Matt Holliday (OF - Cardinals) - Holliday is really streaking heading into the all-star break. Another 2 HR last night and an overall 4-for-5 performance gives him a .318 avg and .423 OBP for July with 3 HR, 19 TB, and 6 RBI. That brings his AB/HR to 22.2, right in line with his previous two seasons of 21.6 and 24.2, but still a little ways away from the back-to-back seasons of 17.7 in 2006 and 2007. Holliday tends to get lost in the shuffle a little, especially with Pujols as the main attention getter in St. Louis. But his OPS is still over .900 for the season and he’s putting up comparable numbers to the previous few years.
Adam Dunn (1B - Nationals) - Well, there goes the homerless streak. Dunn had not hit a HR since June 22nd heading into last night’s game. That seems like a lifetime ago for a guy who is typically a slam-dunk 40-HR guy. Last night, he decided to break out over, and over, and over again as he hit 3 HR and drove-in 5 (it was the first 3 HR game of his career). That brings his season HR total to 20, his AB/HR improves to 15.2, and his SLG climbs to .572. The one interesting trend to keep an eye on from Dunn is that while his average has improved to .280 (would be a career-high AVG if the season ended today), his BB/K is just 0.39 (39 BB and 100 K’s). His historical 6-year rate is .63.
Adrian Gonzalez (1B - Padres) - A-Gonzo had a little bit of a cold streak heading into July, dropping his average from .315 to .291 from June 23rd through July 4th. But over the last two games, it seems like he as turned that around. Two multi-hit games makes him 6-for-9 this fantasy week with a HR, 3 RBI, 10 TB, and 3 runs. Overall, he’s still having a tremendous season, posting a 0.75 FPI (in-line with last season’s 0.77 and up from the previous three seasons with the Padres of 0.68, 0.65, and 0.67). His AB/HR is 17.9, which is a little slower rate than last year’s 13.8, but still solid. And while he actually drew more walks than K’s last season, he’s still posting a 0.797 BB/K this season.
Jon Garland (SP - Padres) - Garland’s train has gone off track. Can we go back to April and May please? Its like he is a completely different pitcher now. Last night he gave up 6 ER and 8 hits in 6.0 IP. So, let’s take a look at these splits. For the first two months of the year, Garland posted a 2.15 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 7.5 H/9, and a 1.40 K/BB for a K/I of 0.63. Since June 1st, he has a 5.83 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 10.2 H/9, and a 1.59 K/BB for a K/I of 0.65. While the K’s and BB’s have been at the same rate, everything else has fallen out of line. At this point, there are probably better options on the wire, especially since he really isn’t even providing K’s.
Jonathan Niese (SP - Mets) - Niese has been more than just serviceable for fantasy owners over the last few weeks. He was handed the Loss yesterday despite a quality start, but Niese is now 6-for-7 in QS dating back to June 1st. He’s 5-1 during that span with some big time K numbers - K/BB of 4.0 and a K/9 of 7.5. That’s good for a WHIP of 0.99 during that time frame with a 2.61 ERA. Niese’s next start probably won’t come until after the All-Star break, but he will be a 2-start pitcher that week facing the Diamondbacks in Arizona on 7/19 and then again that weekend against the Dodgers in LA.
Follow me on Twitter all season @jribando.
