Alex Rios has certainly warmed up since mid-July and he continued the trend last night with a 2-2 performance with 2 HR, 3 RBI and 2 R. Rios is batting .366 (11-30) with 3 HR, 8 RBI, 7 R and 4 SB in his last 7 games. Rios finally started to wake up back near the end of June and thankfully he's finally starting to fill out a line that somewhat resembles more of what we expected from him. His season numbers read .286/7/47/57/27. Even though his power is down significantly from the 2007 season, his speed has produced some pretty big numbers and he should get to 40 by the end of the year. His FB rate is down by almost 10% from last year, which obviously the main reason for his decreased power. I'm very curious to see his this FB rate (35%) is closer to what he might maintain throughout his career considering the 41% from 2006 and 44% from 2007 are off his career average. Either way, I think you can still expect 12-15 HR from Rios and a 40 SB season with a BA of near .300. Those marks are pretty solid when you think about the very rough start Rios had to the season.
Scott Kazmir was decent last night as he struck out 5 batters in 5 IP, allowing 2 ER on 7 H while walking none. The no walks line is impressive for a guy who typically walks a lot of batters but I'm still pretty concerned about his pitch count. He threw over 90 pitches in just five innings of work yesterday and with the exception of his 7-inning shutout against Oaklan last week, I really haven't seen an efficient start from him in July. This is about the time we usually see elbow or shoulder pain crop up for Kazmir so just be sure to watch him closely. If you have an opportunity to deal him for a pitcher of equal value or a decent starter and good offense, I'd do it.
Delmon Young has really started to make an impact for the Twins as of late and this is the type of development I had hoped to see out of him during the latter part of the season. Young has raised his BA from .265 in mid-June to .297 currently, helped along by his 3-5 night against Cleveland last night. Young drove in 2 and scored 2 as he raised his season totals to .297/4/43/54/12. There's definitely more power in store for Young in the coming years but the decent speed and BA are great signs that he could be a legitimate offensive force in all formats in 2009.
Justin Verlander threw his first non-quality start for the first time in his last 5 outings and it was an ugly one. The Detroit ace went just 4 IP and allowed 7 ER on 9 H (including 2 HR) while striking out 5. I still think Verlander is a great second half starter this year considering how badly he started the year off and the amount of talent he has. However, make sure to note that through his young career thus far, he has not performed well at all in the second half. His career Post-AS break ERA is 4.58 and has a WHIP of over 1.40. I think we have seen arm fatigue in the first two seasons for Verlander when it comes to pitching post-break and I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen to him again this season, especially when you consider the horrendous start he had to the year.
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