Laynce Nix - Nix doubled, homered, and walked in last night's marathon against the Padres, and appears well on his way to securing more time in the Cincy OF. Nix's development has come off the radar for the most part since he has bounced between AAA and the majors for three different organizations over the past six years. Now age 28, Nix has developed into a moderate average, low patience hitter with good power. The Reds are fairly thin in the OF, so Nix fits in reasonably well there. He is a definite sleeper right now in a world that doesn't have many of those anymore.
Scott Hairston - Hairston had three more hits yesterday to boost his AVG to .340, which when combined with the steady increase in power that he's shown the past few years is making him an extremely valuable commodity. That .397 BABIP is completely sustainable given the 30.3% LD rate, one of the highest I've ever seen. Put simply, Hairston is killing the ball. Hairston's ISO has climbed in each of the past three years now, and with a substantially reduced K rate this year, I'm inclined to think that much of this improvement is indeed sustainable. Hairston plays in a tough place for offense, but he is certainly providing enough to justify a spot in any format right now.
Gerardo Parra - Gerardo Parra continues to impress, (at the expense of Chris Young) collecting three more hits yesterday against the Braves. Parra has opened his MLB career going 5-13 with two triples and a homer, and shows no signs of handing the CF spot back to Chris Young. Parra is a high contact hitter that hasn't shown much pop in the minors, but could project to be a 15-15 guy with a solid average down the road. He just turned 22, but with his speed, defense, and ability to make contact he could easily keep this playing time at the expense of the struggling veterans. Parra is worth a pick-up in deeper formats already, and merits watching for the rest of you.
Eric Milton - After two years on the shelf, Eric Milton returned to the bigs yesterday and managed to go four innings, allowing two runs on two hits and four walks with three K's. Milton's problem was always the long ball, and pitching in Dodger Stadium will go a long way toward helping with that. If I squint, I can see a useful pitcher here in deeper leagues.
Raul Ibanez - Ibanez hit three more homers yesterday, giving him 13 for the season already. A career-low contact rate and LD% are offering up career bests in AVG, ISO, etc.? Sometimes these things just write themselves. I would be sprinting to sell the 36 year old on the high side. Park effects can only do so much.
