Felipe Paulino- KC- Hot- Paulino exceeded expectations in his first start for the Royals yesterday, throwing 5 shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits, walking no one and striking out 4. The conversion from relief back to starting may require a few more outings before Paulino will be stretched out enough to go deeper into games, but there is potential there for him to be decent in the KC rotation. Last year for the Astros, Paulino's FIP of 3.44 was much lower than his ERA of 5.11, primarily due to bad luck evidenced by a .331 BABIP and 58.5% LOB%. This year between the Rockies and KC he has been battling a .362 BABIP. He has dropped his BB/9 to 2.63 (from 4.52 in 2010) and his K/9 is still respectable at 7.88, down slightly from last year's 8.15. Paulino looks like a nice low risk pickup if he is still available.
Adam Jones- BAL-Hot- Jones is showing no ill effects from the sore shoulder that took him out of Sunday's game. He is 5-for-8 with a homer in his last 2 games, bringing his average up to .296. Jones had a .343 average in May that was helped greatly by a .409 BABIP. That was likely a regression to the mean happening to balance out his .209 BABIP in April. He only hit 1 homer in May after slugging 4 in April. If he can have moderate luck and his homer yesterday was an indication of getting his power stroke back, Jones could have a very solid remainder of the season.
Danny Valencia- MIN- Hot- Some regression to the mean may be creeping in for Valencia. He extended his current hitting streak to 7 games in which he has gone 8-for-25 with a homer. His BABIP still stands at .250 so his .232 average has more upside.
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