Batters always seem to heat once summer rolls around. While some players may like to play in the summer versus the cooler months, the warmer weather also increases hitter production. Over the the rest of the year, our authors will be giving our readers a heads up for any possible games which may be hitter or pitcher friendly.

Weather has a significant effect on the distance a ball travels. In his book, the Physics of Baseball, Robert K. Adair noted a 10 degree temperature increase leads to an extra four feet on a 400-foot fly ball and each one mile per hour following wind speed means an extra three feet. For example, a fly ball hit at Wrigley field will travel 38 feet further on a day with the wing blowing out five mph and at 80 degrees versus an early spring day when the wind is blowing in five mph and the temperature is 60 degrees. This information shouldn’t be used to start Wade Davis over King Felix, but if an owner is deciding between a couple of similar players, it could be used as a tie-breaker.

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Just one pitcher coming back from the DL to check velocity on, so I dug a little deeper into a few other players.

• One of favorite setup men, Vinnie Pestano, returned from the disabled list. His fastball velocity is off a couple mph from appearances earlier in the season.

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A little light on the injury news front. I will look at one pitcher coming back from the DL and the Zone% values for DL pitchers.

• Zack Greinke returned from his post fight DL trip. He struck out four batters, walked none in just over five innings of work. A couple of signs point to him not being 100% though. First, the 29-year-old’s average fastball is down 1.5 mph from last season.

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Another few days, a few more injuries. I have three pitchers coming off the DL to examine. Also, I am going to look at a few players dealing with injuries.

• Francisco Liriano’s first start was outstanding with a 9 Ks in 5.1 innings. His velocity was consistent with previous seasons.

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This week I will examine three pitchers coming off the DL and the 10 starting pitchers with the lowest 2013 Zone% values.

• Chris Capuano (calf) is back from the DL and his first start was far from stellar, 4 IP, 2K, 2BB, 2HR, 6 runs. His velocity seemed fine.

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This week I will examine a few items, a couple pitchers making rehab starts, a couple pitchers returning from the disabled list, a couple pitchers with large velocity drops and a few hitters dealing with recent back injuries.

• Francisco Liriano and John Danks are making rehab starts. John Danks is throwing his fastball at 87 to 90 mph. These values are at or below his 2012 average value of 90.1 mph.

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This week I will examine one pitcher returning from the D.L., four hitters struggling through injuries, two pitcher requests and a pitcher injury I was too late in covering.

• Joel Hanrahan’s post-DL velocity seems fine after two appearances.

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Today, I am going to take a look at the fastball speeds and other traits for three pitchers returning from the DL.

• Sean Marshall’s velocity is down almost 2 MPH from 2012 (90.8 to 89.0 mph) after returning from the DL for shoulder discomfort.

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Today, I am going to take a look at players returning from appendectomy surgery and the injury chances for a couple of struggling pitchers, Matt Cain and Gio Gonzalez.

• Jason Heyward is headed to the DL for having an appendectomy. A couple of years ago, I looked at how players performed after going on the DL for the surgery. I found Heyward owners “should expect him to miss around ~30 days … and his production should not suffer once he returns”.

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Today, I am going to look at a few pitchers with possible injury issues along with the fastball velocities of two pitchers returning from the DL.

 • Early in the preseason, I marked Alexi Ogando as a possible injury risk. Besides his last start, when he didn’t make it past the 3rd inning, he as started the season good with a 3.32 ERA and 2.7 K/BB. Some initial signs I pointed out in the article still exist though. He velocity is down to 93 mph after throwing over 95 mph in 2011 when he also was a starter.

Also, he is having problems finding the plate with a 46.6% Zone%. I think he is still adjusting to being a starter and I look for him to hopefully improve to help erase the injury concerns.

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