These 5 Young MLB Players Took a Huge Step Forward in 2016

There’s still another month of baseball to be played before 2016 is officially put in the books, but the cold winter months are feeling closer than ever. The mornings feel brisk, leaves are falling from trees and 20 of MLB’s 30 teams will soon be forced to watch the postseason from their respective couches.

Instead of focusing more on young players who took a huge step back this season, we’ll shift to those who used 2016 to show the tremendous progress in their development. The following five ballplayers put together the type of performance that will make their respective teams depend on them heavily to either repeat or continue growing in 2017.

DJ LeMahieu, 2B, Colorado Rockies

It’s been amazing to watch this transformation over the past three seasons. In 2014, LeMahieu won a Gold Glove award, but his offense mostly revolved around hitting singles. His average jumped in 2015 along with a slight bump in power, but he’s come into his own as a 27-year-old this season.

Now, he’s in command of the National League batting race with a few games to go and is slugging nearly .500. Check out the three-year progression in his triple slash:

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Daily Fantasy MLB DFS Picks For Draft Kings 5/7/16

If you have any questions or comments about this article or fantasy baseball, please Tweet me @dynasty_digest. I post daily DFS lineups for Draft Kings everyday, so please make sure to follow my blog (dynastydigest.sportsblog.com) and my Twitter for updates. For those of you who follow my lineups daily, you are used to my explanations on each player. I apologize, but I can’t do that today or tomorrow. My girlfriend is graduating college this weekend and I’m right in the middle of finals week, so it’s a pretty hectic time period. My Draft Kings lineups will be back to normal on Sunday!

P- Chris Sale (vs. Minnesota Twins): $12,900

P- Jared Weaver (vs. Tampa Bay Rays): $6,900

 

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Daily Fantasy MLB DFS Picks For Draft Kings 5/2/16

P- Jon Gray (vs. San Diego Padres): $7,900. This is a pretty risky play on Monday, but many factors point towards Gray having a big game. Gray struggled in his first two starts this season, but they have been against two very tough teams, the Pirates and Dodgers, and they were played at Coors Field. Coors Field has not been kind to Gray in his 7 career starts at home. In those starts, he has thrown 29.1 innings, with a 9.20 ERA, 52 hits against, 9 walks, and 29 strikeouts. In 4 career starts on the road, he has thrown 20 innings, with a 2.70 ERA, 16 hits, 8 walks, and 25 strikeouts. Luckily, Gray will be on the road on Monday. Not only will he be on the road, but he is pitching at a pitcher’s park in San Diego against a mediocre offense. In his only career start versus the Padres, he threw 5 innings, giving up 2 hits, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts. Gray’s impressive career strikeout rate (9.5 strikeouts per 9 innings), success on the road, and favorable matchup all point to a great performance on Monday.

P- Johnny Cueto (vs. Cincinnati Reds): $10,800. This start is going to be an emotional one for Cueto. He will be returning to Cincinnati for the first time since he was traded. He played 8 years in Cincinnati, so the fans will be behind him and I’m sure he wants to put on a show. Not only will his emotions play a factor, but he is facing one of the worst offenses in Major League Baseball. The Reds are ranked as the 28th overall offense, which is clearly a huge advantage for Cueto. In Cueto’s first 5 starts in 2016, he is 4-1, with a 2.65 ERA, 33 strikeouts, and only 5 walks. In his 98 career starts at Cincinnati’s home stadium, he has a 48-22 record, and a 2.91 ERA. All signs point to a huge day for Cueto on Monday. He is averaging 25 points per game on Draft Kings this season.

 

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Daily Fantasy MLB DFS Picks For Draft Kings 4/30/16

P- Jordan Zimmermann (vs. Minnesota Twins): $2,300. Zimmermann has been absolutely dominant since joining the Tigers in the offseason. In 26 innings this season, he is 4-0, with a 0.35 ERA, 16 strikeouts, and 7 walks. He isn’t going to get a ton of strikeouts, which could hurt in daily fantasy, but he is going to limit the runs and pitch deep into games. In the 4 starts he has dominated this year, he has faced some very good offenses, which includes the Yankees, Pirates, Royals, and A’s. He will be facing a very lackluster offense on Saturday, the Minnesota Twins, so this should be a great match-up for Zimmermann.

P- Kevin Gausman (vs. Chicago White Sox): $7,500. Gausman put on quite a show in his season debut earlier this week. In 5 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays, he gave up 1 earned run, on 3 hits, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts. He was pulled in 5 innings after throwing 91 pitches. Considering that was his first game since coming off the DL, it wasn’t surprising to see him pulled out of the game early. Now that he has a game under his belt, hopefully the Orioles will let him go a little longer on Saturday. He will be facing the Chicago White Sox, but they shouldn’t be a very tough offense to take care of for Gausman.

 

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Who Owned Baseball April 12, 2016 (Daily MLB AL/NL Pitcher + Hitter MVP’s) + 2016 #WOB Standings

Matt Slocum / AP

Charlie Morton pitched shutout ball into the 7th, finishing 6 2/3 innings, 3 hits and 7 strikeouts, getting the 3-0 decision for Philadelphia over San Diego.

Trevor Brown continued his surprising power surge with a pair of homers and 4 RBI to lead the Giants to a 7-2 victory in Colorado.

Derek Holland gave the Rangers 6 2/3 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits and striking out 4 in the 8-0 blowout in Seattle.

Justin Upton went 4 for 5 with a homer, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored in the Tigers 8-2 win over Pittsburgh.

They all owned baseball on April 12, 2016.

To view the Yearly Leaders for Who Owned Baseball Standings, plus see who gained 1/2 WOB’s – Click the READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY ICON OR SCROLL DOWN.

Gregory Polanco Extension Further Signifies What’s Truly Important to Pittsburgh Pirates

Given the current (and future) state of MLB contracts, it’s important for small market teams to lock up elite young talent at an affordable price when the opportunity presents itself.

Keeping up with NL Central teams like the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals without spending a bunch of money is always a challenge for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it’s going alright so far in 2016. It’s only been three games, but Andrew McCutchen and Co. swept St. Louis in their season-opening series.

That wasn’t the only good news for the Pirates this week, either. They recently announced that the organization agreed to a five-year, $35 million extension (plus two option years) with 24-year-old outfielder, Gregory Polanco.

This agreement means a few different things moving ahead for the Pirates, but one thing that should be crystal clear for everyone in baseball is they value young position players way more than young pitching.

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Pittsburgh Pirates have options to leadoff vs LHP

With John Jaso firmly in place as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ preferred lead-off option against RHP, who should take that spot versus LHP?

 

The Pittsburgh Pirates have likely found a great lead-off candidate in John Jaso. With a career on-base percentage of .361, Jaso now seems like a fine, and perhaps obvious candidate for the honors. Yet it was not too long ago that many – including this very site – were debating between Gregory Polanco and Josh Harrison to lead off a potentially potent Pirates offense.

Is that still the case? Are those still viable options for the lead-off role?

As capable as Jaso has looked in the spot, history would indicate he should not be used there against left-handed pitching. The six-year veteran’s career splits against southpaws leaves a lot to be desired.

If the Pirates accept that hitting Jaso first against lefties is not an ideal situation, here are the candidates to fill that role.

 

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MLB Power Rankings: Early Win Total Predictions For Spring Of 2016

Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner) Follow @stokes_hunter21

Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports

There is parity in the American League and their is a growing distance between the good and the bad clubs in the National League.

One could argue that the top 6 teams (NYM/CHC/SF/WSH/STL/PIT) in all of the Majors reside in the NL right now, and you then you can counter that by saying they have the 6 worst squads as well (PHI/ATL/MIL/CIN/SD/COL).

The funny thing about this whole ordeal is that the AL is absolutely going to cream the NL in Interleague this forthcoming season.  On a 12 year win streak already,  I am predicting a 175 – 125 W – L for the games between both leagues. The AL speedbags the National League in my view.

Last year, the American League held a 167 – 133 mark over the National League so that prediction up there is not foreign by any means.