Jacoby Ellsbury:
Ellsbury went 4-8 in the two games in the doubleheader yesterday and scored 3 times, improving his September line to .243/.317/.351. It’s been a rough go of it for Ellsbury since his tremendous success in April and May but there are some signs that things are turning around for the youngster. In April and May, the two months where Ellsbury really had success, Ellsbury posted a fantastic 1.42 EYE. In the 3 months following where Ellsbury scuffled, he posted a putrid .19 EYE. Here in September Ellsbury’s back to making contact and drawing BB’s and has posted a 1.00 EYE. The correlation seems pretty simple that when Ellsbury’s making contact and drawing BB’s, success follows quickly. Look for a strong finish from the youngster who seems to be seeing the ball much better of late.
Denard Span:
If someone can explain to me what the heck has gotten into Denard Span this year I’d LOVE to hear it. Span, who topped a .700 OPS ONCE in FIVE minor league seasons prior to this year has played at an All Star Level for the Twins since being recalled at the end of June. Yesterday was the icing on the cake as Span went 4-9 with 2 HR’s, 4 Runs, 5 RBI’s, and a SB for good measure. He’s shown better plate discipline and power this year at the major league level than at any point in his minor league career and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
Michael Young:
It looks like the decline of Michael Young is accelerating here in September. Young’s been in decline for each of the last 4 seasons, but his high batting average has masked some of the decline in his power. This year a more normalized BHIP% has exposed the lack of XBH’s in Young’s line and his BA has sunk all the way down to .278 after another 0-4 on Saturday. He’s just 9-45 here in September with just 1 extra base hit which has led to a .222 Slugging % for the month. The good news for Young owners is a 9 game home-stand, where Young has hit .295/.349/.435, awaits the Rangers after they return from Oakland on Sunday night.
Robinson Cano:
So much for that big 2nd half surge we had come to expect from Cano. Another 0-4 on Saturday brought Cano’s September line to an abysmal .174/.174/.239 and his overall 2nd half line to just to .287/.315/.467. I’ve always been a bit of a Cano skeptic but this year’s regression in performance is “largely” due to bad luck as his BHIP% has mysteriously dropped into the low .210’s. With that said, those who talked about Cano as a consistent .300 hitter were ignoring a lot of good fortune in his first 3 years with balls in play as well as ignoring a long minor league history as a .278 hitter (6 years). I’ve said it for a while and I continue to say it, Cano’s an overrated bat whose fantasy value is largely derived from being a member of the Yankees offense. He’s a .280 hitter with limited pop and no speed, making him one of the more overrated 2B in all of fantasy.
James Shields:
Shields was magnificent in the day portion of Saturday’s DH as he threw 8 shutout innings against the Yankees allowing just 5 hits and 0 BB’s, while striking out 6. The K’s are good to see here for Shields as he hadn’t topped 4 K’s in any of his last 3 starts and had seen his K numbers decline each of the last 3 months. Even though the K’s have dropped the effectiveness hasn’t for Shields who has quality starts in 13 of his last 16 starts. Shields finishes with MIN and BAL before he’s likely given the last start of the season off to set up the playoff rotation.
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