MLB Streaks & Trends: O'Neil Cruz Closing The Season On A High Note

While the Major League Baseball season’s end draws closer and closer, many people are looking to hoist their league trophy in the air and after hopefully what was a successful fantasy baseball season. The playoff picture is becoming clearer and clearer, and there are numerous milestones that we are eagerly watching. Will Aaron Judge get No. 62? Does Judge win the American League triple crown? Where does Albert Pujols end up? In what is likely to be the final edition of Streaks and Trends for this season, we take a look at some hot and cold hitters, including Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz, and of course, the longest active hit streak belongs to none other than Shohei Ohtani. Let’s take a look at some of the notable hit streaks and current trends across Major League Baseball.

Who’s Hot

O’Neil Cruz, PIT 

Let me tell you what, ladies and gents. When Cruz is hot at the dish, he’s as scary as they come. He has four multi-hit efforts in his last five games, where he’s hitting .455 with a .457 wOBA during that stretch. With more hits comes less strikeouts, and this is the type of potential that this guy has. He’ll never completely wipe the strikeouts out completely, but you can see the fantasy potential with this guy, as he has 17 home runs and nine stolen bases in just 83 games this season. This is a great way to end the season, and I’m fully ready to invest heavily into Cruz next year, with the hopes of 30+ home runs, 15+ stolen bases, and hopefully a batting average that is closer to .240 than .210.

Triston Casas, BOS

Casas had a rough start to his big league career, but he’s turned it around of late. Through his fist 14 games, he was hitting just .079, but over his last nine games, he’s slashing .400/.595/.800 with three home runs, one double, seven RBI, and eight runs scored.

Casas projects to be a plus power hitter with a decent batting average, and if you’re lucky, he’ll swipe a couple bags over the course of the season. He’s got a massive frame, above-average plate discipline, and if he can tap into his raw power consistently, he’ll push to be a perennial 30 homer guy at his peak.

Bryan De La Cruz, MIA

Cruz has some pretty gnarly splits this year, as his .261/.296/.473 slash line against righties blow out his .183/.247/.256 mark against southpaws. He’s hit safely in nine of his last 11 games, and during this impressive run, he’s hit .429 with a 247 wRC+, not to mention three home runs, seven doubles, and 11 RBI. Overall, it’s been a bit of a down year for De La Cruz, but perhaps this hot end of the season helped some fantasy baseball managers during their title run.

Who’s Not

Austin Riley, ATL

I don’t want to take anything away from Riley’s monstrous 2022 season, but he has cooled off a bit of late, hitting just .087 with a 42 wRC+ over his last six games. Is this anything to worry about? Probably not, as most players go through peaks and valleys over the course of the grueling 162-game season. However, perhaps the timing of it doesn’t benefit Atlanta, as they are in the thick of a postseason push, and jostling for positioning. It’s hard to complain about Riley’s season at all, as he’s approaching 40 home runs on the year, with a respectable .275 average and 144 wRC+. He did hit a home run Friday after all so maybe he can get hot again before the postseason.

Elvis Andrus, CWS

Andrus had been nothing short of excellent since joining the White Sox, as he hit .267 with six home runs and nine stolen bases in just 38 games with the team. However, while he’s still fleet afoot, that underwhelming batted ball profile reared its ugly head, and as the luck waned, so did his production. Over his last nine games, his average exit velocity is a measly 81.8 miles per hour, his BABIP sits at .148, and he has a -34 wRC+! You can’t steal first base in the majors, and due to a .128 OBP, he has just one stolen base during this nine game run.

Christian Yelich, MIL

Yelich is slashing .059/.200/.059 with a -12 wRC+ and 27.5 percent strikeout rate over his last 10 games. He has just two hits over his last 40 plate appearances, and he’s coming up on nearly a full calendar month since the last time he barreled a baseball, per FanGraphs. Yelich was fine this year for fantasy managers for the most part, and while I don’t want to be a pessimist, I’m having a feeling that the 2018-2019 power days might be behind him.

Statistical Credits:
baseballsavant.mlb.com
fangraphs.com
baseballmusings.com

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