every year.

Cole has been throwing in the backyard of teammate Adam Ottavino, Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media reports. Despite the suspension of spring training and shutdown of team facilities to most players, Cole appears intent on keeping in shape in anticipation of an eventual return to action. The Yankees’ key offseason signing is expected to be the club’s Opening Day starter when the regular season commences.

P2: Luis Severino 26 R 6 Ip

GB pitcher giving about 10 K/9

Severino (elbow) is among a group of Yankees eligible to use the Yankees’ facility in Tampa in the midst of Florida’s stay-at-home declaration, George A. King III of the New York Post writes. With Florida’s stay-at-home order set to kick in at 12:01 a. m. ET on Friday, most players will no longer be allowed to gather at George M. Steinbrenner Field. However, the policy makes an exception for players undergoing rehab programs, meaning Severino will be able to continue to use the facility along with a short list of other players including Giancarlo Stanton (calf) and Aaron Judge (rib). Severino underwent Tommy John surgery in late February and is expected to miss the entire 2020 campaign

P3: James Paxton 32 L 5 IP

Should give u 11 K/9 but also 1.3 HR/9 to attack for a sneaky type stack against.

Paxton (back) recently completed his fifth bullpen session since resuming a throwing program in March, Brendan Kuty of NorthJersey.com reports. Yankees manager Aaron Boone provided a positive update about Paxton on Thursday, indicating that he’s “really encouraged” by the southpaw’s progress and that the recovery process from February back surgery has “gone pretty smoothly.” Paxton remains on track to be ready to pitch in games by late May or early June barring any setbacks.

P4: Masahiro Tanaka 31 R 5.8 IP

High GB with 1.3 HR/9 should get back up to 9 K/9 instead of 7 last yr

Tanaka returned to Japan with his family late in March, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports. Many foreign-born players are returning to their countries of origin, so this is not surprising or cause for alarm. The Yankees are not keeping close tabs on Tanaka, as he usually dictates his own preparations during the offseason.

P5: HA Happ 37 L 5.3 IP

Attack with Righties, gave up 28 homers last year very inconsistent

Happ turned heads within the Yankees organization for his performance this spring, Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media reports. Yankees vice president of baseball operations Tim Naehring raved about Happ’s showing in Grapefruit League play in an interview with Meredith Marakovits of the YES Network on Wednesday. “Thought he picked up where he left off the last six or seven weeks of last season,” Naehring said. “Thought he came in with what looked to be great laser focus, crisp stuff.” The accolades are no surprise given Happ’s numbers this spring: a 2-0 record, 1.38 ERA and 16:1 K:BB over 13 innings. The southpaw is a lock for a spot in the Yankees’ rotation when the 2020 season gets underway.