Roto Riteup: June 10, 2013

Later this week, readers will notice that the Roto Riteup will be written by authors on days that are mostly unfamiliar to them, because Wiers and myself are both important men with important things to do.

On today’s agenda:
1. Ike Davis goes down
2. Checking in on Dustin Ackley
3. Michael Pineda makes a rehab start
4. Assorted Notes

Ike Davis goes down
After giving him what feels like forever to figure things out, the Mets have sent Ike Davis down to the minors. Davis was hitting a cool .164/.245/.262 prior to Sunday’s game, and New York’s brass now feels it best to let Davis figure things out against less demanding competition. It’s fun to note that Davis has played all of ten games in AAA throughout his career, so believe it or not, Davis will be far less familiar in Las Vegas than he was in Queens. When he’s playing in Vegas, you should be watching for strikeouts far more than power or hits, because the ball is simply going to fly around that ballpark.

Checking in on Dustin Ackley
Since going down to Triple-A Tacoma, Ackley has been a dominant offensive force, hitting .408/.508/.592 with two dingers in his 11 games. Last time he was in Tacoma, Ackley walked 16.6% of the time while striking out only 11.5% of the time. This go around, those numbers are sitting at 16.7% and 11.7%, respectively. Ackley 2013 AAA ISO is also a mere .001 lower than it was in 2011.

Michael Pineda makes a rehab start
Pineda made his first rehab start of the 2013 season, going four-plus innings and throwing 68 pitches. Pineda struck out four of the 16 batters he faced, and scouts reportedly had the right-hander hitting 95 on the gun. It sounds like Pineda is going to make at least three or four more starts before joining the MLB team, but owners need to be prepared to stash Pineda starting sometime next week.

Assorted Notes

• Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit two homers yesterday, bringing the switch-hitter up to eight on the year. Despite having to compete with David Ross, Salty has received a vast majority of the playing time, and the 28-year-old has done the most with it.

• Jason Heyward may be hitting .200 on the year, but he slapped two hits yesterday afternoon against the Dodgers. Before yesterday, Heyward was hitting .243 since returning from injury, but hitting .345 in the month of June.