Who's Hot/Who's Not

Happy Friday, go Hawks, and poor Brewers. Outfielder Corey Hart is out for the season as he needs knee surgery. Clay Buchholz for the Red Sox has still not returned; Buchholz has a 1.72 ERA and is 9-0. 

Anyways, let’s look at who’s hot, and who’s not. 

Who’s hot:

 Pedro Alvarez: The third baseman from the Pirates is batting .448 this week with 4 homers and 8 RBI’s. He now has 19 homers, 51 RBI’s, but is only batting .242. That’s still really good for a team that struggles in hitting. But who cares really, the Pirates are now tied in first as they have won 6 in a row. This Pirates team is for real.

 Jason Kipnis: Think Alvarez’s .448 average is good? Try Kipnis’ .500 average with 2 homers and 10 RBI’s. That also doesn’t count his performance today, as he is already 2 for 2 with 2 RBI’s and 3 walks. They’re afraid of him. His batting performance is .293/.379/.519 now. He’s the 3^rd hitter and plays 2^nd base. Who is 

he, Robinson Cano?

Mike Trout: Welcome back to the list, Trout. The badass is batting .382 with 7 RBI’s, and now is batting .316 with 51 RBI’s after a slow start. He’s really starting to hit it up now. Unfortunately, as much as he’s performing, it’s still not enough to bring the Angels out of their misery. It’s pitching that they need. 

Michael Cuddyer: Now yes, I know he plays for the Rockies, who have a small stadium, but good lord he has a 24 game hit streak! This week he’s batted .448 with 7 RBI’s, and now is batting .351/.402/.597 on the year. His WAR is 1.5, but that’s only because he sucks on defense (-1.3 dWAR).

Chris Davis: Though he has not passed Miguel Cabrera’s 78 RBI’s, he could any day now. Davis now has 28 homers and 74 RBI’s. He has a 4.0 War; just like Cuddyer, if he played better defense, it’d be much higher. Nevertheless, check out my blog on him before to find out that this guy is real stuff.

 

Max Scherzer: More talk about how he’s the next Justin Verlander. He’s doing well, that’s for sure. He’s 11-0 with a 3.05 ERA, and a very high K/BB ratio (about 6). He’s pitching tonight as well to try and get his 12^th. He’s real good and could easily start for the AL All-star team.

Matt Harvey: The kid can just pitch. He now has a 2.05 ERA, and he’s 7-1. Too bad he’s the only thing the Mets have right now. But hey, it’s a great person to have when he’s so young and so talented. In his last 3 starts he’s 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA, and struck out 26.

 

 Cliff Lee: Like Harvey, it seems like Lee is the only pitcher that wants to thrive on his team, this time in Philly. He’s 9-2 with a 2.51 ERA, and really could be the Cy Young of the NL. He has a lot of competition with Harvey, Clayton Kershaw, Jeff Locke, and Jordan Zimmerman, though. Those are just to name a few in such a 

pitching dominated league.

 

Matt Garza: I put Garza on because last week he was on the cold list, so good for Matt for switching it up! Garza is 3-1 with a 3.83 ERA, but is 2-0 with a .82 ERA in his last 3 starts. He’s looked quite solid and is huge trade bait for the Cubs. I see him on a different team after the trade deadline. 

That’s good enough. How about who’s not?

Ryan Hanigan (Reds): I thought Hanigan was supposed to be good! He’s batting .183 with only 2 homers, and is batting .217 this week. A much bigger change from last year. 

Tyler Colvin (Rockies): After being brought up when Fowler and Gonzalez got hurt, Colvin is batting only .159. He does not have a hit this week. 

Trevor Cahill (Diamondbacks): When the D-Backs are holding on to a first place lead, Cahill is trying to blow it more and more. In the last 3 starts, he’s 0-2 with a 6.17 ERA, and is now 3-9 with a 4.29 ERA. 

Sweaty Freddy Garcia (Orioles): Just another reason why the Orioles aren’t the best team in the league: their pitching is bad. Garcia has a 12.46 ERA in his last 3 starts, and now has a 5.77 ERA. They have no good ace to try and beat the big teams in the AL, or worse, the NL pitching.

Andrew Bailey (Red Sox): Bailey lost his closer role after blowing 3 of 5 save opportunities, and now has a 4.37 ERA. But no worries, Boston! Koji Uehara has taken over as closer, and he’s 2 for 2 this week! Maybe it was a good thing that Bailey was doing bad.

Phil Coke (Tigers): What is up with this bullpen? Coke is now 1/4 in save opportunities, and 0-6.  He has a 6.56 ERA on the season. First Valverde, then Coke, now it seems like all they have is Joaquin Benoit.

Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com if I missed anyone big.

-Evan Boyd