Willson Contreras has hit .212 with no homers and three RBI since the All-Star game, and if judging by the questions I’m receiving on Twitter folks in one catcher leagues are ready to move on. Seriously folks? Wasn’t this the guy the everyone had to have two months ago, despite my protestations (Player Profile)? Fickle you all are. Let’s do something simple. Contreras has appeared in 42 games at the big league level. Let’s triple that and say he plays 126 games at his current pace. That effort would result in a .264 batting average, 15 homers, and 57 RBI with a .777 OPS. What’s wrong with that from a catcher? What the heck were you expecting folks?

Brandon Crawford has one homer in 23 games for the Giants. He’s also barely hit .200 in that time. The slump has him sitting at 10 homers and a .265 batting average on the year which are very middling numbers. At least he has 68 RBI putting him well within shouting distance of his career best 84 mark from last season. Alas, he has just seven RBI his last 21 games as his bat continues to slow. This is who he is, the current overall guy, not the early season surger people were hopeful they had drafted.

Ian Desmond isn’t a .300 hitter, despite what so many out there seemingly thought a month ago. Desmond has gone out and “hit” .143 over his last 15 games. It gets worse. Over his last 33 games Desmond has hit .222. That lengthy slump has dropped his batting average to .294 on the year. Realize that he failed to hit .256 each of the last two seasons, right? There’s even more down likely coming in the batting average column. A .326 BABIP is an impressive number, one that he has drastically overshot this season at .363. Also want to note that he owns a career 14.1 percent HR/FB ratio and that the mark has never been above 18.2 percent before. Desmond currently owns a 23.3 percent mark meaning that his homer pace could easily slow as well.

Danny Espinosa has 18 homers and 56 RBI, his highest totals in five years. He’s been really good given the non-existent expectations. However, it’s been more than a month since he homered, he hit two on July 3rd, and since July 1st he’s hit a mere .200 with a .290 OBP and .327 SLG. Hopefully you’ve moved on by now.

Bryce Harper is now dealing with a neck issue, and for all his skills, and production, it’s looking like the dramatic turnaround some were hoping for isn’t going to happen. Harper has hit just one homer with five RBI his last 22 games with a .134 average. It’s rare to see a talent this impressive be this bad for an extended period of time.

Jason Heyward has a .217 wOBA since the All-Star break with a homer, a steal and four RBI. I’m not going to waste more time on Heyward. He just stinks.

Yordano Ventura has been improving. Brandon McCarthy has been really bad lately. Jon Gray just won’t continue his success in Colorado. DAILY DIVE VIDEO.

Andrew McCutchen has hit .206 with a homer, two steals, six RBI, seven runs scored and general suckiness his last 16 games. He just cannot seem to get on track. The only explanation that makes sense to me is that the 29 year old is hurt. Has to be. Walks down, strikeouts up, BABIP down, HR/FB down, hard hit ball rate down etc. It could come at any point, his talent is immense, but after four months of just average work there isn’t much to lean on statistically to suggest anything good is gonna happen.

Eduardo Nunez has hit .190 with a .229 wOBA his last 22 games as his bat has vanished. Still maintaining value though with his wheels as he’s swiped six bases. Hard to trust that the bat will rebound to what we saw the first three months of the year.

David Ortiz has been an absolute monster with a .309 average, 25 homers, 87 RBI and a 1.014 OPS. Over his last 24 at-bats he has two hits, a .083 average. Going back further, to the All-Star Game, Ortiz has hit .216 with a .277 OBP and .365 SLG over 20 games. Folks, this was always going to happen. There was no way Ortiz was going to be able to maintain his first half production. The question now, with the 40 year old, is can he stem the tide of failure quickly or will there be no end in sight? The 40 year old slugger has dealt with body soreness of late, and he has to do an extreme amount of work just to get on the field. You might look to deal him now if you can for full price before the slow down becomes something everyone is aware of.

Jonathan Schoop has hit .217 with a .234 OBP since the All-Star Game with a .380 SLG as his level of production is slowing, as it always would. In those 23 games he’s struck out 20 times while walking only once as it’s all crashing down around him. Scary too given that his .285 batting average is still likely to dip given his overall approach. His OBP is down to league average at .316, and he has just one theft this season. There’s more. The last homer he hit was July 24th, a span of 13 games without a homer and he has just two homers in 19 games.

Mark Trumbo has hit .179 since the All-Star break. He’s still hitting .267 which is .014 points above his career batting average. You didn’t really think he was going to hit .290 this year, did you?

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 8 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).