After signing the biggest free agent contract in the history of the franchise, B.J. Upton’s start to his Atlanta tenure was obviously lackluster. Posting consecutive months with a wRC+ south of 40 is a bad way to kick off your experiences in a new city, especially a city that has playoff and World Series expectations.
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Justin Upton was an early favorite for National League MVP after a scalding April. The 25-year-old seemed to put 2012 behind him, hitting .298/.402/.734 through the season’s first month. It looked like Upton was ready to stick it to the Diamondbacks for giving up on him in the offseason. That all changed in May. Since May 1st, Upton has hit just .224/.339/.311, with three home runs. It’s almost as if Upton has completely forgotten how to hit.
Over the past 30 days Leonys Martin has a .367 wOBA, thanks to a .301/.363/.479 line. Yes, his .365 BABIP over the past month has helped, but even Martin’s seasonal line of .289/.340/.457 is nothing to scoff at. This may be the year that the Cuban defector posts his breakout season.
The number one name blowing up my twitter feed is also fun to say. Yasiel Puig is a manbearpuig, a monster, a manchild, and a linebacker playing baseball, and he once looked like the bodybuilder you see on the left. And yet his batting average on balls in play is over .500, he’s walked three times, and he’s just so impossibly hot that selling high on him — in keeper or redraft leagues — is a popular play. But is it the right one?
To answer this, I just wanted to put him in the context of his peers. He’s only 82 plate appearances into his career, so I had to set the minimums low (80 PA). But here are the top ten rookies in slugging percentage since 1974:
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Chris Davis and Miguel Cabrera have grabbed most of the headlines, but arguably the best fantasy option this year has been neither of those two players. Cast your gaze to the Rocky Mountains. The biggest fantasy stalwart has been Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies.
Gonzalez owns the fourth-best wOBA (.429) in all of baseball and has the second-most home runs with 21 in only 316 plate appearances. The one thing that separates him from the rest of the pack, however, is the fact that he also has 13 stolen bases. In fact, of the 30 players with the most home runs in the league this year, only Carlos Gonzalez and Mike Trout have double-digit stolen bases.
He’s been incredible across the board. Here is how the 27-year-old outfielder stacks up in all standard rotisserie categories:
Today brings another round of bullish reports. If you’re looking for cheap and readily available outfield help, today is your lucky day.
Brandon Moss
Over the past 14 days, Brandon Moss is 11-for-35 — with five of those hits going for home runs. He also drove in 10 and scored seven runs over that time frame. Following last season’s breakout performance was going to be a difficult task, though he came out swinging in April, May saw him struggle. Many owners on the fence about Moss ditched him during his May slump, and given his .153/.262/.333 line in 84 plate appearances, we shouldn’t be quick to judge those that were quick to drop him. Of course months — and seasons, for that matter — are all arbitrary end points and we can’t get too caught up in them.
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When Eric Young joins the Mets in Atlanta on Wednesday, a lot more is going to change than just his address and uniform. His playing time, the Mets leadoff situation and, of course, his fantasy ownership percentages are all due for an increase thanks to the trade that sent minor league pitcher Collin McHugh west to Colorado in exchange for the speedy outfielder. Perhaps because he is not a marquee name and all Mets eyes were glued to Zack Wheeler’s debut, the deal fell somewhat under the radar, so if you’re in need of a quick burst of speed and he’s available in your league, then a waiver claim is definitely recommended. Read the rest of this entry »
When the Wil Myers hype train started, he had no flaws. He walked almost as much as he struck out, he struck out less than the league average, and though he wasn’t a catcher any more, he looked athletic in the outfield, and his power was to drool for. That was probably 2010. Since, he’s been traded, and a possible flaw has emerged — his strikeout rate has increased steadily as he’s advanced. That’s not great news, but with him up today, it’s worth trying to ask the numbers what might be in store for Myers.
Earlier this month, I noticed something fun while playing around with the “last calendar year” sort in the FanGraphs leaderboards:
Over the last calendar year, Coco Crisp and Albert Pujols have an identical .362 wOBA. Um, wow. fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?p…
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) June 2, 2013
Pujols is hardly what he once was, but still. Coco Crisp!
Crisp’s been pretty hot over the last week, and as the “last calendar year” timeframe has moved on to no longer include a brief cold spell from last June, Crisp looks even better — he’s 20th in baseball in wOBA, right in between Carlos Gonzalez & Carlos Santana. That’s pretty impressive company, and it only looks better when you go by WAR, where he sits at 17th.
You look at the other names on that list, and they make sense. There’s Miguel Cabrera, and Andrew McCutchen, Joey Votto, Robinson Cano, and so on. They’re the elite class of the game. Crisp, meanwhile, turns 34 this fall. He was once traded straight up for reliever Ramon Ramirez, who was DFA’d this week. (He was also once traded for Chuck Finley, which is notable in no other way than it allows me to work Chuck Finley into a column.) He wasn’t even guaranteed regular playing time in an Oakland outfield which added Chris Young to Yoenis Cespedes, Josh Reddick, & Seth Smith.
And now, suddenly, he’s a star, one who ranks among the top 15 fantasy outfielders in ESPN’s Player Rater? Read the rest of this entry »
Tyler Austin ended 2012 being named the Yankees ‘Minor League Player of the Year’, after level-jumping four times, with a two-game stint for Double-A Trenton. He began this year in Double-A and, while he’s had some difficulties, he’s adjusted well and shown more of what was so impressive in the lower level leagues.
