Diamond Digest || This Week's Essential 5 || 4/18/25
Edition #236
Welcome to this week’s Diamond Digest. This is going to be my weekly series that highlights things that happened this week in baseball. Every week, we’ll be looking at key player performances, emerging storylines, trending stats/records, upcoming must-watches, and we’ll end it with a question, something we’ll review each week. I’ll also be sharing one fantasy baseball tip each week.
This column is for people who’ve watched every game this week, have only seen the highlights, or for people have not followed any of the games this week. It’s a very short and concise article which gives you all the baseball info you need!
Shorter one this week because I’ve been extremely busy. Still has all the info you need to know. Sorry about that!
Key Player Performances:
This week, Jung Hoo Lee leads the way with the best batting performance. Fernando Tatis comes in 2nd and Cal Raleigh comes in 3rd. Raleigh takes #1 in homers with 5, Tatis and Taylor Ward (ranks 10th this week) are tied for 4 homers each. Lee is back on the runs category taking 8 runs, Byron Buxton (6) comes in 2nd. Raleigh comes in 3rd.
Stolen base king this week is Randy Arozarena. Carson Kelly is average and OBP king this week, while CJ Abrams finished hitless1. Speaking of hits, Austin Riley had 12 of them, leading the way this week. Trevor Story had 11. Bobby Witt Jr had 10. Kyle Farmer had the most doubles. Kyle Schwarber had the most walks. Christopher Morel had the most strikeouts (13). Tyler Soderstrom leads the league in home runs.
Emerging Storylines:
Jorge Lopez suspended three games for throwing at Andrew McCutchen
Davey Martinez suspended one game.
Rob Manfred met with POTUS Donald Trump on baseball.
MLB Umpire goes to hospital after hit by a foul ball.
The NL West is dominating baseball.
Zach Neto is back.
Trending Stats/Record
Hit streaks through the 16th:
Series to Watch (Apr 18-April 25):
Padres vs Astros (Fri-Sun)
Giants vs Angels (Fri-Sun)
Royals vs Tigers (Thu-Sun)
Yankees vs Guardians (Mon-Wed)
Phillies vs Mets (Mon-Wed)
White Sox vs Twins2 (Tue-Thu)
Poll:
Pro Fantasy Tip:
Stream SPs and RPs Based on Matchups
Starting Pitchers: Stream back-end starters based on park factors and weak opposing lineups (e.g., anyone facing the A’s or Rockies on the road).
Relievers: Watch for setup men with high K/9 ratios and potential save chances if the closer gets shaky or overworked.
CJ Abram’s was injured.
I included this matchup as a joke but this is for last place.