Gerrit Cole is the first Pirates arm to win 11 games through the clubs first 66 games of a season since Vern Law in 1990. IF Cole can just stay healthy he will vie for the Cy Young award. Cole has never thrown 165 innings in a season but through 91 this season domination: 9.59 K/9, 2.18 BB/9, a 52 percent GB-rate, a 1.98 GB/FB ratio and 1.07 WHIP and 1.78 ERA.
Yunel Escobar is a .279 career hitter. He’s hit the last three seasons, and four of the last five, in the .250’s. So how in the hell is he batting .331? Good question. How about a 24.6 percent line drive mark. For his career he’s at 19.3 percent and only once in the last seven years has he reached 20.0 (it was exactly 20.0 last season). His .375 BABIP is .071 points above his career rate as well. The last three years the mark has been under .283. It’s just a matter of time before the bottom falls out. Despite all his success he has only three homers, 22 RBIs and one steal. What a hallow average.
With Doug Fister back it sounds like Tanner Roark will be demoted to the bullpen where he belongs (Roark is away for the birth of a child).
Freddie Freeman has a wrist issue that might, maybe, keep him out all weekend. He had a cortisone shot, and having had those myself, it usually does take a few days to get back to feeling alright. He had been hoping to return Saturday but it might be early next week instead. Despite concerns about the lineup around him Freeman is on pace for some strong numbers (.299-29-99-100-7).
Jaime Garcia is out of his mind right now. Before I get to performance, let’s talk usage. In each of the last two seasons he’s failed to reach 60-innings. The 
year before that he barely hit 120. Since 2010, the last five years folks, an average Garcia season is 115.2 innings pitched. He simply cannot stay healthy (don’t forget he was injured to start 2015). As for his performance, come on. Is he really the next Greg Maddux? His 6.15 K/9 rate is a batter below his career level. His 1.54 BB/9 is a batter below his career mark. His 0.44 HR/9 mark is 2/3 of his career rate (0.69). His 0.90 WHIP is 30 percent below his career rate of 1.28. Do you really think all of that is going to continue? Or how about a 14 percent line drive rate (career 18.3)? Think a guy with a .304 career BABIP is likely to last a whole season with a mark of .246? Or maybe you think a guy with a league average 71.1 percent left on base percentage for his career is suddenly going to become Clayton Kershaw with the rate at 81.9 percent? Sell, sell, sell…
My Big3 video from June 19, 2015 - Marlon Byrd, Manny Machado, Nick Ahmed.
Brian McCann just keeps on keeping on. McCann has a 1.079 OPS at home this season. In five of his last nine games he’s had at least two hits as he’s driven in eight runs in those nine contests. He’s currently on pace for 22 homers, 95 RBIs and 65 runs scored. He’s an extremely consistent power bat from the catcher’s position where there aren’t many. A little dubious about the batting average though. He’s hitting .270 after failing to hit .260 any of the last three years (twice he failed to bat .235). His 0.40 BB/K rate would be a career worst, his 18.4 percent line drive rate is well below the 22 percent mark he posted the last two seasons, his .291 BABIP is just barely above his .283 career mark, and his 32.5 percent hard hit ball rate is below his 34.4 percent career mark.
Anthony Ranaudo shuts out the Dodgers for 6.2 innings Thursday and gets demoted to Triple-A on Friday. Thanks for the outing kid. Ryan Rua was activated by the Rangers Friday. He had been out since April with an ankle sprain. He figures to fight for at-bats against lefties after beginning the season with promise.
Chien-Ming Wang was release by the Braves. You old enough to remember when he won 19 games in back-to-back seasons in 2006-07?
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).