In Case You Missed It . . .

June 18, 2009

Each week I highlight recent performances that you may have missed. These stories include interesting stats and trends, major league debuts, recent rehab starts, minor league performances, hot/cold streaks, and so on. My ultimate goal is to help you identify players and trends that you may not have noticed.

Here’s what you may have missed this week:

1. David Wright leads the majors with a .365 batting average. His previous high is .325 and he has hit over .300 every season except his rookie year (2004).

2. David Ortiz is tied for 131st in homers with 5. Four of the five have come within the past 10 days.

3. Chris Davis, the much ballyhooed Rangers prospect, now leads the majors in strikeouts with 94 in 206 at-bats. That is 4 more strikeouts in 28 less at-bats than reigning strikeout king, Mark Reynolds. Speaking of Reynolds . . .

4. Mark Reynolds has become a fantasy stud, hitting .282 with 18 homers, 45 RBI’s, and 13 steals.

5. Alberto Callaspo hit .478 with 2 homers and 9 RBI’s over the past week. He is now hitting .316 for the season.

6. Travis Hafner is off the DL and hitting well again. Over the past week he has 2 homers and 7 RBI’s, bringing his season totals to .283-7-16 in 92 at-bats.

7. Javier Vazquez is benefiting from a move to the NL (as we predicted); his current line is 4 W, 3.30 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and 105 K’s.

8. Kevin Slowey is tied for second in the majors with 9 wins. 

9. Heath Bell still leads the majors in saves, now with 18.  He is tied with Brian Fuentes.

10. Jose Contreras has pitched 16 scoreless innings over the past week, letting up only 3 hits and 3 walks. 

11. Kevin Millwood continues his splendid season with one earned run in his last 14.2 innings pitched.  For the season, Millwood has 7 wins, a 2.62 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 55 K’s.

12. Gil Meche led the majors in strikeouts over the past week with 17.  During that time, Meche pitched 16 scoreless innings and picked up 2 wins

13. Barry Zito started the year pitching well, but reality has set in with 11 earned runs over his past 8.2 innings pitched.

14. Ron Villone, the relief pitcher on the Nationals, has had a tough week — he was charged with four losses.

15. Carl Pavano led the majors in earned runs allowed over the past week with 15.  Chris Volstad was second with 14, and John Lackey was tied with Dave Bush and Barry Zito for third with 11. 

16. Emilio Bonifacio is hitting .249 with 12 steals

17. Johnny Damon has 14 homers and is on pace for 36, which would be a career high for him.

18. Chris Young, the outfielder for the Diamondbacks, was once viewed by many fantasy baseball managers as a keeper-worthy 20/20 player with potential for 30/30.  But this year he is hitting only .186 after 215 at-bats and is danger of losing his job.

19. John Smoltz is set to make his season debut for the Red Sox on June 25.

20. Jake Peavy hurt his ankle and is out at least two months, more likely three.

21. Ian Kinsler is hitting .366 with 10 homers (tops in the Bigs) against left-handed pitchers.

Written by Evan Rosen · Filed Under Blog, Player News | 2 Comments