His whiff rate is up a smidge, but is still excellent for someone with his power. Pitchers have been going at Schwindel with more — and harder — sliders, but it’s clearly not working so far.

That’s some impressive opposition to look good against, so consider giving him a chance down the stretch. Woodford has managed to reduce his medium-hit contact while raising his soft-hit contact, so he’s clearly made strides since his debut last season. It’s been a slow rise up the system for the 24-year-old righty, but remember that this dude was a first round supplemental pick (39th overall) back in 2015.

Hedges is actually hitting better since the All-Star break, but honestly, this is just a pick for those desperate for a healthy catcher in a deep AL-only league. We’ll give him this: he’s having the best baserunning season of his career.

Having recently topped 125 career wins, Happ has managed to really turn around an awful season thanks to a huge August. He gave up two or fewer runs in all five starts this month, going 3-0 while shaving over a run off his bloated ERA. Happ bagged another win Friday by holding the Pirates to two runs and three hits over 5 2/3 IP.

Well, with a career mark of 0-1, 2.89 against Washington, Lauer has done quite well, and really, he’s been on a very fine roll since late-June, yielding two or fewer runs in each of his last seven starts. For the first time in his career, he doesn’t have a losing record, and while he’s become a decent DFS target in recent weeks, we now believe he deserves attention in redraft leagues.

But after throwing his fourth straight quality start on Thursday, it’s now obvious his job is secure. Gutierrez has been dynamite so far in August (1.42 ERA) to lower his season mark to a much more palatable 3.95. Grab him in all formats for the stretch run, especially with a two-start week on tap.

A relative unknown, Schwindel has taken over first base for the Cubs now that Anthony Rizzo has been traded and so far, he’s doing pretty well. Schwindel spanked his first homer as a Cub on Friday, giving him a .375 BA for August with hits in four straight games, including back-to-back two-hit efforts. At the age of 29, he’s hardly a prospect, but he’s a dude with a job at a hard to fill position and he’s currently doing everything he can to prove he deserves it for the rest of the season.