On Saturday, I checked in on some surprising HR/FB ratio surgers and attempted to determine what we can expect from these hitters next season. Today I’ll look at the opposite end, those hitters whose HR/FB ratio have experienced a large decline. Will they be bargains in next year’s drafts or money traps?
Every season there are a handful of hitters who experience power breakouts. As much as a fantasy owner would love to take credit for predicting such a surge, it seems more like a crapshoot to me. Sure, you could use 20/20 hindsight to find clues for some of these hitters, but those same clues likely failed to lead to home run increases for many others. Let’s see if we could figure out what to expect in 2013 from three surprises from this year.
I am not one to ever make much of a small sample size, especially just two weeks worth. However, pitchers usually show a change in skills more quickly than hitters (or at least it can be identified more easily). Plus, as we make our way through the final month of the season, we have to deal with the reality that pitchers do tire and/or, younger pitchers are getting figured out. Here are three American League starters who have posted surprisingly poor SIERA marks over the last two weeks.
There’s only about 3 1/2 weeks left of the season, so it’s scrambling time if you’re lucky enough to be in contention. Any hitter with a pulse who’s receiving every day or near regular at-bats could get hot and be the guy to bring home the trophy for your team. Here are two possibilities for that honor.
September roster expansion and resulting call-ups are almost upon us. But although the party has not begun just yet, we have still seen many new faces among American League starting pitchers in recent weeks. Here are a couple worth discussing.
The fun part about MLB trades for fantasy owners is all the new opportunities afforded to players on the teams involved. New roles open up and suddenly intriguing fantasy options are available for the taking from the free agent pool.
The Reds’ Billy Hamilton has been one of the biggest stories of the minor league season this year. You are probably well aware by now that the 21-year old broke Vince Coleman’s minor league stolen base record of 145 set in 1983. The Reds front office has obviously been paying attention and are considering calling him up when rosters expand on Saturday. Talking about Hamilton, GM Walt Jocketty said:
“We obviously are having very serious discussions about it. “I don’t think he’s ready to play at this level but he certainly could run the bases.”
On Monday, I took a look at the hitter BABIP leaders and tried to determine how sustainable those marks were for 2013. Today, I will check in on the bottom dwellers in the metric. This could be your initial list of undervalued hitters in next year’s fantasy drafts.
It’s that day of the week when it’s time to get caught up with all the happenings among American League starting pitchers.
It’s never fun when your starting middle infielder goes down and you’re choosing from the crap heap of those no-power, limited speed leftovers. If this has happened to you, it’s your lucky day. Here are a pair of middle infielders who might actually contribute.
