Mid-season Breakout Winners and Losers
A handful of starters and a couple position players are the latest players I profile as some of my successful breakout candidate choices made pre-season.
Winners:
Joe Ross, SP, Nationals - Ross is well on his way to reaching the numbers I thought he would going into his sophomore season. I saw him posting a sub 4.00 ERA and reaching 15 wins, he currently has a 7-4 record with a 3.49 ERA, so both of those predictions are looking good at this point halfway through the season.
Steven Matz, SP, Mets - Being overshadowed by the other guys in the Mets' rotation, much like I thought, he's flown under the radar. He's posted a win-loss record of 7-5 and posted a crisp 3.38 ERA, on most teams his ERA would be leading the pitching staff, but on a stellar Mets rotation, it only ranks fourth. If you banked on his small sample size of success and thought he would succeed like I did, good on ya.
Tanner Roark, SP, Nationals - Going into the All-star break, Roark has the second best ERA on the Nationals behind Stephen Strasburg and in front of Max Scherzer. Pretty impressive for a pitcher who pitched out of relief most of last year. Luckily for me I foresaw him earning the fifth spot in rotation and running with it throughout the season.
Jeremy Jeffress, RP, Brewers - I said pre-season that if Jeffress was able to claim the closer's role out of spring training that he would establish himself in that role. Safe to say he's done that, by posting a 2.35 ERA and 23 saves through 40 games this year.
Jonathan Schoop, 2B, Orioles - Going into the all-star break, Schoop has been one of the best fantasy second basemen in the league. He's slugged 14 HR, driven in 52, and hit to a .304 AVG. Not bad for a guy who many believed, including myself, would not be able to hit for a decent average. I did believe his power would remain by thinking he would hit 20+ HR and drive in 70+, at this rate he'll blow by both numbers.
Corey Seager, SS, Dodgers - Currently on pace to score 107 R, hit 30 HR, and drive in 75, he's well on his way to winning the NL Rooke of the Year. Seagers home run numbers are a bit of a surprise to me and others, I only thought he would hit 15 all year. As much as I would like to say I saw this BIG of a year coming, I can't, with saying that he still is in the middle of a breakout campaign.
Losers:
Ken Giles, RP, Astros - The Astro's paid a hefty price to acquire Giles in the off-season, so far it's been a bust of a trade. I thought Giles would step in as the closer and lead the AL in saves but that hasn't been the case, he's only saved one game thus far while posting a 4.38 ERA.
Patrick Corbin, SP, Diamondbacks - After a strong second half last year I thought Corbin would be able to carry over that success, but he has not. He currently has a 4-7 record and a 4.94 ERA. Not at all what I envisioned for him.
Until next time,
the wiz
