New York

Yankees

The son of major-league infielder, and long-time big-league coach, George Lombard, is one of the most toolsy prospects in this year’s draft class, and is big enough that he might eventually have to move off shortstop down the road. However, he does just about everything well, and could find himself in the big leagues in just a few years. The 18-year-old is one of the better prep bats in the draft class, which makes him a strong selection for the Yankees.

He struck out nine. Seiya Suzuki’s fifth-inning homer was the only hit allowed by Germán. The right-hander remained in the game to open the seventh, only to be pulled after a leadoff walk to Ian Happ. He was later charged with the unearned run after an error contributed to the runner scoring. Despite exiting with a 4-1 lead, Germán wasn’t involved in the decision today, leaving him 5-5 with a 4.32 ERA.

It was a two-run shot off Kyle Hendriks. Volpe has hit .327 with six extra-base hits over his last 14 games, raising his OPS from .633 to .682. It’s just too bad he’s slowed down on the basepaths; he’s been caught on two of his three tries since June 20.

Cortes threw 20 pitches on Sunday and told reporters that he felt “totally pain-free” after the session. He will toss two more sessions, one on Thursday and the other the following Monday. Cortes has been on the injured list since early June with a left rotator cuff sprain. He was transferred to the 60-day injured list and cannot return until the first week of August.

Sunday marked the first time since the 28-year-old reliever threw off a mound since he landed on the injured list in early April. He tossed just ten pitches but is a step in the right direction. He is still expected to miss most of the summer as he has to build back strength.

This news doesn’t come as a surprise, as the Yankees rotation has been decimated by injury and underperformance this season. However, the Yankees start a three-game series against the Rockies in Coors Field, which is a risky start for fantasy managers.

Stanton put on a show in New York’s penultimate first-half contest, clobbering a mammoth 447-foot homer into the third deck of the left-field seats at Yankee Stadium off veteran southpaw Drew Smyly in the opening frame. He also took reliever Michael Rucker deep for a two-run shot in the fifth inning to record his first multi-homer performance since May 12, 2022.

King was called upon to protect a three-run lead in the eighth inning and wound up going the distance for his sixth save of the season. He recorded one strikeout, and also hit one batter, needing just 16 pitches (13 strikes) to slam the door.

Cole limited the Cubs to just a third-inning RBI ground out by Nico Hoerner before giving up a two-run homer to Mike Tauchman in the seventh inning, which chased him from the contest after 103 pitches (70 strikes). He finished with five strikeouts and only issued one walk. The 32-year-old fantasy ace wraps up the first half with a stellar 2.85 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 123/34 K/BB ratio across 117 innings (19 starts).

Germán will likely only be utilized in an emergency situation, if ace Gerrit Cole winds up being chased early from Saturday’s game. If he were to pitch, it would be Clarke Schmidt taking the ball for Sunday’s first-half finale.