Fantasy Sports

Hoerner will miss his third consecutive contest due to left hamstring tightness, but there’s been zero indication that he’s in jeopardy of requiring a trip to the injured list. There should be some clarity on his status at some point in the coming days, but fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now.

Turner has goen through a full workout, which also includes hitting and fielding grounders, on back-to-back days, which is notable since he’s just under two weeks removed from suffering a left hamstring strain. The 30-year-old shortstop was originally expected to miss six weeks, but it sounds like he’s going to beat that original estimate by a considerable margin, which is good news for the Phillies and fantasy managers.

Volpe kicked off the contest with a leadoff homer against Twins starter Joe Ryan for his sixth round-tripper of the year. He also picked up his ninth stolen base of the season a couple frames later. The 23-year-old’s power output was a bit diminished at the outset of the year following offseason changes to flatten his swing and implement an all-fields approach, but he’s started to drive the ball a bit more of late with three homers in his last nine contests.

Schmidt authored the strongest start of his career during Thursday afternoon’s matinee at Target Field, completing seven innings for the first time in his career, while also scattering three hits and needing just 103 pitches (69 strikes) to navigate eight nearly-flawless frames. He generated 16 swinging strikes, including 10 on his cutter alone, finishing with a robust 34 percent CSW. The 28-year-old righty has been a revelation this season for fantasy managers as a late-round steal in deeper mixed leagues. He’ll carry a sparkling 2.49 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 55/15 K/BB ratio across 50 2/3 innings (nine starts) into a home outing on Tuesday against the Mariners.

Contreras was designated for assignment by the Pirates on Saturday to make room for Paul Skenes. The 24-year-old was moved to the bullpen this season and had posted a 4.41 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, and 16/8 K/BB ratio across 16 1/3 innings. However, Contreras was a top-100 prospect just a couple of years ago, ranking as MLB Pipeline’s 67th overall prospect prior to the 2022 season. Entering 2024, Contreras had a 3.67 ERA in 98 MLB innings with a 9.5 percent walk rate and 21.4 percent strikeout rate while limiting opposing batters to a .225 batting average. However, he had seen a troubling decline in fastball velocity and his command wasn’t good enough to hide his diminishing raw stuff. Still, at just 24 years old, there could easily be a solid MLB pitcher lurking in there somewhere; he just didn’t necessarily land in the best place for that pitcher to be unearthed.

The Angels tried to keep Rengifo on the active roster, but after he missed five games, they decided to put him on the injured list last Thursday. A week later, he’s returning to the fold and should likely remain an everyday player for the Angels given how banged up their lineup is. Niko Goodrum was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake in a corresponding move.

Acuña’s batting average (.245), slugging percentage (.342), and home-run rate (one per 51.7 at-bats) are all beneath the single-season lows in his seven-year career, as the 26-year-old tries to follow up a historically good season. “You can just read their faces sometimes, and actions,” said Braves coach Brian Snitker. “And it’s like, ‘Well, it’s time.’ Kid needs a little breather here. He’s played every inning of every game. It’s not a bad thing to sit and watch sometimes.” Braves coaches, Eddie Pérez and Tom Goodwin, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they believe that Acuña is pressing. “Sometimes, you force some things,” Goodwin said. Perhaps with a short break, Acuña will get back to the level everybody has seen him produce at before. Fantasy managers should clearly keep him in the lineup and hope he gets it going soon.

Canning put together another excellent outing on Wednesday, holding the Cardinals to one run over six frames. The one run would score on a solo homer by Paul Goldschmidt in the sixth inning. Canning scattered four other hits and three walks while striking out five. The 28-year-old right-hander ends the day with a 5.21 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, and a 34/18 K/BB ratio across 46 2/3 innings. He lines up for a start against the Astros in Houston on Tuesday.

Webb worked around some trouble to start the game, loading the bases with one out in the first inning. He struck out a batter for the second out and escaped the jam with a line out to right field. Webb scattered two walks and two hits over five more scoreless frames, striking out five on the day. The 27-year-old right-hander will take a 3.03 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, and a 47/17 K/BB ratio across 59 1/3 innings into a start against the Pirates in Pittsburgh next Wednesday.

Judge opened the scoring in this one with a solo-shot onto the third deck of Target Field and never made an out. It was the second time in three games Judge had four batted balls over 100 MPH and he’s raised his OPS from .645 to .926 since April 22nd.