Billy Burns is batting .298 with a .336 OBP. Those are extremely solid numbers from a guy who wasn’t drafted in most mixed leagues. At the same time, check out his work since July 9th: .229 with a .270 OBP and .257 SLG. Burns is hitting anymore. Why? He’s just not the hitter we saw earlier on. He’s more of the hitter we’re seeing right now than the guy who hit .313 the first 275 plate appearances of the season. Be careful if you own Burns.

Didi Gregorius the last two weeks is batting, get this, .419 with 13 RBIs and 10 runs scored in 13 games. He still stinks as a hitter with a .260/.309/.352 slash line, but at least he’s doing something for those in AL-only leagues.

Chase Headley is batting .417 with a homer, 12 RBIs and 13 runs scored his last 13 contests. Who knew? That run of effectiveness leaves him with a slash line of .276/.329/.397. Those are far from inspiring numbers but they do put him pretty much on his career pace (.267/.346/.408). He’s nothing more, really, than an AL-only option or a mixed league fill-in at the corner spot.

We’ve all seen a woman do this before, haven’t we?

Aaron Hicks has had a strong run the past 12 games hitting .348 with a .380 OBP and .542 SLG. He’s also gone deep twice with two steals as he’s scored and driven in nine runs. Long on talent, could Hicks finally be putting it together? In 34 games at Triple-A this season he hit .333 with 23 runs scored, so when he’s been healthy this season he’s been effective. Still, he’s hit .224 with a .647 OPS over 738 career plate appearances in the bigs and needs to prove he’s worthy of an extended look in mixed leagues. He shouldn’t be on waivers at the moment, at least that much should be obvious.

The last 14 games Eric Hosmer is batting .443 with three homers, 11 RBIs and 12 runs scored. That run puts him on pace to go .315-17-90-90 this season. In 2013 he hit .302-17-79-86. Pretty much the same, right? One negative. His first three seasons he stole 11, 16 and 11 bases. Since the start of last season he’s swiped eight bags.

Is this the new hole in one?

Ryan Howard has been a mess for most of the season, but not of late. Over the past two weeks, 11 games played, he’s hit two homers with 12 RBIs. Moreover, he’s batting .341 with a .426 OBP and .585 SLG. He’s really letting some shaft out right now. Might surprise some to learn that he has 18 homers, the same as Jose Abreu. He has 60 RBIs, one more than Prince Fielder. He has hit .241, just three points less than Edwin Encarnacion. Howard continues to be a nice, albeit limited, power bat.  

Steven Matz had been shut down for four weeks with a lat strain. He threw off flat ground Monday. I’m guessing, but it’s likely three weeks before we seem him again, if he doesn’t have any setbacks. That would seem to be a best-case scenario to me. One note from Adam Rubin on Twitter. “Terry Collins acknowledges that in all likelihood pitchers' innings will be managed in-season and no one in jeopardy of missing playoffs.” Guys are going to start having their starts skipped or innings limited the final two months of the season.

PLAYERS OF THE MONTH

AL: Mike Trout .367-12-24-20

NL: Carlos Gonzalez .386-11-24-20

Virtually identical were there virtuoso efforts.

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Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday at 8 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).