X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Join the Best Live Fantasy Chat Community!

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


LINEUP RESOURCES

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

Looking at Rookie Performances - Opening Weekend 2020

As we wait oh-so-impatiently for star Angels prospect Jo Adell to get the call and delay our anticipation for top Blue Jays pitching prospect Nate Pearson, there are still plenty of noteworthy rookie performances to examine from this past weekend's action.

We're going to take a look at the most notable performers and look at their fantasy rostered percentages to see whether they should be added in more leagues this week.

For more coverage on upcoming prospects who could make their way onto this column soon, check out Hot Prospects to Watch.

Featured Promo: For this week only, take 50% off any full-season or yearly Premium Pass on the site! Just enter discount code THANKS when checking out. Thanks for being a reader, and Happy Holidays! Sign Up Now!

 

Dustin May (RP/SP, LAD)

Dustin May was called upon to start the Los Angeles Dodgers's first game of the season on Thursday against the San Francisco Giants after veteran Clayton Kershaw (back) was placed on the Injured List shortly before the game. May made 14 appearances with the Dodgers last year, but only four starts. He performed well with the team in 2019, posting a 3.63 ERA and 1.096 WHIP with 8.3 K/9.

There was a lot to like about May's 2020 debut. The surface numbers don't scream at you. He pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed seven hits, no walks and one earned run while striking out four. However, on the more promising front, he allowed an exit velocity of just 82.2 and a launch angle of just 4.4. Last year, he allowed an exit velocity of 86.8 and a launch angle of 7.9. Additionally, his hard-hit rate on Thursday was just 18.8%, compared with 33% last year. Granted May was facing an extremely weak Giants lineup, but the improved metrics is encouraging nonetheless.

May is owned in about 50% of fantasy leagues right now, which needs to go up. His usage is certainly a big question going forward as the Dodgers have a bit of a logjam at starting pitcher and are notoriously cautious with the usage of their rookie pitchers. However, at the very least, May should be added for short-term help while he maintains a rotation spot. Plus, even if he is relegated to long relief, he could be of help in many rotisserie and categories leagues by posting solid ratios. All in all, it's likely he'll find himself with several starts throughout the year solely due to the frequency of pitcher injuries. He's currently slated to make his second start against the Astros on Wednesday.

 

Brady Singer (SP, KC)

In his MLB debut against the Cleveland Indians on Saturday, Kansas City Royals pitcher Brady Singer went five innings and allowed three hits, two walks and two earned runs while striking out seven. It was an impressive debut, to say the least. He induced a sturdy whiff percentage of 45.2% in the start. His slider was his most dominant pitch, inducing a whiff percentage of 58.8% while averaging 41.8 inches of drop, over three inches more than league average.

Owned in about 10% of fantasy leagues, Singer needs to be added in far more leagues. He should be owned in all deep leagues and added for at least this week in more shallow leagues as he faces a dreadful Detroit Tigers lineup in his next start on Thursday. It's no guarantee Singer stays in the rotation throughout the year, but if he keeps pitching like this, it'll be impossible for manager Mike Matheny to take him out.

 

Luis Robert (OF, CWS)

Highly-touted Chicago White Sox prospect Luis Robert made his MLB debut this past weekend and certainly didn't disappoint. In his first three games, Robert went 4-for-11 with a home run, a double, two runs and two RBI. He hit out of the seventh spot in the lineup in all three games, but if he keeps hitting like this, that will certainly change.

Advertising

Robert's exit velocity of 96.3 this past weekend is an example of the elite power potential he has. He hit 32 home runs and had a 1.001 OPS over 122 minor league games in 2019. Robert should be able to deliver somewhere around 15 home runs in the shortened 2020 season.

Robert is almost universally owned in fantasy leagues at this point. There aren't really many actions owners can or should take with him at this point. If he's on your roster, hold onto him and enjoy the ride.

 

Carter Kieboom (SS, WAS)

Dealing with a groin issue right now, Washington Nationals shortstop Carter Kieboom only made one start in the team's first series. He played designated hitter in the game and batted seventh, going 1-for-4 with a run. Kieboom appeared in 11 games for the Nationals in 2019 and despite hitting two home runs, he struggled overall, slashing .128/.209/.282.

His road to playing time isn't 100% clear right now as Trea Turner of course holds down the shortstop position. He could have a chance to emerge as the team's primary second baseman, as the team's current starter Starlin Castro doesn't figure to be the strongest roadblock. The existence of the DH in the National League this year should certainly help as well.

Kieboom is one of the Nationals' top prospects. He slashed .303/.409/.493 in Triple-A last year. He is only owned in about 10% of leagues right now and he can remain un-owned in most formats, however, make sure to keep an eye on him. If he gets hot, he could certainly be a difference-maker.

 

Jesus Luzardo (RP, OAK)

Oakland Athletics pitcher Jesus Luzardo had a solid showing in his first action of 2020, a relief appearance on Saturday against the Los Angeles Angels. Luzardo pitched three innings and allowed one hit, one walk and no runs while recording two strikeouts.

Luzardo, one of the game's top pitching prospects, is yet to make his first big league start. He made six relief appearances for the Athletics last year, posting a 1.50 ERA and 0.67 WHIP with 16 strikeouts in 12 innings.

The 22-year-old is currently owned in about 90% of fantasy leagues, which is about the right amount. If the Athletics announce he'll be joining the rotation, that number should go up to 100%.

 

William Contreras (C, ATL)

A surprise inclusion on this week's list, Atlanta Braves catcher William Contreras found his way onto fantasy radars after a three-hit day on Sunday. Well, maybe he entered fantasy radars just by being the younger brother of stud catcher Willson Contreras.

Advertising

The younger Contreras only made one start over the weekend as Alex Jackson started at catcher for the Braves on Friday and Saturday. However, Jackson went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts while Contreras was 4-for-6 with a double and an RBI over the weekend. The team is without starting catcher Travis D'Arnaud (COVID-19 recovery) for the near future so anyone in deep leagues in need of immediate catcher help can consider adding Contreras. He's only owned in about 1% of fantasy leagues as of this writing.



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 2020 Fantasy Baseball Advice




LINEUP RESOURCES

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

WIN MORE IN 2024

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

ROTOBALLER PLAYER NEWS

RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
Alexis Diaz fantasy baseball closers rankings draft sleepers waiver wire pickups

MLB Closers and Saves: Fantasy Baseball Depth Charts

Saves are an important component for many fantasy baseball leagues. Closers are one of the most volatile positions in fantasy baseball, and one of the highest turnover positions in MLB. Each year, closers drop like flies and many MLB teams make in-season changes due to injuries or poor performance. In addition to closers and saves, relief... Read More


Do These Prospects Matter for Fantasy Baseball?

The 2023 fantasy baseball season has been highlighted by the promotion of nearly two-dozen top prospects to the major leagues to impact fantasy rosters. This week's edition features one player who was called up as the piece was being written. Will these strong performers join the ranks of those who have moved to the majors... Read More


clayton kershaw fantasy baseball rankings draft sleepers MLB injury news

articles report test

this is a test


Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Welcome back! It's Week 24 of our fantasy baseball Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups series! There are just two precious weeks left, and every start is becoming more and more important as most of the fantasy baseball world is in playoff matchups. If you've made it this far, there's a good chance you don't really... Read More


Aaron Nola - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Injury News, DFS Lineup Picks

Starts & Sits for MLB Week 23 - All Starting Pitcher Matchups for Fantasy Baseball

Welcome back RotoBallers! Big week in fantasy leagues as we approach the end of the season and playoffs! As always, we are here with our starting pitcher starts and sits series to help you set those winning lineups for the week ahead! For those who are not familiar, RotoBaller puts out a weekly grid of... Read More


Gunnar Henderson - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Prospects, Draft Sleepers

Points League Hitters: Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Welcome to Week 24 and our fantasy baseball waiver wire hitters. We'll be doing this roundup of points leagues every week here at RotoBaller, with waiver wire targets and streaming pitchers being evaluated in terms of the different scoring systems of ESPN, Yahoo!, CBS, and Fantrax. Player values can vary wildly from platform to platform,... Read More


Brayan Bello - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Yo, it's Jon Anderson, continuing to run the show here in terms of late-summer fantasy baseball writing. There are just two weeks left of streaming pitchers, so let's make it count! This weekly fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups column aims to identify starting pitchers expected to make two starts in the upcoming fantasy baseball week,... Read More


Fantasy Baseball Week 24 Injury News and Updates: Tyler Glasnow, Ozzie Albies, Starling Marte, Anthony Rizzo, Zack Wheeler

September is now more than half over. The baseball season is slowly coming to a close. At this point, fantasy players are pushing for their league titles or just playing for pride. Major League Baseball teams continue to do the same and injuries continue to happen, now with the dreaded term "done for the season"... Read More


Joe Musgrove - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Free MLB Betting Picks - Today's Best Bets, Expert Predictions, Odds (9/17/22)

Happy Saturday, RotoBallers, we're back for another weekend of MLB betting picks! Make sure you're following my Twitter, as I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to get the added plays written here in the article, but I will typically add whatever else I'm playing throughout the day. The entire RotoBaller team has been... Read More


DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (9/17/22): Today's Top MLB DFS Lineups

Today's MLB slates are split up as is the norm for September baseball. Half the guys I think will play will not, so you have to be as flexible as Gumby to play MLB DFS in September, but that also means that there is a lot of money out there should you dare to dive... Read More


Max Fried - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Free MLB Betting Picks - Today's Best Bets, Expert Predictions, Odds (9/15/22)

Happy Friday, RotoBallers, we're back for another weekend of MLB betting picks! Make sure you're following my Twitter, as I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to get the added plays written here in the article, but I will typically add whatever else I'm playing throughout the day. The entire RotoBaller team has been... Read More


Robbie Ray - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Injury News, Draft Sleepers

DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (9/16/22): Today's Top MLB DFS Lineups

Fridays are big MLB DFS days and offer a nice respite from the NFL, who command our attention on Thursdays, Sundays, and Mondays. This slate, like most Friday slates, is a big one as all MLB teams are in action today and 28 of those teams are on tonight's 14-game DFS slate. This was a... Read More


kyle farmer fantasy baseball rankings draft sleepers MLB injury news

Top Hitter Streamers and Starts for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

There are only two weeks left of fantasy baseball! It's going to be very sad when the season comes to an end, but the impending end of the season means that these are the most important, and therefore most fun weeks of the year – for those of you still competing, at least. I have... Read More


TODAY’S MOST VIEWED PLAYERS

rotating JS ad test

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
derrick henry fantasy football rankings news NFL DFS lineup picks

test publish 5 mins in future

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is finally underway and that means our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats. The... Read More


PrizePicks NFL DFS Picks - Monday Night Football

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is finally underway and that means our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats. The... Read More


D'Andre Swift - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL DFS Lineup Picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For NFL RBs: Updates for Aaron Rodgers

Warning: Undefined array key "amp_post_template_footer" in /var/www/rotoballer.com/wp-content/plugins/php-code-for-posts/Classes/Shortcode.php(91) : eval()'d code on line 6 Warning: foreach() argument must be of type array|object, null given in /var/www/rotoballer.com/wp-content/plugins/php-code-for-posts/Classes/Shortcode.php(91) : eval()'d code on line 6 Featured Promo: Get any full-season NFL Premium Pass for 50% off and win big in 2022. Exclusive access to our Premium articles, 15 lineup... Read More


derrick henry fantasy football rankings news NFL DFS lineup picks

PrizePicks NFL DFS Picks - Monday Night Football

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is finally underway and that means our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats. The... Read More


Justin Jefferson - Fantasy Football Rankings, DFS Lineup Picks, NFL Injury News

NFL DFS Prop Picks for Monkey Knife Fight - Monday Night Football

Welcome to NFL Monday Night Football, where we have two games scheduled between the Minnesota Vikings vs. Philadelphia Eagles and the Tennessee Titans vs. Buffalo Bills.  Monday's games mean our friends at Monkey Knife Fight are offering some fantastic props for us to play once again! The good people at Monkey Knife Fight offer some... Read More


D'Andre Swift - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL DFS Lineup Picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For NFL RBs: Week 2 Updates for Najee Harris, J.K. Dobbins, D'Andre Swift, Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram

Below you will find our fantasy football injuries report for running backs in Week 2, as of September 17. The injury statuses for various NFL running backs are up in the air for Week 2 including D'Andre Swift, Najee Harris, Alvin Kamara, J.K. Dobbins, and more. The fantasy football season may be just getting underway,... Read More


michael pittman jr. fantasy football rankings NFL DFS lineup picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For NFL WRs: Week 2 Updates for Michael Pittman Jr., Mike Evans, Tee Higgins, Allen Lazard, Julio Jones

Welcome to Week 2 of the fantasy football season and the Saturday edition of our WR injury reports! Below you will find our fantasy football injuries report for wide receivers in Week 2 as of September 16th. The injury statuses for various NFL wide receivers are up in the air for Week 2, including Michael... Read More


justin herbert fantasy football rankings NFL DFS lineup picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports for QBs: Week 2 Updates for Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Jameis Winston, Mac Jones

Below you will find our updated fantasy football injuries report for quarterbacks in the days before Week 2 of the 2022 NFL season as of Friday, September 16. There are a few NFL QBs dealing with injuries, including Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Jameis Winston, and Mac Jones. Being up-to-date on NFL injury news can give... Read More


Trey Lance - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Key Starters and Tough Calls - Lineup Spotlights for Fantasy Football Week 2

Every week, I share some of my favored choices and players to go with when dealing with challenging lineup decisions. These selections are based on my Premium Weekly Lineup Rankings, available as part of the RotoBaller NFL Premium Pass. Enter promo code KING at checkout for a discount and get access to my ranks in all formats, plus... Read More


Saquon Barkley - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL Injury News, Draft Sleepers

Week 2 NFL Pick Em Selections for No House Advantage

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is underway and that means our friends over at No House Advantage have a TON of great DFS plays we can look to take advantage of. No House Advantage is a unique DFS prop picks site where you do not have to play against the house to... Read More


Wide Receiver Matchups to Target in Week 2: Greg Dortch, Terry McLaurin, Christian Kirk

Week 1 made some things come to light as we got some clarity on some murky situations. Unfortunately, many of our WR targets for DFS last week were victims of this. Robert Woods finished the game with one reception for 13 yards, as the Titans used the rookie receivers much more than him. Brandon Aiyuk... Read More


Carson Wentz - Fantasy Football Rankings, Waiver Wire Pickups, Draft Sleepers

Thunder Dan's NFL Betting Picks for Week 2: Top NFL Player Props Bets

Football season is back! Whether you like to bet game totals, sides, or player props, I have something in here for you, and try to cover a little bit of everything! This year, I started my own free sports betting newsletter, and the good people here at RotoBaller are allowing me to share my picks... Read More


Fantasy Football IDP Injury Reports For NFL Defensive Players: Week 2 Updates for T.J. Watt, Jamal Adams, Jalen Thompson, Ed Oliver

T.J. Watt owners, you know the feeling... I had T.J. Watt in my home league last season. He was constantly checking out of games early with nagging minor injuries, but he must have led every IDP manager who started him to the playoffs. I went back to the well and drafted him early this year.... Read More