MLB Streaks & Trends: Matt Chapman Is On A Mission

It’s Saturday, so it’s time to grab your coffee, tea, or whatever your morning/early afternoon beverage of choice is and dive into some notable streaks and trends across Major League Baseball. Over the course of a 162-game season, there are going to be hot and cold stretches, slumps and streaks, peaks and valleys, you know the deal. Matt Chapman is hitting like a man on fire at the moment, while Oakland’s Tony Kemp is pushing to be a fantasy baseball waiver wire pickup with the way he’s seeing the ball of late. On the other hand, top prospects JJ Bleday and Riley Greene are stuck in some slumps at the moment, while C.J. Cron needs to start lifting the baseball again. Be sure to check out our fantasy baseball waiver wire article and stock watch videos for even more content to help boost your fantasy baseball teams. Let’s take a look at some of the notable hit streaks and current trends across Major League Baseball.

Who’s Hot

Matt Chapman, TOR - Through the month of May, Chapman was hitting just .201 with a .354 slugging percentage. He hit six home runs through his first 185 plate appearances of the season. However, since June 1st, he’s hit 13 home runs in 186 plate appearances, while hitting .291 with a .594 slugging percentage. Over his last 11 games, he’s hitting an insane .450 with six home runs, 14 RBI, 12 runs scored, a .975 slugging percentage and 311 wRC+! He’s on a prolific run to say the least, and this Toronto lineup will continue to put him in advantageous situations.

Tony Kemp, OAK - Over the last seven days, Kemp is hitting .471 with five doubles, two home runs, and six RBI. He’s struck out just twice in that span, and his dual-position eligibility should provide fantasy baseball managers with some nice flexibility when setting your lineups for the day or week. The supporting cast won’t do him a ton of favors, but if your fantasy team needs a boost in the batting average department with the chance for a stolen base or two, look to add Kemp to your team. You can see in the chart below that his xBA is trending in the right direction after falling significantly.

Gavin Lux, LAD - In reality, Lux has been excellent for the Dodgers of late, hitting .440 with a .483 OBP and .600 slugging percentage over his last 25 at-bats. During this stretch, he has seven RBI, two runs scored, and three extra-base hits. In fantasy, outside of his batting average, he hasn’t done much otherwise for fantasy purposes, as he has zero home runs and zero stolen bases in this successful run. However, with the way he’s seeing the baseball, he should be rostered in all formats, but a home run or stolen base here or there would be nice.

Who’s Not

JJ Bleday, MIA - Since getting the call to the show, Bleday has hit safely in four of seven games, but he’s hitting just .192 with a 3.7 percent walk rate. He does have one home run and one stolen base, but a 33.3 percent strikeout is higher than one would like. His strikeout rate settled in the mid-to-upper 20 percent range at Triple-A before getting the call, so while there are going to be some strikeouts early for Bleday, he’ll need to get that under 30 percent sooner rather than later. He’ll continue to get time in the Miami lineup, especially while Jorge Soler is unavailable. He should be rostered in most formats, and remains a solid dynasty asset, but in more shallow re-draft setups, he isn’t a must own by any means.

C.J. Cron, COL - Cron is mired in a bit of a slump, as he has just two hits in his last 26 at-bats with a 9:3 K/BB ratio. When you look at his rolling average of late, specifically in terms of contact rate, hard hit rate and strikeout rate, it’s not much of a surprise to see his struggles.

Fortunately, his home games are played at Coors, and that can help snap out of a funk sooner rather than later, but for a guy like Cron, he needs to cut back a bit on the ground balls. His 1.13 GB/FB ratio over his last nine games is significantly higher than his 0.96 GB/FB ratio for the season as a whole.

Riley Greene, DET - Greene is hitting .230 over his last 14 games, and he has one home run, eight runs scored, five RBI, and is 0-for-2 on stolen base attempts during this stretch. The problem here is that his 4.7 percent walk rate is anemic compared to his 10.1 percent mark for the season as a whole, and his 37.5 percent strikeout rate during this stretch is way too high. When he has made contact, the numbers look good, as he has a 35.1 percent hard hit rate and a 13.5 percent barrel rate. Greene has too much talent to be mired in a slump for long, but it’s imperative that the walks and strikeouts start trending in a more positive direction.

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