Skenes was overwhelming in striking out the first seven batters he faced, and he didn’t let up much after that. He allowed only one hard-hit ball, a 107-mph groundout from Miguel Amaya. In fact, six of his seven non-strikeout outs came on grounders. It was a clear step forward from his debut last week and even a little extra impressive because it came against a lineup that had just seen him.

De La Cruz might break the century mark in the stolen base department, if he sustains this surreal pace. He was thrown out attempting a fifth steal in the seventh inning of Thursday’s showdown at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The 22-year-old burgeoning fantasy superstar is still striking out 30 percent of the time, but some improved plate discipline has enabled him to reach base more frequently this season and show off his field-tilting speed. He’s batting .277/.378/.516 with 35 runs scored, nine homers, 22 RBI and 30 steals following the first four-steal performance of his career out in Los Angeles. There’s still some room for improvement, but De La Cruz is rapidly evolving into one of the premier five-category impact contributors in the entire fantasy landscape.

Walker was struck on the left foot by a 99.7-mph line drive from Starling Marte in the fourth inning and will most likely head for further imaging to determine whether he suffered any fractures. He finished with one strikeout and was charged with two runs over 3 1/3 innings of work. Any potential extended absence would presumably lead to Spencer Turnbull returning to Philadelphia’s starting rotation mix, but it sounds like there’s a chance he managed to avoid serious injury. There should be some clarity on his status at some point soon.

The writing was seemingly on the wall after Sheehan was shut down from throwing indefinitely a couple weeks ago due to right forearm inflammation. The 24-year-old right-hander showed some immense promise last year as a rookie before landing on the shelf back in spring training with an ominous arm injury. There should be some clarity on his return timetable at some point in the near future, but it’s obviously a significant development for his fantasy appeal in dynasty leagues.

Volpe kicked off the contest with a leadoff homer against Twins starter Joe Ryan for his sixth round-tripper of the year. He also picked up his ninth stolen base of the season a couple frames later. The 23-year-old’s power output was a bit diminished at the outset of the year following offseason changes to flatten his swing and implement an all-fields approach, but he’s started to drive the ball a bit more of late with three homers in his last nine contests.

Schmidt authored the strongest start of his career during Thursday afternoon’s matinee at Target Field, completing seven innings for the first time in his career, while also scattering three hits and needing just 103 pitches (69 strikes) to navigate eight nearly-flawless frames. He generated 16 swinging strikes, including 10 on his cutter alone, finishing with a robust 34 percent CSW. The 28-year-old righty has been a revelation this season for fantasy managers as a late-round steal in deeper mixed leagues. He’ll carry a sparkling 2.49 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 55/15 K/BB ratio across 50 2/3 innings (nine starts) into a home outing on Tuesday against the Mariners.

Judge opened the scoring in this one with a solo-shot onto the third deck of Target Field and never made an out. It was the second time in three games Judge had four batted balls over 100 MPH and he’s raised his OPS from .645 to .926 since April 22nd.

Pfaadt surrendered just two hits and a pair of walks over seven frames, trading zeroes with opposing starter Andrew Abbott into the late innings of a throwback pitcher’s duel, with a fifth-inning solo shot by utilityman Santiago Espinal accounting for the only damage against him. The 25-year-old righty generated just eight swinging strikes, but threw an impressive 61 of 93 pitches for strikes. He’ll carry a strong 4.17 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 51/10 K/BB ratio across 54 innings (nine starts) into a challenging road tilt on Tuesday against the division-rival Dodgers.

Crochet turned in his fourth consecutive strong performance during Wednesday’s afternoon matinee at Guaranteed Rate Field, limiting Washington’s lineup to just three hits and three walks over five shutout frames. The 24-year-old southpaw’s average fastball velocity remained in the mid-to-upper 90’s as he generated 11 swinging strikes and finished with a pedestrian 27 percent CSW. He wasn’t completely dominant in this one, but it was another encouraging outing after a couple rough starts at the tail-end of April. How he holds up with a traditional starter’s workload will be the central question as the season progresses, but obviously there’s a lot to like about his performance so far. He’ll bring a solid 4.18 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 70/12 K/BB ratio across 51 1/3 innings (10 starts) into a road matchup on Tuesday against the Blue Jays.

Contreras is rapidly evolving into one of the premier four-category contributors in the entire fantasy landscape as his latest three-hit performance, his sixth of the season, raises his batting average to an astronomical .359 mark through 43 contests. The 26-year-old backstop crushed a three-run homer off Pirates southpaw Martín Pérez in the third inning and also added an RBI triple a couple frames later as Milwaukee hit five homers in a blowout victory. He’s up to 39 runs scored and 34 homers already to go along with six homers and three steals as well. There isn’t much left to say at this point besides legitimately asking if he’s going to surpass Orioles superstar Adley Rutschman as the consensus top catcher in fantasy at some point in the future.