Closing Time: K is for Keuchel

We, as a fantasy community, have long ago (last year) come to terms with Dallas Keuchel being a soft-tossing, pitch-to-contact type - well, most of us have come to terms (he's the 22nd-most owned starter despite being currently ranked third among SPs in to-date fantasy production). And we've been willing to overlook his strikeout shortcomings because of the ridiculously good ratios. But after Keuchel punched out a dozen Yankees on Thursday, we may have to recalibrate how we perceive Kid Keuchy.

Keuchel entered the season having never fanned a double-digit number of hitters in a game. He's now done it twice in his past six outings, and he owns a 9.48 K/9 rate in that span - his career mark entering the season was right around 6.30. And if you are looking for some kind of change in Keuchel's pitch profile to explain his sudden sharp rise in Ks, it's not readily apparent - he's getting hitters to go after pitches outside the zone a bit more, but he's really mixing his four-pitch arsenal in a similar manner to what he's done in the past.

Said Alex Rodriguez about Thursday's performance against Houston's mix-master, "He made me look as silly as I've looked all year. He handled me well all night. He struck me out with a slider, a fastball and a changeup."

Rodriguez's teammate Mark Teixeira took issue with the liberal strike zone of umpire Joe West, and if you were watching the game, you'd probably have to agree that Keuchel benefitted from that. But that's the kind of benefit that tends to get bestowed upon those pitchers that develop a reputation for supreme command. Greg Maddux can certainly attest to that.

There's obviously not much of a fantasy play to be made here, as Keuchel is owned in 94 percent of Yahoo leagues. This is simply a heads up to Keuchel owners (and wanna-be owners) that changes are afoot. Keuchel's monthly K/9 rate progression this season looks like this: 5.35 (April), 7.66 (May), 9.09 (June). Obviously, we'll need to see him maintain this strikeout rise over a much larger sample size before we can claim a fundamental shift in Keuchel's profile. But if he can even hold steady at a K/9 rate in the mid-7s, it becomes so much easier to look at Keuchel in the light of a true fantasy ace.

• Mets welcome Matz: One of the biggest fantasy developments on Thursday took place off the field as it was learned that the Mets plan to call-up another potential future ace in Stephen Matz to start Sunday - he ranked second (by Baseball America) among Mets prospects to only Noah Syndergaard entering the season. The lefty comes to New York after posting a 2.19 ERA for Triple-A Las Vegas, an environment that is extremely friendly to hitters because of the elevation. Matz owns a mid-to-upper 90s fastball to pair with a plus change-up - he also mixes in a curveball. But in Las Vegas, he really learned to lean on his fastball because the desert air tends to flatten out breaking stuff. Matz joins Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom (who was once-again masterful on Thursday) in a Mets rotation which will most likely soon be the envy of MLB (if it's not already). The news of his promotion has made him the top fantasy add over the past 24 hours, but he's still available in two-thirds of Yahoo leagues. His talent warrants at least a test-drive in leagues of all shapes and sizes.

Alright, here's a few more noteworthy on-field evelopments from Thursday's slimmed-down slate of games:

• Unlike Matz, Chicago White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton is not enjoying a sharp rise up the most added list - it's more of a soft curve. Considering how bad he was in April, the roto community's aversion to him is at least explainable. But after his third consecutive multi-hit game on Thursday (which included a HR), Eaton is hitting right at .300 for the month of June with four steals and 11 runs scored. Among the 50-percent owned OF crowd, he's easily my favorite three-category (BA, R, SB) speed play.

• In addition to making, perhaps, the defensive play of the day, Reds veteran 2B Brandon Phillips went 3-for-7 with a couple runs scored and a couple RBIs in the Reds' 5-4 victory over the Pirates. In his past 45 games, Phillips (48 percent owned) is hitting .302 with 4 HR and 9 SB - he only had seven combined steals over the past two seasons. In this span (starting from April 28 to present), Phillips is fantasy's No. 8 middle infielder.

• Oakland ace Sonny Gray has been one of the best starters this season in terms of limiting hard contact and home runs. Texas' Mitch Moreland apparently didn't get the memo, as he drilled a shot off Gray into the left-center bleachers on Thursday, one of his three hits in the Rangers' 6-3 loss to the A's. Moreland had been in a bit of a drought coming into the contest, but he still owns a .887 OPS this month, and his OPS marks in the previous two months were no worse than .839.  Hitting in the heart of the Texas lineup, Moreland is on pace to hit .300 with 20 HR and right at 80 RBI, and he can be had in 75 percent of Yahoo leagues.

• Boston rookie southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez was all the rage after opening his MLB career by allowing just one run over his first three starts (20.2 IP). But he's allowed 16 runs in his past three starts, including six against Baltimore on Thursday. He next faces Toronto, a lineup that smacked him around for nine runs a couple weeks ago. I still like Rodriguez enough that I'd be hanging onto him in my 12-team mixers, but there's no way I'd be rolling him out there for his next start.

• Finally, it's good to see Detroit DH Victor Martinez start to come alive. V-Mart missed a month of the season (mid-May to mid-June) because of inflammation in his surgically-repaired left knee, but he's looked good since his return, going 3-for-4 on Thursday to raise his average in seven June games to .349.

Alright, enjoy the weekend, and the return of Devon Travis - I know I will.