Today is a short slate with a lot of teams traveling, but there are definitely some interesting pitching matchups. There were some interesting things from last night’s games as well.

Things That Make You Go “Hmmmm…”

According to Ken Rosenthal, Welington Castillo will be suspended for 80 games after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. This is a big loss for the White Sox who do not have great catching options behind Castillo and now can’t even trade him to further their rebuild. Castillo can be dropped in most formats.

Marcell Ozuna was scratched from yesterday’s start prior to the game. What seemed like it may be an injury issue at first turned out to be nothing more than Ozuna oversleeping and being punished for showing up late. This doesn’t appear to be much ado about nothing.

Kenta Maeda was fantastic versus the Marlins on Wednesday, firing eight scoreless innings while striking out eight without giving up a walk. Maeda lowered his ERA from 3.89 to 3.38 and was impressive especially in not allowing any free passes. The Dodgers need Maeda to continue to be successful with so many injuries in the rotation. However, the Dodgers did get a piece of good news as Clayton Kershaw threw another bullpen and has been ramping up his activity. Expect Kershaw to head out on a rehab assignment next week.

Recently Tyler O’Neill has been on fire, but the guy who he was traded for was great yesterday as well. Marco Gonzalez threw seven scoreless innings while striking out six and walking two. Gonzalez has been better as of his last two starts, but he also isn’t a very sexy fantasy option in spite of dropping his ERA half a run. In his last four starts he only has a total of 16 strikeouts.

Franklin Barreto was recalled from the minors for the Oakland A’s. He replaces Khris Davis on the roster who was placed on the DL with a groin injury. Barreto is a former top prospect that has yet to get full run at the Major League level. In his last stint in the Majors, he only played in one game during his 10 days on the roster. Barreto has a bright future, but he is not likely worth a pickup right now.

Jerad Eickhoff is scheduled to meet a doctor who specializes in thoracic outlet surgery. This is not a good sign from a pitcher that had a promising career at one point in the Major Leagues. Very few pitchers have ever come back from this surgery better than they were initially prior to the surgery.

 

What We’ll Be Watching Today

Can Luis Castillo rebound? He has looked better as of late, but the premium velocity we saw last year has still not returned. He has also struggled with keeping the ball in the yard which can be difficult to do anyhow at Great American Ballpark.

What is Dylan Bundy ’s velocity? Bundy has been fantastic this season when his velocity is 92 MPH or over. When it is below that he has been awful. He is hard to trust even versus a bad White Sox team.

Rick Porcello vs Blake Snell . Both have pitched like top 20 starters, but can they keep it up? I have more faith in Snell who has had big skill changes in keeping the ball in the yard and limiting walks. 

Charlie Martin vs Mike Clevenger. Another matchup of two guys that have been fantastic this year, but with an added flavor of two of the top teams in the American League that have turned into a bit of a rivalry with recent comments from Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer about the recent gains made from Astros pitchers that he asserts may not be natural.

 

Baseball. Lots of baseball.