It certainly doesn’t look like Albert Pujols’ elbow is causing him any discomfort. Pujols went 2-5 last night with a 3-run homer and a run-scoring double, boosting his totals to .378, 3 HR and 8 RBI. His early season success can be contributed largely to a factor that has aided his tremendous stats throughout his career – BB/K ratio. Pujols has walked 10 times already as opposed to just 4 SO. Homerun hitters as prolific as Pujols simply don’t put up those kind of numbers, which is probably why he proclaims he isn’t a home-run hitter but a good hitter that happens to hit homeruns. As modest as he would like to be, he isn’t fooling anyone. If he stays healthy you’ll be glad you took the risk when he fell into your lap late in the first round this year.
Pat Burrell is off to an absolutely blazing start. Burrell went 2-4 last night against the Cubs with a 2-run homerun and a run-scoring double. Burrell’s numbers now look like this - .400/4 HR/12 RBI with an ISO of up over .390. The most impressive thing about Burrell’s start to the year is his six strikeouts. It’s also the most influential factor in why he has gotten off to such a hot start. Burrell’s BB/K ratio throughout his career has been OK (.60) but it is astounding how often he strikes out. The Philadelphia outfielder has yet to play a season with less than 120 strikeouts. However, this year he has 8 BB to the 6 SO. Burrell is 32 years old so I don’t suspect that he’s all of the sudden turned a corner and will strike out less this year, but his hot start is nonetheless a great sign. If you have room in your outfield, particularly in deep leagues, I’d scoop him before he cools off.
After recording multi-hit performances in four out of five games from April 2nd to 6th, Ryan Zimmerman has now gone 0-16. Zimm’s batting average has dropped from .290 to .191 in that stretch and the Nationals have now lost 8 straight. Slow starts are typical of the Nationals’ star third baseman seeing that he has not hit above .300 in any of the opening 3 months for the last two seasons. Zimmerman had an awful start to 2007 as well, hitting .236 with just 1 HR and 8 RBI. This kid is undoubtedly a talented hitter but he has to develop more patience at the plate. His BB/K ratio last season was .49 and 2006 wasn’t much better at .51. He also had a big drop in BABIP from .329 in ’06 to .298 in ’07. His BABIP right now is a paltry .189. His first two years in the league show that Zimmerman will get better as the season progresses. However, I would sit him down and find a backup until Zimmerman breaks out; his April isn’t going to get better anytime soon.
Justin Upton struggled through his 43 games with the Diamondbacks late last year but has shown no signs of struggling this April. In 10 games, Upton has 4 multi-hit games, 4 HR, 6 RBI and a batting average of .368. Upton is another statistical oddity as he has struck out 11 times already while only walking 4 times, yet he’s hitting for a phenomenal average. The key is Upton’s 30.4 LD%, which means when he does hit the ball he hits it hard and in the right spots. I expect Upton’s strikeout percentage to slow him down eventually, but he’s a great hitter and won’t fall anywhere near the .221 mark from 2007. Scoop him before he cools off and when he does slow down I would suggest sitting him until he heats back up.
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