What is in the water out there in San Francisco?
They’ve won three World Series rings over the last five years and now have five no-hitters since 2009? That fan base is so spoiled.
Tuesday night, Chris Heston became the first pitcher this year to toss a no-no, striking out 11 New York Mets to go along with no walks and three HBP. Sure, he had some help from home plate umpire Rob Drake who had, um, let’s call it a generous strike zone at times, but perhaps we should be crediting Buster Posey’s pitch-framing which was in mighty good form all night long. Heston closed out the ninth by getting all three batters looking, marking this the first time since Sandy Koufax in 1965 that a no-hitter was ended with three straight backward Ks.
In the fantasy spectrum, Heston has been relevant pretty much from the time he won a job out of spring training because the Giants needed somebody in the rotation with Matt Cain ailing. Since then, he’s been good, and if you remove two shaky starts at Coors Field in hitter-friendly Denver, check out the season numbers: 63 IP, 15 BB, 60 K, 2.71 ERA, 1.05 WHIP.
Heston is built to be your prototypical ground-ball specialist thanks to his effective sinker but he’s generating a high number of swings and misses with his curve and slider. He had it all working on Tuesday.
Despite his success, Heston remains available in about 70 percent of Yahoo! leagues, so you still have a good chance to scoop him up if you so choose. There will be playing time issues with Cain and Jake Peavy nearing a return, but I just can’t see how the Giants can justify removing Heston from the rotation. I would plug him right back in there against Arizona on Sunday, but he’s got the Dodgers in his following start and I might stay away from that.
In shallow leagues, Heston still shouldn’t be thrown out there every fifth day — even with Tuesday’s no-hitter — but he’s getting closer to that.
Maikel Franco, 3B (26 percent owned)
When I first wrote about Franco on May 20, he was 14 percent owned. I can’t tell you why there’s only been a 12 percent bump in his ownership, but Franco has brought the power since his call-up with six home runs in 99 plate appearances. With two more base hits Tuesday, Franco is now on a seven-game hitting streak where he holds a .469 batting average with four home runs and five doubles. Heck, he even turned on a 98 MPH fastball from Aroldis Chapman and deposited it in the stands.
With the power comes a better approach at the plate as Franco is holding a 15.2 percent strikeout rate and a swinging strike rate of 9 percent, another improvement from his short stint in the majors last season. If you grabbed Franco last month hoping for 20 home runs and a decent average, you’ve been pleased with his production.
Jake Lamb, 3B (13 percent owned)
Lamb was swinging a hot bat before hitting the disabled list with a stress fracture, but after missing six weeks the third baseman was activated over the weekend and makes for an interesting play in 14-team leagues now that Mark Trumbo’s trade opens an outfield spot for Yasmany Tomas. In his three games since returning, Lamb has two hits in 12 plate appearances, but you can forgive the guy if it’s going to take him some time to amp back up.
Lamb has shown early in his major-league career that he doesn’t have any issues against righties. It’s against southpaws that he’ll have to make some adjustments before becoming relevant in the 10-team game. He walks, his hard-hit contact is spiking and he’s hitting into fewer ground balls, all of which are good signs. I still believe in Lamb’s power and think he could finish with 15 home runs the rest of the way.
Trevor May, RHP (7 percent owned)
When a pitcher’s ERA is 4.16 and FIP is 2.80, that tells you something. So far in 2015, May has been hurt by a high BABIP and some bad defence behind him, but don’t let that fool you into thinking he’s a bad pitcher. He’s not. May’s biggest improvement this season has been control: his walks-per-nine finished at 4.34 in nine starts last season and this year in 11 starts, he’s got that all the way down to 1.72. Those improvements haven’t come at the expense of his strikeout rate which is a respectable 7.9.
To go along with an uptick in velocity, May has been throwing more first-pitch strikes which is allowing him to attack hitters. He appears to have turned a corner after a bit of a rough start to the season and sits as a nice option in deeper leagues if owners need some rotation help.
Rafael Soriano, RHP (12 percent owned)
Here’s the gamble of the week. Soriano just signed a minor-league deal with the Cubbies, but after incentives Soriano could make over $8 million this season, which tells me he will at least get an opportunity to close games at Wrigley. With Hector Rondon’s struggles, Joe Maddon has been employing a closer-by-committee with Jason Motte and Pedro Strop getting some chances. With the Cubs in win-now mode, I can see them thrusting Soriano into the closer’s role once he’s ready.
Soriano has recorded 42, 43 and 32 saves over the last three seasons but last year, 10 of those 32 saves came in a disastrous second-half with the Washington Nationals where he fell apart and eventually lost the job. Still, can Soriano be the best option for Maddon in the ninth among the group he has now? The answer is "yes."