Garrett Atkins
With Garrett Atkins, we just assume that he’s going to put up a decent average, 25+ home runs, and 110 or so RBI. This year though, Atkins is a bit behind his normal pace. After batting .319-6-21 in April, Atkins has a decent AVG in May/June (.292), but just four homers and 21 RBI since. What’s particularly odd about Atkins’ year is the rapid decline in his EYE – it’s at 0.34 this year after he entered the year with a 0.76 career mark. You’d think an EYE in that range would hurt his AVG, but that’s yet to happen. Is he getting lucky on balls in play? Well Atkins did enter the year with a .322 BABIP, a mark that sits at .327 in 2008. We have to trust that the power will return, and a good sign – after an 18:3 K:BB in April, he’s at 23:12 since. Ride out the power outage. He’ll be okay.
Ken Griffey
You’ve got to hand it to Dusty Baker. He’s on his third managerial stop and he hasn’t changed a bit. How is Ken Griffey Jr. still batting third? Griffey was 0-for-4 on Saturday and is now batting a punchless .235/.346/.388. Usually managers choose to bat their best (or at worst second best) hitter in the three-hole and the Reds have a guy with a .388 SLG there? Even Jeff Keppinger and Jerry Hairston Jr. have outslugged Junior this year. Griffey is 1-for-19 in his last five games and has managed just 34 RBI in 268 at-bats. At this point it wouldn’t be a surprise to find him on the waiver wire in deeper 12-team mixed leagues. Hopefully he’s not a guy that goes the Willie Mays route and hangs on for 3-4 more years.
Khalil Greene
Can you say “batting average killer”? We knew coming into the year that Greene, a career .251 hitter, wasn’t going to do much for a fantasy team’s AVG, but 27-97 from the shortstop position is very attractive. This year however, Greene has regressed. Even after a 2-for-4 night on Saturday, Green is still hitting just .229/.274/.359 with eight home runs and 31 RBI. The inept San Diego hitters around him aren’t helping Greene’s RBI total, but neither are a 0.23 EYE and 74% contact rate. Greene would be hitting eighth if not for the even more inept Michael Barrett, but even in the seventh spot, we just can’t expect much out of Greene this year.
Chad Billngsley
A bizarre game at Dodger Stadium on Saturday between cross-freeway (no, Anaheim is not in LA) rivals the Angels and Dodgers. Chad Billingsley tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and three walks while striking out seven. Billingsley somehow runs his record to 7-7 despite his team getting NO HITS in the game. Incredible. Billingsley was great all night, getting the strikeouts when he needed it and a little luck didn’t hurt. Billingsley is now 3-0 with a 1.96 ERA in his last three starts and may be ready to go on a very nice rune here. For the year, Billingsley has a 102:45 K:BB (31:11 in June), so the command isn’t quite there yet, but a 9.6 K/9 is nonetheless impressive.
Juan Pierre
Pierre was 0-for-4 (well to be fair, no one had a hit for the Dodgers) on Saturday, making me think that with Andruw Jones (knee surgery) due back in a couple weeks, who is going to be negatively impacted the most? With Matt Kemp seemingly entrenched as an everyday player, it’s going to come down to Andre Ethier and/or Juan Pierre. Pierre brings speed and…well, speed to the table. Pierre had for the most part been doing his job through May with a .343 OBP, but June has been a different story. For the month, Pierre has just a .300 OBP and three walks. With 13 stolen bases, he’s been a strong fantasy performer, and with Ethier hitting just .212 with three homers this month, it is probably going to be Ethier’s playing time that takes the biggest hit. We’ll see how much Joe Torre actually values production and defense over “veteranness” and speed.
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