Bartolo Colon is set to return to the big leagues this week. After missing the last two months of the season last year with a rotator cuff tear, he made a final rehab start on Sunday and threw 95 pitches, 7.0 IP, 3 hits, 1 BB, and 3 K's. Colon looked solid, throwing over 70% of his pitches for strikes, and reaching 95mph on his fastball in his final inning of work. Colon is an obvious risk in mixed leagues, but a decent play in AL-only leagues. In 2004, Colon blew up with a 5.01 ERA and 1.37 WHIP. After a comeback season in 2005 of a 3.48 ERA and 1.16 WHIP, he reverted back to the 5.00+ ERA, 1.40+ WHIP numbers in 2006 before ending his season in late July with the injury. His numbers really ballooned last year to H/9 of 11.3, HR/9 of 1.76, and a drop in K/9 from the 6.0+ level to under 5.0. Approach with caution.
Adrian Beltre finally looks to be heating up, hitting his 2nd HR in as many days on Sunday. To expect a repeat performance of 2004 for Adrian Beltre is obviously way aggressive at this point in his career, but the lingering affects of his 48 HR still remains. There's always that thought he could break-out again and post big numbers, but he has yet to reach that potential. In the last two seasons, Beltre posted a HR/AB of 31.7 and 24.8, compared to 12.5 in 2004. I think he has some upside to the 2007 season and could post reach the high-20's (and maybe even 30) in HR totals. That would put him at a HR/AB of 20.0, which is very reasonable for him to reach once again.
Delmon Young continues to impress and is certainly living-up to his potential early in the 2007 season. With his 3rd HR of the season on Sunday, Young is hitting .347 with 10 RBI and 9 runs. One alarming indicator is that he has struck out 7 times with just 1 BB. While this isn't any different than what he did in the minors, it could still lead to some long slumps during the marathon major league season. Since 2004, Young's EYE in the minors was 0.44, 0.29, 0.23.
The Double-A hard-throwing right-hander Chase Wright was called-up to the big leagues with 3 of the Yankees' starters now on the disabled list. In two starts for the Trenton Thunder, Wright has thrown 14.0 scoreless innings with 19 K's, 1 BB, and 4 hits. That's about as dominant as it gets. In 2006, Wright posted a 1.88 ERA with a .218 BAA, 100 K's in 119.2 IP, and a very positive GB/FB of 1.65. Wright gets the start on Tuesday against Cleveland and could be a decent AL spot-start for strikeouts and a possible win with solid Yankee run support.
CC Sabathia is now a perfect 3-0 on the season with another solid performance against the White Sox on Sunday. His line: 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 BB and 10 K's. Of course, 30 mph winds at his back didn't hurt his fastball. This is the 9th time in his career that Sabathia as struck out more than 10 in a game. He's been great this year and its all about throwing strikes. In his first 3 games, his pitches-strikes totals are 91-61, 108-75, and 110-72.
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