Starting to Meet Expectations- Player Commentary- April 26, 2026
Cole Ragans– P- KC- Hot- Ragans finally looked like himself last night. He allowed 1 run on 5 hits, walked no one, and struck out 11 in 6 IP. Ragans threw 99 pitches, 70 of them strikes. He says that he worked on correcting some mechanical flaws that impacted his 8-walk performance in his last start. Ragans has been inconsistent this season, but this is his first dominant performance. He flirted with almost 100 mph on his fastball yesterday. The chance to buy low on Ragans may be gone.
Spencer Torkelson-1B- DET- Hot- Torkelson has homered in his last 4 games and is working on a 5-game hitting streak. He was slashing .179/.329/.224 before the streak started and is at .212/.343/.400 now. Torkelson’s 15.7% BB% has buoyed his OBP, even as his BABIP is still at .269. Torkelson’s xBA was at .235 (25 points higher than his AVG) and xSLG .454 (84 points above his SLG) before yesterday. Regression will be Torkelson’s friend.
Joc Pederson– 1B- TEX- Stats- Pederson looks like he has snapped out of the funk that has hovered over him since he joined the Rangers last year, at least as far as getting hits are concerned. He is 9-for-27 since April 13. They are all singles. With a 93.2 EV and 56.4% HardHit%, the power should come. Pederson has a 43.6% FB% and 17.4 LA so it’s not like he’s banging balls into the ground. His 15.3% BB% helps his value in leagues that count OBP. Pederson’s is .361. He counts as a buy low candidate.
Garrett Crochet– P- BOS- Hot- Crochet has made 6 starts this season. One was horrible (10 ERs in 1.2 IP.) Two were bad (5 R in 5 IP in both.) The other 3 were quality starts, with 2 of them being 6 IP scoreless outings, including yesterday’s. Crochet has had uncharacteristic homer issues in his bad games. His 1.50 HR/9 for the season comes despite not giving up any in his quality starts. Crochet’s career mark is 1.00. While the horrible game inflates his ERA to 6.30, his xFIP is 3.54 and his FIP is 4.33. Crochet’s K/9 is at 11.25. This one looks like a matter of small sample size extremes coming at bad times.
Julio Rodriguez- OF- SEA- Hot- Have JRod’s typical early-season doldrums had a shorter duration this year? The signs are looking good. Yesterday he went 3-for-6 with a homer, 2 runs, 2 RBI, and a steal. Since April 11 Rodriguez is 19-for-54 with 2 homers, 8 RBI, 7 runs, and 3 steals in 14 games with multiple hits in 4 of his last 5 outings. He is now slashing .250/.336/.333 for the season. Rodriguez still isn’t up to his standards for EV, with an 89.1 in the 13 games before last night below his 91.9 career mark. It’s still a marked improvement from earlier this season. Continued progress will give JRod possibly his best full season numbers of his career.
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