It seems like every day is wacky day in the world of baseball, but Tuesday took it to another level. On top of the Mike Trout injury and yet another no-hitter (this time by Spencer Turnbull), we had a three-homer game and some nice bounce-back performances.
We know what Miguel Sano is capable of when he's on. He's one of maybe a handful of players that can has the raw power to hit 50 home runs if he ever stayed healthy. Well, he put together a three-homer game and is still available in nearly 50% of CBS leagues if you're in need of power.
On the bounce-back front, nobody needed it more than Luis Castillo. And what's funny is that his final line wasn't even that great. He allowed three runs over five innings but did so with a season-high 11 strikeouts and 21 swinging strikes. The fastball velocity was up and the changeup was nearly back to normal. We needed to something, anything positive from Castillo on Tuesday, and this was it.
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Last night we discussed Angels DH/SP Shohei Ohtani as the Fantasy and real life MVP and grew concerned over OF Mike Trout potentially needing an IL stint, but we didn't know the extent of the injury at the time. Now we know it's worse than anticipated. Trout is expected to miss 6-8 weeks with a Grade 2 calf strain and that should take us through the All-Star break. You can't cut Trout from your roster no matter how shallow the league or how short the bench spots are because he's still likely to give you 2.5 months of elite production down the stretch, but his extended absence will have a ripple effect.
Prior to the injury, Trout was batting .333 with eight home runs, 18 RBI, two stolen bases, and 23 runs scored through 36 games despite slowing down a bit in May after a torrid start in April.
The Angels have two OF prospects in Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh at Triple-A, but neither seems ready -- Adell has a 40% K rate, while Marsh just returned from an injury and has eight strikeouts in five games. If I had to choose one, I actually think Marsh would get the call first, but both Scott and I aren't banking on production from either, even if they're called up.
If you need a Trout replacement in the OF, these are the three players we would look to snap up off your waiver wire now who are rostered in fewer than 70% of leagues:
In deeper leagues (rostered in fewer than 30% of leagues):
Tigers SP Spencer Turnbull wasn't viewed as much more than a borderline streaming option on Tuesday, so go figure he was the SP to throw a no-hitter. Turnbull was brilliant; in the process of his no-no, he racked up nine strikeouts and allowed just two walks, including one in the ninth inning. Turnbull's no-hitter came after he went 6 1/3 and allowed just one earned run in his previous start.
Chris Towers had the perfect Tweet to sum up the changes we've seen as we witness another no-hitter and the league-wide hitting drought: "If you count Bumgarner's, and you should, there have been as many no-hitters this season as five-hit games by a hitter. Between 2016 and 2020, there were 113 five-hit games by hitters and 11 no-hitters."
