Who's Hot/Who's Not 8/2/13

Hey there, happy Friday! It’s time to look at who’s hot and who’s not this week. A lot of teams have either been winning a consecutive amount of games, or losing a whole lot. Take for example the entire AL Central: The Royals have won nine in a row, the Indians have won eight in a row, the Tigers have won 9 of their last 10, and the White Sox have lost seven in a row. The Red Sox have won three in a row after an amazing comeback against the Mariners. Nevermind teams though, let’s look at players that are hot!

Freddie Freeman: The player that is leading in OBP for the team, and soon might just have the best batting average as well. This week he’s batted .385 with 3 homers and 7 RBI’s. He’s moved his batting average has moved up to .309, and his OBP is at .390. He also leads the team in cool dance moves and bro hugs, which always count.

Torii Hunter: Hunter has been tearing it up this entire second half, and continues to show it this week. He’s batting .419 with four homers and eight RBI’s, and is now batting .316 with 11 homers and 53 RBI’s. The Tigers should be glad that they got a veteran like him! I had to pick the picture of him robbing Bonds' home run in the all-star game. I'll never forget that.

 

 


Wil Myers: Who? The guy that’s been leading the Rays towards a hot streak, that’s who. Not only did he hit for the cycle, but he’s also batting .400 with two homers and eight RBI’s this week. That’s moved his batting average to .331. He’s only 22 years old too. If he gets enough plate appearances to qualify (meaning he’d have to play the rest of the season), he could be up for Rookie of the Year. 

Edwin Encarnacion: Encarnacion is batting .500 this week. He’s moved his home run total to 29 after hitting 3 in his last seven, and now has 84 RBI’s. Unfortunately, nothing else has been working for the Blue Jays. 

 
David Price: Price has done a much better job with opponents since returning from his injury. In his last three starts, he’s 3-0 with a 2.31 ERA, and has struck out 17 while walking only one. He’s only 6-5 with a 3.57 ERA now, but hey, that ERA is just going to get lower and lower now. He’s not going to win the Cy Young again, but he is pitching well right at the time when the Rays are red hot.

Felix Hernandez: Granted, he’s usually red hot, but man is he good right now. His last outing was tonight against the Red Sox, and only gave up one run in seven innings, but the bullpen blew it and gave up seven runs to blow the win. Poor Felix. Before that though, he had a complete game, giving up one run and striking out 11 while walking none, but got the no-decision. He’s 2-0 with a .39 ERA and a 22/1 K/BB ratio in his last three starts. Still is Cy Young worthy.

 

 Craig Kimbrel: The Braves have been red hot, and each time they have won in this streak, Kimbrel has helped get the save. He is 7/7 in his last save opportunities with a 0 ERA, striking out 13 in that span. He now has 31 saves and a 1.34 ERA. Ahhh!

Those are the seven for who’s hot. What about who’s not?

Jedd Gyorko (Padres): It’s not good when you’re on the “Who’s Not” list two weeks in a row. Gyorko is batting .107 in his last seven starts, and has moved his average down from .280 to .252. He’s young so cut him some slack, but I think scouts wanted much more potential out of him.

Jose Tabata (Pirates): He really needs to break out of his slump if he wants to keep it up with these red hot Pirates. This week he’s batting only .067 with nothing much in the offensive category, and now is batting .252 with only 12 RBI’s. His defense is much better than his offense, but the Pirates need offense more than defense right now. 

Josh Johnson (Blue Jays): Johnson only has one win this season, which was all the way back on June 23^rd. His last six outings have gone for losses, moving his ERA from 4.60 to 6.08. In his last three starts he’s 0-3 with a 12.51 ERA and a 1.83 WHIP. He’s now 1-7 with a 1.57 WHIP. Not good for a veteran like him.

CC Sabathia (Yankees): I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect his name to come up in this list. But that’s been the type of year for CC. He’s 9-9 with a 4.65 ERA, and has racked up a 10.93 ERA in his last three starts. Yankees fans are not happy. I just read an article from a Yankee fan affiliate that was titled “CC Sabathia is the worst.” Granted, he’s 32 years old, but he should still be doing a little better. 

Ernesto Frieri (Angels): This week Frieri blew two saves, going 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA. He has now blown four saves in 29 opportunities, with a 4.20 ERA. That still isn’t terrible, but hopefully he can break out of this streak and start getting wins for the team.

Lollapalooza is this weekend, so I’ll have the Power Rankings Monday. Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any questions/comments/concerns.

-Evan Boyd