Pedro Alvarez had three hits Wednesday night and he has a hit in 4-of-5 games. Finally. Alvarez has been terrible in his first season in Baltimore with a .213/.306/.370 slash line and has found himself on the bench frequently. So much oddness. Alvarez has a 12.1 walk rate, best of his career. Alvarez has a 22.6 K-rate, best of his career. So why hasn’t there been more success? The biggest reason is a lack of pop. Alvarez has an 11.5 HR/FB ratio, almost exactly half his career mark of 22.1 percent. Only once the past four seasons has he ended the year under 25 percent by the way. A power surge is coming.

Darwin Barney can’t hit, he has one hell of a glove, but he is hitting this season and my AL-LABR club is loving it for my $1. First it was at second due to the injury to Devon Travis and now at shortstop due to the Troy Tulowitzki injury, Darwin has been finding his way into the lineup. And he’s hitting a remarkable .344. That’s one point lower than his career SLG of .345 by the way. I’m realistic though. A catastrophic slump is likely on the way.

Gordon Beckham is proving to be a letdown yet again, just at a point when folks were starting to look his way (again). Beckham was placed on the 15-day DL with a hamstring strain he suffered while trying to beat out a double-play grounder (he will be replaced on the roster by Brandon Snyder who isn’t worthy of any attention in the mixed leagues). Beckham was playing second and third for the Braves, and even four games at shortstop, while batting .284 with a .382 OBP and .813 OPS. Alas, he’s headed to the shelf and seems destined to once again be on waiver wires across the nation.

Brian Dozier has been an abysmal failure this season with a .205/.299/.335 slash line. A positive is that he has a hit in 6-of-7 games. Hey, it’s something. He’s not lost the plate, his 0.54 BB/K ratio is better than his career mark (0.48), and his 7.9 percent swinging strike rate is right on his 7.2 career mark. Patience, if possible, is the best course here.

Freddie Freeman is struggling. On the year he has a .251/.339/.431 slash line. He’s also striking out more than ever before. The positive. Despite a line drive rate that is slightly above the league average his BABIP is .024 points below his career rate. Some equalization there is likely. Note he also has a 15.8 percent HR/FB rate, just above his 14.4 percent mark, and that his last 169 games have produced 27 homers, 82 RBI and 87 runs scored. Those are still pretty solid numbers, no?

Chase Headley was an automatic out in April with a .150 batting average and .418 OPS. Things have gotten much bigger in May with a .298/.355/.440 slash line. Still, I can’t see the name Headley and think anything else other than AL-only play. Over his last 402 plate appearances the slash line sits at .232/.318/.319 with a total of five homers and 30 RBI. Yikes.

Hyun-soo Kim is suddenly consistently in the lineup due to the big numbers his bat is posting. Over his last seven games Kim is batting a robust .385 with a .484 OBP. Really not any different than what he has done all year (.382 and .469). With Joey Rickard struggling, Kim is going to be in the lineup on a daily basis until he stops hitting. He’s a strong add in 12 and 15 team leagues if you have a hole in the outfield, though note that he has but one homer and no thefts in 19 games so his outlook is limited.

George Springer keeps getting caught trying to steal. Hamilton can steal bases, but can he get on base? Mike Trout is who we thought he was and is only going… up… up… up. CHECK OUT THE VIDEO.

Jake Lamb is Mr. Split. The guy cannot hit a lefty to save his life (four hits in 32 at-bats), hello Michael Conforto, but when a righty is on the bump Lamb mashes (.317/.384/.539).

Victor Martinez is 37 years old. You would never know from his production. Through 51 games VMart is batting .344 with a .387 OBP and .541 SLG. Martinez is a .303 career hitter, but come on with the .344 mark. He has a .368 career OBP so he’s best that. He has a .469 SLG so he’s besting that. He owns a .928 OPS which would only be the second time in his career that the mark was over .880. You know he can’t sustain this pace. The .350 BABIP would be a career best. The 0.60 BB/K ratio would tie his mark from last season, a career-low. There’s no way he holds on to his 28 percent line drive rate (only once in the previous 11 years has the mark been over 22.5 percent) etc. Ride the wave, and if healthy he will be effective, but his current level of performance just isn’t reasonable.
 
Hunter Pence is back on the shelf with a hamstring issue and it’s unclear if his stay there will be more than 15 days. The club has called up Mac Williamson to the active roster but it’s likely that Jarrett Parker will get the majority of time in the Pence’s spot. So the question becomes, is Parker part of the ‘I need to pick this guy up crowd in my 12-team league’ group? Parker is a 27 year old lefty swinger who was a second round selection in 2010. He’s had a total of 83 big league plate appearances with seven homers while he has appeared in 184 games at Triple-A with a .282/.371/.528 slash line as he’s hit 39 homers with 113 RBI. He led the PCL in strikeouts last season and still needs to do some work against lefties, and he has a below average hit tool overall, though the pop seems legit. A risky add unless in a 15-team league with five starting outfielders is the opinion of this scribe, especially since his spot in the lineup is unlikely to be maintained once the Giants outfield is healthy.

David Peralta will head out to Triple-A this weekend and the hope is that if his wrist responds that he will return to the big leagues Monday. Peralta hit .312 with 17 homers and 78 RBI last season and through 270 big league games he’s hitting .295 with a .347 OBP and .485 SLG. The dude can hit.

Alexei Ramirez hit two homers and had five RBI on the first day of June. The 34 year old continues to play daily and perform moderately with four steals, 22 RBI and a .250 batting average. Just six walks though and his days of hitting .275 appear over.

Michael Saunders has basically stayed healthy and the results have been great. He has nine homers, one more than the last two seasons though he still hasn’t stolen a base and has just four thefts in 11 attempts his last 137 games, so his days of 20/20 potential performance are gone. His .377 BABIP is .079 points above his career norm, and his 18.4 percent HR/FB ratio is way beyond his 11.6 percent career mark. Remember, he’s only had two seasons of 130 games played, he’s never hit 140 before, so there is health to worry about in addition to the performance regression.

Blake Swihart’s stay at the big league level seems likely to last a bit longer with news that Brock Holt has been transferred from the 7-day concussion DL to the 15-day disabled list. Sounds like he might still a bit longer than that before he is ready. Swihart is still only batting .226 with a .673 OPS as about the only member of the Sox who isn’t performing at an all-star level. He’s only hitting .200 with a .300 OBP over the 10 games he’s played since returning to the big leagues.

Ben Zobrist is on pace to hit 22 homers with 110 RBI and 115 runs. He also has a .959 OPS. He’s not Andrew McCutchen. He’s been fantastic but be reasonable (I implore you).

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday 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).