Carlos Quentin continued his quest for AL RotY last night with a 4-7 performance, including his 29th HR as well as 2 RBI and 2 R. The great game for the youngster puts him at .285/29/86/79. I really don't think there's anyone who can compete with him for the rookie of the year award in the American League and he definitely has all the signs of a superstar in the making. His BB/K is excellent for such a young power hitter (.77) and to go along with that he has struck out only 64 times this year, putting him on pace for under 100. How many legitimate 30-40 homer guys do you see who strikeout less than 100 times a year? The only one that comes to my mind is Vlad Guerrero in his prime and Albert Pujols.
Ryan Sweeney is one of the few bright spots on a severely bad Oakland team and he showed why once again last night with a 3-5 performance. He is one of just two hitters on the entire Athletics squad that has a batting average even remotely close to .300. After the multi-hit game last night, he raised that BA to .299 and has 3 HR, 36 RBI and 36 R to accompany it. Sweeney has hit for good average throughout his career in the minors and has shown better power than the homers he has this season. However, I wouldn't expect a line better than .310/10/50/80 from Sweeney once he develops into an everyday major league ballplayer. However, that's still a solid line and one he can achieve, maybe even with the anemic Athletics.
Josh Beckett bounced back nicely from his rough outing against the Angels last week with a solid start against the Royals last night. Beckett tossed 6.2 innings, allowing just 2 ER on 4 H while striking out 7. The start lowered Beckett's ERA to 4.08 and improved his record to 10-8 on the season. The solid outing is a good sign for all Beckett owners who have noted his unusually high ERA but the strikeouts are coming and he should rack up enough late season wins to reach at least 15.
Placido Polanco is on a huge tear right now and it continued last night when he went 3-6 with 2 HR and 4 RBI, as well as 3 R. Polanco is crushing the ball in his last 6 games as he's hitting .400 (12-30) 2 HR, 8 RBI, 10 R and a SB. His season batting average is up to .314 for the season while the rest of his line shows 6 HR, 43 RBI, 66 R and 4 SB. Polanco continues to be a really solid option at 2B, even on a severely underachieving Detroit squad. All of his peripherals are almost exactly on line with his career with the exception of his LD% which is slightly lower at 19%. He provides solid value in any format.
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