Bartolo Colon- NYY- Hot- Colon had perhaps his best start yet of his comeback. He needed only 87 pitches to throw 8 shutout innings in which he gave up 3 hits and a walk while striking out 7. Colon keeps inducing ground balls when he's not striking batters out, as in his 10/4 GB/FB ratio yesterday. The strikeout totals may not be sustainable, as his Swing % of 41.9% and Swinging Strike % of 5.8% means that batters are watching a lot of pitches go by. Once they realize that Colon is throwing strikes consistently, there should be more contact made. But if the balls keep going on the ground, it won't be that bad.
Matt Wieters- BAL- Hot- Wieters extended his current hitting streak to 8 games by going 3-for-7 against the Yankees. He is making strides this season towards becoming the elite catcher he was projected to be. His ISO and Batting EYE continue to improve. Although his FB% is down slightly from last year (36.5% from 38.3%), it is a result of a LD% that has increased from 15.4% to 25.0%. Wieters' GB% is down from 46.4% to 38.5%. Wieters looks like a stud catcher in the making.
Jesse Litsch- TOR- Cold- Litsch needed 111 pitches to get through 5 IP in which he gave up 6 runs (5 earned) on 7 hits and 3 walks while only striking out 1. Opinion on Litsch here at Fantistics has been divided. I fall in the "Litsch's good outings are the aberrations" camp. His K rate is unsustainable and his FB% is way lower than he has had the past couple of years while his HR/FB rate is up. Those things are going to catch up with him and he hasn't shown enough consistency this season to say that the high points are more than a mirage.
Johnny Damon- TB- Hot- Damon is 6-for-13 in his last 3 games and has brought his average up to .266. There is probably some regression to the mean going on, as his BABIP is .278, but there is also some promising signs that he is getting some plate discipline back. His May Batting EYE of .57 is far better than his .22 mark before May 1st. That is still below his career number of .81 but it's better. Damon's 7 homers is only 1 short of his total for all of 2010 and his 6 steals are more than half of the 11 bases he swiped last year. Damon is still providing fantasy value.
Neftali Feliz- TEX- Cold- Feliz has been having control problems since coming back from the DL and it cost him his first blown save of the year last night. Feliz gave up 3 hits and 2 walks to the 7 batters he faced in his 1.2 IP. In 5.1 IP since being activated he has yielded 6 walks. Of his 94 pitches, 41 have been balls. Difficulty locating the strike zone has actually been an issue for Feliz all year, with 106 balls in 240 pitches as opposed to 375 balls in 1075 pitches in 2010. His injury may have had more effect sooner and still not be entirely resolved.
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