MOVING ON UP

Corey Dickerson is batting .237 with a .288 OBP this season. The guy has a career .279 batting average folks. It’s been a terrible first season with the Rays even though he has 18 homers and 52 RBI over 393 at-bats. The 27 year old has seemingly found his groove of late though. In 3-of-4 games he’s produced at least two hits and over his last four games he has four RBI and has scored six times. Stretching back further. Over his last 14 games he’s hitting .354 with a .457 wOBA as he’s scored 14 times while hitting three homers with eight doubles. Perhaps a big final month is in the cards.

Alcides Escobar is actually hitting. Seriously. Escobar has a hit in 7-straight games and hits in 9-of-10 games during which time he’s hit .378 with a .425 OBP and .676 SLG. That’s elite offense from a guy who has a pop gun bat. He could be on waivers given his season long numbers. Kick the tires if you need a middle infield boost.

Jose Reyes has appeared in 32 games for the Mets and he’s been really effective. Multiply things by four and you get 128 games played, about the number of games that you get out of Reyes in an entire season. If he kept his current pace up over those 128 games played he would hit 16 homers with 24 steals. That’s really good stuff up the middle. Add in a .281 batting average and 92 runs scored and guess what… Reyes hasn’t just been ‘effective,’ he’s actually been impressive.

Tyler Saladino of the White Sox has played everywhere. Check out the games played this season: 1B (2 games), 2B (25), 3B (10), SS (30), OF (3). I’m loving that versatility in AL LABR. Over his last 12 games he’s also hit with a .326/.354/.522 slash line with two homers, nine RBI and three steals. He’s not that good, but he’s rolling aces right now.

SLIDING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN

Jose Altuve has hit .182 his last eight games. Hey, when you’re as good as he is any struggles are news. He still has two homers and seven runs batted in during his “slump.” Totally amazed by that guy am I.

Orlando Arcia has been at the big league level for 26 games with the Brewers. He’s produced 10 RBI and 13 runs while stealing three bases. All of that plays. However, the rest of the game – not so much. Arcia has hit .196. Arcia has a .267 OBP. Arcia has a .315 SLG. He really hasn’t hit much, far from surprising given that his glove was thought to be ahead of his bat at this point of his development.

Carlos Beltran has five hits his last two games, so it’s just been more of the same solid production from the OF/DH, right? Well… over his last 10 games Beltran has hit .125 with a .160 wOBA. Yeah, it’s been ugly folks. It’s likely just a tough two weeks, but recall that Beltran is 39 years old and seemingly always dealing with something on the physical side. He also has an .847 OPS which would be a 5-year best, so more disappointment is certainly a possible outcome in September.

Aaron Judge, everyone had to have him. Big time power, yes. Struggles with the strike zone? Yes. A history of slowish starts at new levels, yes. He hit a homer in his first two games this season. He’s gone 12-straight without a homer now. He’s also produced four hits in 36 at-bats. Remove his first two games and here’s the slash line: .154/.244/.205. Oh yeah, he’s also struck out 21 times in 39 at-bats. Can anyone say Joey Gallo?

Ian Kinsler has had a marvelous season (.272-23-66-95-13), but he’s stopped hitting. Over his last 19 games Kinsler has a .125 batting average, .259 OBP and .264 SLG. Just stopped has he. Not overly surprising though as his .272/.333/.462 slash line is nearly identical to his .275/.343/.448 career slash line.

Cameron Maybin hurt his thumb again Monday. The guy is simply untrustable, if that is a word.  

Jos Pederson has been hitless over his last seven games as he has nine strikeouts in 14 at-bats as owners run for the hills after last year’s second half struggles. The recent struggles hide some growth. Pederson’s average is up .028 points for last season. His OPS is up .037 points from last season. You may not believe it, but his .800 OPS is four points better than Marcell Ozuna, .013 points better than Miguel Sano, .026 points better than Matt Kemp, .028 points better than Adam Jones

I need a new handle. People only think I do baseball with my @BaseballGuys handle. Any suggestions? Everything seems to be taken.

DFS DIAMONDS

*The following list of players are guys that Ray recommends as daily plays.

CATCHER: Yadier Molina has hit .341 in the second half and .322 in August. He’s batting .286 against righties and .285 on the road. He’s hit .281 over 32 at-bats against Wily Peralta who really isn’t very good.

FIRST BASE: Freddie Freeman has hit two homers with a 1.386 OPS against sucky Edwin Jackson (18 PAs). Freeman has hit three homers with nine runs scored his last seven games.

SECOND BASE: Make sure he plays, since he’s been away from the team, but Dustin Pedroia is set for success. He’s hit .364 with a .955 OPS against Jake Odorizzi (22 PAs) and he’s produced 13 hits his last four games this season.

THIRD BASE: Adrian Beltre has hit .322 with a .400 OBP and .565 SLG against lefties. He’s crushed it in August with a .316/.385/.602 slash line with seven homers. He takes on James Paxton with a 4-for-7 line.   

SHORTSTOP: Jonathan Villar has a hit in 9-of-10 games. He’s been impressive in August with a .306/.385/.472 slash line along with 12 steals. For more on Adam Wainwright and his suckitude see Arms Up and Down.   
  
OUTFIELD: Miguel Sano has as much power as anyone in the game. He has two hits in 2-of-3 games as he searches for consistency. He faces Mr. Batting Practice, i.e. Josh Tomlin who has allowed seven homers his las three starts (his last two outings it’s five homers and 14 runs in 8.2 innings).

OUTFIELD: Steve Pearce has destroyed lefties this season (.329/.427/.643 with six homers in 70 at-bats). Against J.A. Happ he’s hit .360 with four homers and a 1.353 OPS in 30 plate appearances.

OUTFIELD: Denard Span has two hits in 3-straight games and in seven of 10 games. He’s hit .325 against Zack Greinke over 40 at-bats. Batters are hitting .333 against Greinke since he returned to action (four games).     

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 11 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).