DFS PLAYBOOK PRO – An exciting offering from the Alarm is the DFS Playbook Pro. I will be doing a daily breakdown of the hitters – Hitting Coach – while Howard Bender looks into the Pitchers (Pitching Coach). You can find the link to the Hitting and Pitching articles under the DFS Playbook pro tab at the top right of the screen.
OTHER LINKS TO BOOKMARK
STREAKING – TRUMBO
Mark Trumbo is a productive hitter. He’s not elite, he’s not refined, but he is productive. Here’s what I mean.
2011: 29 homers, 87 RBIs
2012: 32 homers, 95 RBIs
2013: 34 homers, 100 RBIs
Last year Trumbo appeared in a mere 88 games, but if you give him 150 games at the pace he produced last season we would be looking at 24 homers, 104 RBIs. Pretty close to the previous three seasons, no?
This season Trumbo has appeared in 121 games with 21 homers and 57 RBIs. That’s a 150 game pace of 26 homers and 71. Clearly that’s off his established pace, and that has concerned many an owner this season. However, have you noticed just how effective he has been of late?
Trumbo has an 11-game hitting streak. During that time he’s hitting .364. Trumbo has also hit four homers, driven in nine and scored eight runs. Pretty good run, no?
Thanks to his run his .261 batting average is .011 points above his career mark. His .306 OBP is seven points above his career mark. His .460 SLG is the same as his career mark. Honestly folks, this is who Trumbo is. If you don’t like don’t roster him.
STREAKING - SEAGER
Kyle Seager is one of the most consistent corner infielders in baseball. Is he an elite performer? No he is not. Is he an upper echelon player? Absolutely. Here’s what I mean.
Seager has a current 12-game hitting streak. During that time he’s hitting .511. He’s hitting .511 folks. He’s also posted a .571 OBP and has a .915 SLG. You really can’t do much better than that. He’s also hit five homers, driven in 15 runs, has scored 12 times and stolen a base. The only negative is that he’s been caught three times while attempting a steal.
His recent push has his season long line up to .276-23-64-73-6. The guy is just a rock of stability. Over the last four seasons he’s hit at least 20 homers each year. He’s five RBIs from a 4th straight 69 RBI season. He’s already posted a third straight effort of 71 runs. A counting category beast who is on fire at the moment.
STREAKING – BETTS
Mookie Betts was a guy I was a bit down on this spring compared to the general draft community. From his Player Profile. “Moving from that effort to outright fantasy stardom in 2015 though? 
I'm not buying a ticket on that train. Betts will be successful, his approach dictates it will be so, but expectations are so high (and climbing) that a "successful" season will have to result in all-star caliber numbers or heaping helpings of folks will be disappointed.” I said that after referencing the Bills James Handbook that listed the projections for Betts this season as .321 batting average, 15 homers, 40 steals and a .405 OBP. My response? That’s laughable.
Where is Betts now? Betts has a 15-game hitting streak in which he’s hit .387 with 12 RBIs and 14 runs scored. He is killing it. On the year he’s batting .286 with 14 homers, 17 steals, 70 RBIs and 74 runs scored. That’s a hell of a season. Hell of an effort. It is better that I thought he would be. It’s also not as good as you thought he would be. It’s OK to admit it. His vaunted plate discipline hasn’t been there (0.55 BB/K). Because of the lack of walks his OBP is .331. That’s barely better than league average and makes the talk of a .400 OBP, well, laughable. His speed hasn’t translated to a high BABIP either (.302). He isn’t squaring the ball up that well with an 18.3 percent line drive rate
Betts has been great… if your expectations aligned with mine before the season began. If you were in the Bill James camp you’re likely a bit disappointed.
STREAKING – KELLY
Joe Kelly has won 8-straight starts for the Red Sox. During that time he has a 2.59 ERA, is striking out seven per nine, has a 1.27 WHIP and is simply performing like a star. Where did this come from? Dude has always had a huge arm but he had never been able to find any consistency. Consider that addressed. During the 8-game stretch only once, the first start of the streak, has he allowed more than two earned runs. No one saw this coming.
AM I A GOOD HITTER?
Salvador Perez has a career best 19 home runs. He’s also 11 RBIs from a third straight 70-RBI season. So he’s had a good year, right? Well…
Check out the batting average of Perez on a yearly basis.
2011: .331
2012: .301
2013: .292
2014: .260
2015: .248
I’m not the smartest guy of all time, but that’s year after year of a dip in his batting average. Perhaps he’s given up average for power? Well…
2011: 3
2012: 11
2013: 13
2014: 17
2015: 19
That’s way too simplistic, but it is telling, isn’t it? Still, it’s pretty telling that one is up, the other down. At one point we thought Perez was a .290-.300 hitter with 15 homer power. He’s looked a lot like a .250-20 guy since the start of last season. I really don’t need the extra five homers that badly, do you?
REALLY INTERESTING
Brad Ziegler has a 2.37 ERA and 0.97 WHIP for the D’backs this season. His career marks are 2.54 and 1.22. He’s a very good reliever. No doubt there. It’s amazing what he is doing though. Not only is he 25-for-27 in saves, but he’s doing it with a 4.60 K/9 mark. The guy just doesn’t miss bats – at all. Yet there he is putting guys away. How? His ground ball rate of 73 percent is, frankly, obnoxious. For his career the number is already insanely high at 66.6 percent, and he’s been even better. At some point guys with this skill set slump when the balls stop finding fielders gloves, but for now dude is flat out getting it done.
HEALTH NEWS
A.J. Burnett is back on the bump for the Pirates Thursday (he was out with inflammation in his forearm). He’s posted a 3.06 ERA and 1.34 WHIP over 135.1 innings this season. His last outing was July 30th. He takes on the Brewers Thursday.
Nelson Cruz returned to action Thursday after missing a week of action with that strained right quad of his. He’s been absolutely tremendous this season having the best effort of his career (.310-39-82-77 with a .967 OPS).
Josh Hamilton is having a procedure on his knee Friday. He hopes to make it back by the end of the season. Does anyone care? What a waste. In 40 games this season he’s hit .257 with six homers and a .729 OPS.
Matt Holliday will return, he hopes, to the field this week. He’s been out with a quad issue that has limited him to 11 games since June 8th. He’s shown no power at all this season with just four homers in 207 at-bats, but he’s hit .290 with a .409 OBP and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Thursday at 8 PM EDT and Friday at 9 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).