Adam's Weekly Baseball Forecast: Week of May 30th

Introduction: Welcome back, as I hope you all are doing well! The baseball season keeps rolling along rather quickly as we turn the calendar to June later this week. As always, my Two-Start Pitchers article will be below, as well as the starting pitchers and hitters articles who I think have a favorable week ahead. The Reliever Report will conclude the weekly article per usual. Since it is at the end of the month, I will be including my updated MVP and Cy Young Winners from each league. Also, I will be adding my picks from the previous months to see how they have changed throughout the season. With that being said, let's roll!

Adam's Updated End-Of-Season Award Winners:

MVP:

American League:

April: Mike Trout: Los Angeles Angels: OF

May: Mike Trout: Los Angeles Angels: OF

National League:

April: Nolan Arenado: St. Louis Cardinals: 3B

May: Mookie Betts: Los Angeles Dodgers: OF

Cy Young:

American League:

April: Kevin Gausman: Toronto Blue Jays

May: Justin Verlander: Houston Astros

National League:

April: Max Scherzer: New York Mets

May: Corbin Burnes: Milwaukee Brewers

Two-Start Pitchers:

People who have taken the time to read my weekly forecast articles should already know what a "Two-Start" Pitcher is by this point, but if not do not worry, I will define what they are again in case anyone new is reading my posts for the first few times.

A "Two-Start" Pitcher is simply a starting pitcher who starts twice in a week. As a result, they are very important for those who play fantasy baseball and are of course are important to their real-life team as well. Having a chance for one pitcher to win twice in a week can be huge, which is why I include this article in every weekly forecast.

The following are the majority of the "Two-Start" Pitchers for this week, as I have included who they will be facing and the dates they will pitch. To make things easier to understand, I have put them into tiers to categorize them.

Must-Starts:

Kevin Gausman: 5/31 vs. CWS, 6/5 vs. MIN

Walker Buehler: 5/30 vs. PIT, 6/4 vs. NYM

Lucas Giolito: 5/31 @TOR, 6/5 @TB

Julio Urias: 5/31 vs. PIT, 6/5 vs. NYM

Pablo Lopez: 5/30 @COL, 6/4 vs. SF

Zac Gallen: 5/30 vs. ATL, 6/5 @ PIT

Framber Valdez: 5/30 vs. OAK, 6/5 @KC

Logan Webb: 5/30 @PHI, 6/4 @MIA

Solid Starts:

Eric Lauer: 5/31 @CHC, 6/5 vs. SD

Drew Rasmussen: 5/30 @TEX, 6/4 vs. CWS

Adam Wainwright: 5/31 vs. SD, 6/5 @CHC

Martin Perez: 5/31 vs. TB, 6/5 vs. SEA

Questionable Starts:

George Kirby: 5/31 @BAL, 6/5 @TEX

Luis Castillo: 5/31 @BOS, 6/5 vs. WAS

Aaron Ashby: 5/30 @CHC, 6/4 vs. SD

Jordan Montgomery: 5/31 vs. LAA, 6/5 vs. DET

Charlie Morton: 5/31 @ARI, 6/5 @COL

Paul Blackburn: 5/31 vs. HOU, 6/5 @BOS

Hitters: The following hitters have either had a great past seven days or have favorable matchups this week.

William Contreras: Atlanta Braves: C

William, the younger brother of Cubs catcher Willson Contreras has had himself quite a last few weeks. Getting at least one hit in seven of his last eight games including a two home run game against the Marlins on May 21st, Contreras can be of help for those looking for a catcher in fantasy leagues.

As far as real life is concerned, Contreras shows great versatility as he is able to play in the outfield, resulting in Travis d'Arnuad to stay behind the plate.

Headed into a series against the Rockies at Coors Field over the weekend, Contreras should continue to receive playing time as I would not think he would get many days off with his recent performances.

Andrew Vaughn: Chicago White Sox: 3B

Vaughn may finally be breaking through in his second season in the league. A top prospect a couple of years ago out of the University of California, Vaughn is a power type of bat who can hit in the .260-.280 range. Prior to the last two games on Saturday and Sunday, Vaughn had been on a tear, raising his average around the .300 mark. Add in five home runs on the year in a good offensive lineup and you have yourself a middle of the order type of bat who can drive in runs on a consistent basis.

Recent news of Tim Anderson headed to the IL, Eloy Jimenez having to exit his rehab game with a hamstring issue, and Luis Robert currently on the COVID-19 list, I would expect Vaughn to be one of the main contributors for the Sox over the next few weeks.

Others to Consider:

Josh Rojas: Arizona Diamondbacks: OF

Christian Vasquez: Boston Red Sox: C

Starting Pitchers: The following starting pitchers have favorable matchups this week, as I predict they will continue their current run of success.

Cristian Javier: Houston Astros: 5/31 @OAK

Javier is one arm that seems to be overlooked in the Houston rotation and in all of baseball for that matter as I believe he is one of the best in the league up to this point. Over his 37 IP on the season, Cristian has racked up 48 strikeouts while compiling a 2.43 ERA. The fact that he would have an ERA of 0.81 if you took out his start against the Nationals where he allowed seven earned runs is crazy, as he has been rolling besides that one bump in the road.

Talk of him moving back to the bullpen after the one clunker should be long gone by now as I see him sticking in the rotation for as long as he can keep this type of performance up or at least until Jake Odorizzi or Lance McCullers Jr. return from injury.

Headed into this week, he has a great matchup ahead on the road against the mediocre Oakland lineup. Using his fastball and slider as his primary pitches, he uses his fastball about 60 percent of the time, while his slider is more of his put-away pitch. As a result, he uses it 1.3 percent more than his fastball to get hitters out.

In fantasy baseball land, he is even more valuable, as I plan on using him in one of my RP slots this week since he carries both SP and RP eligibility in Yahoo leagues. These types of pitchers I like to have on my team simply because of their performance and their versatility. Finding a pitcher like Javier on the waiver wire can be hard to find, as the only other pitcher that comes to mind who has SP and RP eligibility and has been great so far would be Martin Perez of the Rangers.

All of that said, if you have Javier in fantasy baseball, start the 25 year-old with confidence this week and possibly even next week as well. Javier has a two-start week upcoming against the Marlins and Mariners with both matchups at home next week.

Jeffrey Springs: Tampa Bay Rays: 6/1 @TEX

Springs is an interesting one to figure out, simply because he has been rather below-average for the previous four seasons of his career. After looking at his Baseball Savant page, not a lot stood out to me, as his Expected Earned Run Average (xERA) is about a run higher (2.67) than his regular ERA (1.62). xERA takes into account all types of things, as it is a really good stat to see if the pitcher really measures up to his performances. The stat is somewhat similar to FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching). Although a small sample size, Springs walk rate is 5.7 percent which would be a career best if it holds true for another four months.

Going into the matchup on Wednesday against Texas, I would be torn on whether to start him or not, as he looked solid against a Yankees lineup last time out. The Rangers offense have been unpredictable this year, as Marcus Semien and Corey Seager have gotten off to slow starts, but have both started to pick it up as of late. Based off of recent success, the majority of people will probably play Springs knowing that he was able to get past the Yankees and is currently riding a wave of momentum.

Roansy Contreras: Pittsburgh Pirates: 6/3 vs. ARI

Contreras is one that I have gained more trust in over the last few weeks, as he enters a favorable matchup against the Diamondbacks on Friday. Only pitching a maximum of five innings in two out of his five outings so far, I am betting on him to go five innings against a below-average Arizona lineup. Doing this would result in Roansy qualifying for a potential win as it will come down to run support if he is able to get that far. To sum it up, he is a great streaming option this week as I am all in if you cannot find a better option on the league's waiver wire.

Others to Consider:

Marco Gonzales: Seattle Mariners

Reliever Report:

Colin Poche: Tampa Bay Rays

With Andrew Kittredge on the IL, Poche has come into a various amount of scenarios and has converted the majority of the time. Coming in for a save chance or a hold, Poche has pitched to a 1.20 ERA and should continue to be a late-inning arm going forward.

Art Warren: Cincinnati Reds

With Lucas Sims unable to find his form before going on the IL once again, Warren has been an option for saves in Cincinnati. An ERA of 5.19 is concerning, but I feel like the Reds are searching for any kind of hope at this point given their 16-31 record headed into Monday's games.

Emilio Pagan: Minnesota Twins

Pagan has seemed to have hold of the Twins closers role, as he has looked great so far. Tallying seven saves, Pagan is a more than solid option, as the Twins should be at the top of the AL Central for the majority of the season.

Final Thoughts: I hope you all have enjoyed yet another weekly edition of my baseball forecast. As a result, I really enjoy doing these, as learning and researching more about the players is something that I love to do.

See you at the Ballpark!!!

Adam