Guardians success, Braves Power outage, Underrated players, 6.14 Mound Visit

This week's second mound visit is here!  In this one, we go over the Guardians' surprising success, the Braves' power outage, and highlight some underrated players across the league that could help in Fantasy!  After that, we'll have the current standings as well as this weekend's matchups

Guardians Defying Expectations

Despite losing ace Shane Bieber to injury, the Cleveland Guardians have surprisingly risen to the top of a competitive AL Central. Their backbone is still their strong pitching, boasting the 6th best pitching staff (3.68 ERA)  in part due to their lights-out bullpen (2.33 ERA). 

Sophomore pitcher Tanner Bibee has helped soften the blow of Bieber's absence. Through 14 starts spanning 75.1 innings, Bibee has broken out with a strong 4-2 record, 3.94 ERA, 27.6% strikeout rate, and an excellent 6.3% walk rate. His rapid development has solidified the rotation and given the Guardians a reliable option every 5th day. 

The offense looks nothing like the Cleveland offense we're used to seeing, ranking 8th in wRC+.  The Guardians are getting enormous production from Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, and rookie David Fry. Kwan is putting together a career year, slashing .380/.480/.534 for an incredible .979 OPS and 184 wRC+. He's making consistently hard contact while maintaining an elite 7.7% strikeout rate that he's been known for ever since bursting onto the scene. 

The ever-underrated Ramirez continues playing at an MVP level, with a .273/.334/.542 line, .876 OPS and 146 wRC+. His .250 BABIP suggests further positive regression is still to come on his already stellar numbers. He's also swiped 11 bases to provide extra value. 

Fry has emerged as a major middle-of-the-order force, slashing .321/.452/.565 for a 1.017 OPS and 189 wRC+ through 40 games, despite grading out poorly defensively. Most impressively, those .321 AVG, .452 OBP, and .565 SLG marks are all significant improvements from his few games in the show last year.

Braves' Blues

2023's best team has taken a massive step back in 2024.  Losing a Cy Young-caliber starter and their MVP player isn't easy to overcome, but their struggles go beyond those injuries.  The biggest driver of their disappointing start has been the power outages throughout the lineup from almost all their key returning bats. 

Former MVP candidate Matt Olson has seen his numbers drop back down to Earth, slashing just .245/.330/.441 for a .771 OPS and 117 wRC+, down from an incredible .993 OPS and 160 wRC+ during his 2023 MVP-caliber campaign. Michael Harris II is still providing excellent defense in center field, but has regressed significantly at the plate, hitting just .247/.292/.355 for an abysmal 83 wRC+, a far cry from his .808 OPS and 115 wRC+ last season. 

Second baseman Ozzie Albies has maintained his usual batting average and on-base skills, but his slugging has completely fallen off a cliff, down to .403, down from the .513 mark in 2023, leaving him with a .732 OPS and 109 wRC+. Shortstop Orlando Arcia is also struggling mightily with a paltry .228/.257/.373 batting line and 74 wRC+, suggesting last year's .741 OPS was an offensive outlier for his career. 

Perhaps most concerningly, Austin Riley has followed up his stellar 2023 with a complete downturn, slashing just .220/.288/.330 for an abysmal .618 OPS and 77 wRC+, down from .861 OPS and 127 wRC+ a year ago. With star catcher Sean Murphy also sidelined, this lack of production up and down the lineup has completely crippled the Braves' offense, leading to disappointing series losses to teams like the Orioles and Nationals in the early going.

Underrated Players Emerging in 2024

These players are quietly putting together very solid seasons, that are getting overlooked for a variety of reasons.  It could be due to having global stars as teammates, playing on a bad team, or something else altogether but the below 7 players have quietly had a solid season so far

Pitchers

• Gavin Stone (Dodgers): 7-2, 2.93 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 2.52 K/BB over 12 starts
• Simeon Woods Richardson (Twins): 2.84 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 3.82 K/BB over 10 starts
• Tyler Anderson (Angels): 3.4 WAR, 2.63 ERA over 13 starts
• Cristopher Sanchez (Phillies): 3.07 ERA, 2.65 K/BB over 13 starts

Hitters

• Jurickson Profar (Padres): .324/.424/.500, .924 OPS, 170 OPS+, 2.3 WAR
• Brent Rooker (Athletics): .258/.340/.512, .852 OPS, 147 OPS+, 1.5 WAR
• Isaac Paredes (Rays): .286/.365/.471, .836 OPS, 141 OPS+, 1.4 WAR

Current Standings

Here's where we currently stand heading into the weekend, all standings courtesy of ESPN

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