Tyler Callihan had his moment in the sun. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
This week, Shohei Ohtani wasn’t too pleased that the Dodgers didn’t challenge a strike call and then wound up blowing a five-run lead and losing; NL strikeout leader Oneil Cruz (broken hand) has landed on the IL; and Max Scherzer became the 11th pitcher in MLB history with 3,500 strikeouts. Other Fantasy baseball stories we’re tracking include…
Tyler Callihan’s Career Game
While the Pittsburgh Pirates came up with the huge comeback win on Wednesday, they’ve been spinning their wheels of late, dropping 3.5 games behind St. Louis for second place in the NL Central. Before Wednesday’s big win, the Pirates had lost four straight.
Still, after last season’s disappointing 71 win-campaign, Pittsburgh has been better this season, currently sitting two games over .500 past the two-fifths mark of the schedule. The Buccos are just a half-game out of a playoff spot; imagine where they’d be if their bullpen wasn’t among the worst in the bigs.
The hero on Wednesday was rookie outfielder/second baseman Tyler Callihan, who smacked his first two career homers – one off Ohtani (see video below) and then a go-ahead three run bomb in the eighth inning.
Callihan was just recalled at the end of May, and hasn’t seen much action, but with a perfect night at the plate (he also drew two walks), he piled up four RBI and three runs and made his case for more PT (especially with Jake Magnum shifting from RF to CF to replace Cruz).
What’s really impressed us about Callihan is his strike zone judgement as he’s already drawn five walks in six games. He actually hadn’t been showing much power at Triple-A this year, so we’re going to assume this game was a bit of an anomaly. But Callihan has shown patience and speed in the minors, so combined with his potential to play multiple positions, he could be useful if he gets enough action.
He made his MLB debut with a cup of coffee in Cincinnati last year and suffered a gruesome forearm injury before getting deal to Pittsburgh in early March for pitcher Kyle Nicolas. In fact, injuries have slowed Callihan’s development in recent years, so perhaps he’s simply a late bloomer.
There’s a good chance we’ll never see a better game from him, so we’re not suggesting you rush to your waiver wire and pick him up, but it’s worth your while to see how the playing time situation unfolds here. At this point, Callihan is simply an asset in deep NL-only formats.
Having said that, we’ll provide the following (small size sample alert): he’s typically a groundball hitter, but since being recalled, he’s hitting the ball in the air more than ever.
The Return of Miles Mastrobuoni
Over in the AL West, the Seattle Mariners are coming off a superb season in which they came within one game of finally making it to the World Series, but remain the only active franchise to never appear in one.
This season, Seattle isn’t playing as well, but because it’s in the worst division in baseball, it’s in first place. The Mariners have done better lately, but with Texas heating up, things are getting more interesting as their division lead is down to two games. Still, thanks to the lack of competition in the AL West, Seattle’s chances of returning to the playoffs still look pretty good as per FanDuel odds.
While Seattle got crushed by Baltimore on Wednesday, missing a chance to sweep the series, it did get some good news as Miles Mastrobuoni finally made his season debut at second base. He hurt his calf in the WBC, landing on the 60-day IL, but was able to return to action and made an immediate impact with a hit and a run.
Mastrobuoni saw the most action of his career last year, and enjoyed a solid season in a utility role. He hit better than ever, leading to a career high OPS, but simply doesn’t record enough counting cat numbers to be a legitimate Fantasy option, regardless of format. Mastrobuoni is mostly a pinch runner given his speed.
Waiver Wire Pick of the Week
Royce Lewis, 3B, Minnesota Twins (ESPN: 6 per cent; CBS: 40 per cent): We all know how injury prone Lewis is, and while he’s been in offensive regression since 2023, it’s clear that when he’s actually healthy, he’s capable of great things. The former first overall pick was demoted to Triple-A three weeks ago, but forced his way back thanks to some serious raking (.340 with eight jacks in 13 games). On Wednesday, Lewis spanked his first homer since coming back and has now hit safely in four straight, with extra-base knocks in two of those games. He’s still swinging at more pitches than the average player, with mixed results, so that’s something to monitor as we near the second half, but the pedigree here is too intriguing to pass up.
RotoRob Tune of the Day
Genesis formed in Charterhouse School, in Godalming, Surrey. In 1970, they released their second album, Trespass, and a couple of tracks that were recorded for a BBC session in February 1970 made it onto this record, including “Stagnation,” one of the effort’s longest songs.