ARMS

Trevor Bauer has started to struggle, big time. Over his last three outings he’s allowed six, six and five runs over just 16 innings. Overall he’s been nothing more than passable with an 11-8 record, 4.24 ERA, a 1.32 WHIP and a 7.81 K/9 mark. Really, he’s been pretty much league average, something I wouldn’t have said two weeks ago before the beatings began.

Jose De Leon has a great arm. Surprisingly, well only to those of you that haven’t read any of my work, he’s struggled for consistency with promotion to the big leagues. Over three starts he has a 5.52 ERA and 1.30 WHIP with the biggest issue being the long ball as he’s allowed four in three outings. Great talent, but not exactly dominating right now.

Danny Duffy is 7-0 at home this year, still hasn’t lost. Duffy has walked just five batters his last four starts and has thrown 3-straight quality starts. Still, over five starts he has one win, a 5.52 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP.

Kyle Hendricks continues to make me look like a genius with his tremendous season. It’s been insane. He leads baseball with a 2.06 ERA. Over his last 12 starts the mark is an insane 1.46.

Ariel Miranda is pitching very well for the Mariners. Did you notice? He has a 3.88 ERA and 1.17 WHIP this season. Over his last four outings he’s gone 4-0 with a 2.16 ERA and 0.88 WHIP. He’s still got a 7.20 K/9 rate and 2.88 BB/9 with a horrendous 0.41 GB/FB ratio. All those fly balls, 57 percent, have led to five homers and a 1.80 HR/9 mark. With all those fly balls, a beating could happen at any point.

Daniel Norris can’t go deep into games, but he can keep his team in games. Norris hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any of his 11 outings. He did allow four last time out, though it was just one earned. Norris has yet to throw more than 6.1 innings in an outing though he does have 17 strikeouts his last 11.1 frames.

Ivan Nova was supposed to be a superstar, wasn’t he? Whoops. After allowing two or fewer earned runs in 5-straight starts he allowed five runs, four earned, while being bombed for 10 hits in his outing of just three innings. Despite his success with the Pirates, it’s absurd to think he will be able to continue along with his 45/3 K/BB ratio. It’s also hard to envision the four homers in nine starts thing continuing since his 0.65 HR/9 rate is light years from his 1.10 career mark (the rate was 1.24 last year and 2.61 in 2014). A great run, but he’s just not this talented.

Jake Odorizzi continues to chug along with quality starts. In twelve starts since the break he’s thrown 10 quality starts. He’s also been the booster of staffs everywhere. Odorizzi has a 6-1 record with a 2.68 ERA and 1.09 WHIP as he’s been an excellent source of success. The only negative is that his K/9 rate has dipped to 6.93 over those 12 outings.

Wily Peralta is pitching well as he’s posted a 3.13 ERA with 31 strikeouts his last 31.2 innings. He’s also walked just seven batters in that time. He’s still given up five homers, and with his overall work this season how could you possibly trust him? #JustSayin

Jose Quintana is slowly puttering away a lot of his good early season work. Quintana has been bombed in three of his last four starts and he’s allowed 18 runs over 23.2 innings (6.85 ERA). Look at that. After posting ERAs of 3.51, 3.32 and 3.36 the last three seasons his ERA this season is… 3.26. The 1.15 WHIP is still his first mark under 1.22, but what started out so excellently for Jose is starting to look like a normal Quintana season.

Joe Ross threw three innings in his first start in seemingly 19 years (his brother Tyson Ross is still trying to find his way back to the bigs). Joe has a solid 3.48 ERA and 1.29 WHIP this season leading him to a 12-10 record with a 3.55 ERA and 1.21 WHIP over 175 innings. Ross cannot be trusted right now, but if he can stay healthy next season he could be a big performer.

Dan Straily has allowed more than three earned runs, and this is rather remarkable, one time in his last 15 starts. Seriously true. As amazing is the fact that his 14/15 run of three earned runs or less has merely led him to a 3.29 ERA in that time. The 1.12 WHIP is elite, as is the 9-3 record in those 15 starts. It’s been a hell of a run.

Marcus Stroman has won just two games his last 11 starts. Not really his fault though. I mean, the guy has a 3.38 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, a mere 1.95 walks per nine, less than a homer per nine (0.91) and 70 strikeouts in 691. Innings. This is the arm people paid for in March.


A FORMER ELITE BAT

Bryce Harper has a neck/shoulder issue, we all know that, and he continues to play through it. Because he lacks strength, he is having a hard time hitting outside fastballs. As the article referenced points out, Harper hit .329 with nine homers last season on outside heater. This season the marks are .203 and three. He also looks off-balance, a fact that a review of the video shows, or the words of Dusty Baker make clear. Harper has one homer and a .180 batting average in September with the only thing going right being that he’s still posted a .333 OBP, .153 points clear of his batting average, an impressive split. He’s just a mess right now as his season of failing to live up to expectations continues.

 

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 9 PM EDT PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).