James McDonald (LAD) - In just his second start of the season Sunday, McDonald held the Rockies scoreless. That’s the good news. The bad? McDonald was able to record just 13 outs on 95 pitches, as he continually missed with the first pitch and went deep in counts, throwing just 50 strikes and walking three with two strikeouts. At least it was better than his first big league start, an outing against the Diamondbacks in which he allowed five runs in 2 1/3 innings, again with three walks and two strikeouts. McDonald did appear once in relief in between starts tossing a scoreless inning against the Giants, a role that he could find himself in again once Hiroki Kuroda returns from his oblique injury later this month or early next. McDonald is competing with Eric Stults to avoid being bumped, and with Stults sitting at 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA, McDonald is probably the guy to go unless he comes up big next time out. Probably there? His next outing is in Coors Field. Long term, McDonald (9.0 K/9 in the minors last season) should eventually settle in as a solid middle-of-the-rotation starter, but he could find himself shuffling between the bullpen and rotation often this year.
Matt Kemp (LAD) - Often in February and March we are treated to headlines about this player’s new training regimen, this other guy’s new appreciation for the game, and that guy’s new stance or mechanical overhaul. More often that not it seems , these stories wind up as “noise”, meaningless chatter that is thrown out there as a bit of false hope. Then the bell rings and the player performs at or near the levels we’d expect based on his recent performance. That all said, Matt Kemp’s vision regressed this spring from 20/20 to 20/30, necessitating the same contact lenses worn by James Loney and Blake DeWitt (may that helps explain HIS 2008). Kemp admitted he’d had trouble seeing the ball clearly last season and it appears early on that there may be something to the new lenses. Two homers, including a grand slam on Sunday against the Rockies brought Kemp to a decent .383/.434/.723 on the season. Not bad for a #7 hitter, though Kemp did hit cleanup earlier in the week. It’s a bit too early to tell whether the lenses will affect his plate discipline as well, but I wouldn’t doubt it. Kemp has a 0.46 EYE to last year’s 0.30 and 2007’s 0.24. Nice trend. He’s walking in 10.7% of his PAs vs. 7% a year ago and at the ripe old age of 24, an explosion may be imminent. Oh, and Kemp has already swiped four bags in four attempts.
Ubaldo Jimenez (COL) – A trendy pick for a breakout season in 2009, Jimenez was hit hard for the second straight time on Sunday, as the Dodgers got to the 6’4” righty for seven runs in 4 1/3 innings to drop his record to 1-2. Since tossing seven shutout innings on Opening Day, Jimenez has allowed 10 runs and walked 10 in eight innings. Jimenez was 3-0 with a 2.90 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 31 innings last September, giving us some hope he’d turned the corner and wouldn’t be regressing into Daniel Cabrera territory. Jimenez’s 103 walks were two fewer than Oliver Perez’s league-leading 105 last year, and it looks like he’s off to a similar start this year. You can’t ignore a guy with an upper 90s fastball and devastating slider, but he just can’t be relied on right now.
Felipe Paulino (HOU) - Once one of the Astros’ top prospects, Paulino missed most of 2008 with an assortment of arm injuries. At 25 and with the injuries, Paulino was off most prospect radars, but with the Astros predictably struggling to find reliable back-of-the-rotation options, Paulino got the call Sunday and did he ever deliver. Paulino held the Reds scoreless on just three hits over six innings, walking two and striking out six. The bullpen blew the win for Paulino, but he showed good stuff Sunday and should be a candidate to stick around, even with Brian Moehler and Brandon Backe due back from the DL soon. In fact, Russ Ortiz has a 6.23 ERA in three appearances, and should Paulino impress again next time out, the Astros seem likely to keep him around. I haven’t received reports on Paulino’s velocity Sunday, but he was known in the past to hit 100 on the gun. A guy to speculate on in NL-only leagues to be sure.
Andre Ethier (LAD) - Ethier continues to come up huge, going 2-for-4 with a double, long sacrifice fly, and three RBI in a rout over the Rockies. Ethier is now batting .298/.431/.617. His 16 RBI lead the National League and he’s sporting a 1.00 EYE (9:9 K:BB). One of the knocks on Ethier as a prospect was his seemingly limited power potential, but I’d say a .319 ISO is pretty solid, as is even last year’s .205 mark. It’s still hard to see Ethier developing into a superstar, but he’s looking like a guy who will wind up appearing in an All-Star game or two and 25-30 homers seems possible. The key for Ethier will be his ability to hit left-handers, something he didn’t do so well in 2008, losing 259 points of OPS versus southpaws. This year is a different story, as in a very limited sample, Ethier is 5-for-13 with a double and three home runs versus southpaws. Ethier batted .335/.409/.583 in September last season, a year after falling off the map (.247 AVG) in that same month. You have to admire a guy who works hard to improve on his weaknesses like that.
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