All posts under "Player Commentary" - Page 133

Clayton Kershaw (SP-LAD) - Kershaw was spectacular Sunday, taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Marlins before being pulled when the leadoff man, Cody Ross, laced a double to left. Kershaw had entered the inning having thrown 108...

Russell Branyan: The streaky Branyan is back at it again. Branyan launched his 9th HR of the season in a 1-4 efforts and is now 8-19 over his last 5 games with 4 extra base hits. Branyan’s an all-or-nothing free...

Laynce Nix - Nix doubled, homered, and walked in last night's marathon against the Padres, and appears well on his way to securing more time in the Cincy OF. Nix's development has come off the radar for the most part...

Nolan Reimold - Outfielder Baltimore Orioles Adam Jones' hamstring injury and a hot and fast start to the season in AAA conspired to land Nolan Reimold in the majors for his MLB debut on May 14th. A 2nd round pick...

Joe Mauer (C - TWINS) - In the past 4 seasons, Mauer has averaged just under 10 HR per year (in an average of 488 at bats). Yet, this season, after going long yesterday, he now has 6 HR in...

Rich Hill (SP – Orioles) Rich Hill is scheduled to make his ’09 debut against the Royals on Saturday. I feel it is necessary to remind everyone that Hill was an above average starting pitcher as recently as ’07 (3.92...

Wandy Rodriguez SP-HOU: I think it’s safe to say the light-bulb is officially on. It seems like Andrew and I have been alternating opportunities to praise Wandy and let you all know that this finally appeared to be the season...

Brian Bannister: Bannister pulled himself from Wednesday game after 5.2 innings due to shoulder discomfort, although he expects to make his next start. He has been very effective, 3-1 with a 1.80 ERA in 5 starts, despite having very average...

CC Sabathia- NYA- FYI- Sabathia has thrown more than 110 pitches in 4 of his first 7 starts. He has a track record of being able to handle heavy workloads, even early in the season. The high pitch counts should...

Russ Ohlendorf – The Pirates continue to get strong starting pitching. This time it came in the form of Russ Ohlendorf, who over 6 IP allowed just 2 hits, 1 ER, 0 BB, and struck out 5. His ERA is...

Robinzon Diaz (C – Pirates) The Pirates seem to be willing to ride the hot-hand at catcher, since neither Jason Jaramillo nor Robinzon Diaz has significantly out-played the other thus far. Diaz is currently the hotter of the two, as...

Carl Pavano – Pavano was strong early in last night’s game, but his final line ended up not being that pretty as he pitched 6 and 1/3rds innings allowing 10 hits and 4 ER. He didn’t walk anyone, but then...

Casey Kotchman- ATL- Hot- Kotchman continued his tear, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored. He is now 11-for-26 over the past week with 4 doubles and his first 2 homers of 2009. One concern is that he...

Jordan Schafer (OF-ATL) – Schafer was 0-for-3 Sunday, leaving him just 5-for-36 for the month of May. Sure, everybody slumps, but he’s also struck out 19 times in those 36 at-bats and 42 times in 31 games this season. In...

Brett Cecil SP-TOR: After getting off to an atrocious start at AAA this season, it appears all Brett Cecil needed to get going was to face some stiffer competition. Cecil shut out the A’s for 8 innings on Sunday in...

Luke Hochevar - SP Kansas City Royals Well, well, well .. Looks whose back .. in a big way. The Royals' 6-5, 205 righty Luke Hochevar has pushed his 2009 record to 5-0 with 8 shutout innings in AAA this...

John Danks – Danks showed his ability to dominate last night. Despite receiving a no decision, he pitched 6 strong innings, striking out 10 while only allowing 1 walk and 1 ER. Last year, Danks broke out, sporting an impressive...

Jeff Weaver: Based on his recent history, 6.07 ERA with the Indians Triple-A team and a 6.22 ERA with the Brewers Triple-A team last year, it is hard to believe that Weaver will last very long in the Dodgers starting...

Coco Crisp (OF – Royals) Coco Crisp swiped 2 more bags on Friday night to give him 5 in his last 3 games. The fact that Coco had only attempted 4 SB in the first month of the season was...

Jon Niese SP-NYM Niese made his case for a rotation spot on Friday night by limiting the Pirates to just 2 ER’s in 6 strong innings. He allowed 7 hits, struck out 5, but most importantly didn’t walk a batter...

Josh Whitesell 1B- ARZ Josh Whitesell was promoted on Wednesday and immediately inserted into the middle of the struggling DBacks lineup. Whitesell is sort of the Diamondbacks version of Micah Hoffpauir, a career minor leaguer who has been mashing AAA...

Brian Bruney: Bruney, who is out with a sore elbow is not expected to return until June. He has been very productive in the 8th inning role, 1.83 ERA in 34.1 innings in 2008 and 12 K’s in just 8...

Roy Halladay- TOR- Great Player- Seeing a pitch count of 117 instinctively makes me flinch, but Halladay has a track record of not suffering from heavy workloads. It is the 4th time in 7 starts and third time consecutively that...

Ryan Braun – For me, one of the biggest surprises on this young season is the quick development of Ryan Braun’s plate discipline. He posted EYE’s of .26 and .33 in his first two big league seasons. So far, this...

American League 1 Matt Wieters BAL C A 7-for-19 in last five games and no, we're not worried about him having just one HR. 9 Matt LaPorta CLE OF A- We'll see how much playing time he get and how...

J.J. Hardy (SS – Brewers) J.J. Hardy had by far his best game of the season on Tuesday night, as he went 3 for 3 with 2 walks and 4 RBI. This line was very much necessary for Hardy owners...

Michael Young - Young singled and homered again last night, but I remain on record as forecasting a decline. Fully one-third of the flyballs he has hit have left the park this year, and his BABIP of .355 is a...

Homer Bailey (SP-CIN) – Bailey’s pounding on the promo door continues to get louder by the start. Saturday, Bailey tossed a complete-game shutout for Triple-A Louisville. This after fanning 15 in his last start. Bailey is 3-0 with a 1.86...

Scott Baker: Just when things looked like they were turning around for Scott Baker, one bad inning erased 6 great innings of work. Baker started his outing on Sunday with 6 no-hit innings, yielding just 1 BB and striking out...

Jason Heyward - OF Atlanta Braves The Braves boast one of baseball's top prospect in 19-year-old Jason Heyward. Already 6-4, 220 Jason won't be 20 until August 9th but the 14th overall pick in the 2007 draft entered the 2009...

Magglio Ordonez - Ordonez continues to be ice cold at the plate. He went 1 for 4 last night, which actually slightly raised his average to .241. So, is age catching up the 35 YO outfielder or is he simply...

Hanley Ramirez: Ramirez, who has been nursing a bruised wrist, returned to the starting lineup yesterday against the Cubs, which is very good news for the Marlins and his fantasy owners. At 25 years of age, he has still not...

Ubaldo Jimenez (SP - Rockies) - Jimenez hurled his second quality start of the season last night, going 7.0 IP on 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, and 5 K's. He was still handed the loss as the Rockies couldn't...

Brett Cecil (SP – Blue Jays) Brett Cecil could be the best prospect of which you’ve never heard. He was called up yesterday and is slated to get the start on Tuesday. Cecil, a converted closer, plowed through 3 different...

Josh Hamilton: The Rangers will decide this weekend if Hamilton’s injured ribs will require a DL stint, but are hopeful that he can rejoin the lineup early next week. You can count him out for this weekend. Hamilton had a...

As we did Tuesday with the NL, today we will be looking at some of the AL hitters with respect to their Singles Average (BHIPx), which can help identify what effect luck may be having on a player’s production. If...