NL Quick Pitch: Here's a quick look at today's National League daily notes. Ian Desmond returns to the lineup after paternity leave. He's good for stolen bases right now and nothing else, so he remains an upside candidate at a weak position. Sticking with the speed theme, Will Venable swiped two more last night, giving him 8 for the season. Too bad he can never get on base. Sean Burnett got the call for the Nats last night, but Drew Storen has little to worry about after Burnett gave up 4 ER. Mitchell Boggs was also passed-up for the save last night, but he still has the best chance to become the everyday closer in St. Louis. Brandon Belt will have some position flexibility when he returns to the majors, primarily playing in the OF. Moving on to power, Chris Young has hit HR and done little else in Arizona while Ryan Howard is on the cusp of returning to his old self, breaking his 14-game HR drought last night. And the Albert Pujols hamstring "tweak" only kept the consensus #1 draft pick out of the lineup for one game. Let's hope it doesn't effect him too much through the rest of the season.
Ian Desmond (SS - Nationals) - Desmond has missed the last couple of games on paternity leave, but will be rejoining the team (and more importantly back in the lineup) on Thursday. On a day with limited action, he's at least a SS who is going to get some Thursday playing time. Desmond has struggled at the plate this year and has yet to live up to his projections. He's hitting just .205 with a .586 OPS and an EYE of just 0.25. Striking out 20 times with limited power and an OBP of .253 is pretty bad. The one bright spot for Desmond so far is that he has posted 8 SB in his limited time on the bases. If he could just draw more walks or raise his average a bit, we could see big time SB numbers. For now, he remains a struggling shortstop on the Nationals with some upside. I wouldn't stress too much about adding/dropping him at-will.
Joel Hanrahan (RP - Pirates) - If I randmonly polled fantasy owners and ask for the three top three closers, by saves, in the Majors, do you think anyone would breathe Joel Hanrahan's name? Well, he converted his 7th save of the year on Wednesday night and is tied for 3rd with Leo Nunez for the league leader in saves (behind Huston Street and Mariano Rivera). While Hanrahan is posting a respectable 2.08 ERA, he does have a 1.38 WHIP and a .292 OAVG. Playing for the Pirates could make his save opportunities inconsistent on a week-to-week basis, but despite his propensity to allow baserunners, he is still a perfect 7-for-7 in save opportunities. With over 80 blown saves this month by closers, Hanrahan isn't looking too bad right now.
Madison Bumgarner (SP - Giants) - Despite dropping another loss and bringing his record to 0-4 for the year, Bumgarner finally looked sharp on Wednesday night. It was his first quality start of the season going 6.0 IP while allowing 5 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB, and recording 7 K's. We've analyzed Bumgarner quite a bit around here. A quick look at Pitch F/X reveals an interesting trend and I'm curious to see how it evolves over the next few months. Bumgarner has turned to the fastball less this season (40.8% of the time versus 48.3% last season) and more to the slider (27.3% versus 17.9% in 2010). However, his velocity on all pitches is up so far as well, with a fastball averaging at 92.4 compared to 91.0 in 2010 and 86.4 for his slider this year versus 84.2 last year. I'm encouraged by Bumgarner's start last night think he's a nice buy-low candidate from fantasy owners who may be second guessing his ability to repeat his 3.00 ERA, 1.30 WHIP 2010 season.
Chris Young (OF - Diamondbacks) - Young cranked two HR on Wednesday, bringing his season total to 7 and crushing his AB/HR career average. This year he is now averaging a HR for every 13.9 AB compared to his previous seasons dating back to 2007 of 17.8, 28.4, 28.9, and 21.6. Other than HR, Young has done little else thus far to give fantasy owners the value we expected. He has 23 K's and just 3 BB for a pitiful EYE of just 0.13. That has led to just a .231 OBP (compared to .345 last year). And because his OBP is so low, he has just one unsuccessful stolen base attempt aftet going 28-for-35 in stolen bases last season. Young's power/speed combo potential will return, but the K% needs to decrease dramatically if we expect him to post another 25/25+ season.
Brandon Belt (1B / OF - Giants) - When Brandon Belt return to the big leagues, which should be soon, he will almost exclusively play OF. After being sent down to Triple-A, he has played all four minor league games in the OF preparing for the leap on the big-league level. Belt struggled in his 60 PA with the Giants, but has been hitting well since being sent down to Triple A, going 3-for-10 with a HR, 4 RBI, and an OBP of .500. Keep him on your radars, as he could add some position flexibility in addition to the offensive upside from the rookie.
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