Justin Verlander- DET- Hot- Verlander might be showing a little bit of fatigue as he only has 1 quality start in his last 3. He only gave up 4 runs in each of the non-quality starts so it hasn't been too bad. Last night's start, where he allowed 4 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8 in 6 IP was actually pretty good. Homers against him have gone up recently, with 5 in his last 19.1 IP. Verlander has had very good luck this season, as evidenced by his .235 BABIP. Don't expect him to repeat his 2.44 ERA in 2012, but he will add lots of Ks and is likely to pile up the wins for the Tigers again.
Victor Martinez- DET- Hot- Martinez seems to be finding his power stroke again. He went homerless from June 11th through August14th. Since then he has hit 4 homers, 2 in his last 3 games. Martinez has dealt with a couple of injuries in that span which might have contributed to his sparse homer total. His .326 average is supported by a .340 BABIP, so counting on it being that high in 2012 isn't a good bet. However, Martinez has improved his Batting EYE from .77 in 2010 to .87 this season so another .300 season isn't unreasonable.
Ian Kinsler- TEX- Great Player- Kinsler slugged 2 more homers yesterday, giving him 28 for the season. He now has an outside shot at joining the 30/30 club. In addition t 2 more homers, which are going to be a snap at this rate, Kinsler needs to swipe 7 more bases by the end of the year. With 1 so far this month and only 2 steals in his last 30 games that might be tough. Even with the potential for injury, Kinsler is a premier 2B for 2012.
Brendan Morrow- TOR- Cold- Luck hasn't swung back in Morrow's direction yet as he threw his 3rd non-quality start in his last 4 games. His BABIP for the season is at .310 and his LOB% is 63.2%. Morrow also hasn't been helping himself as he has given up 8 homers in those 4 games across his 20.1 IP and walked 8 batters. His GB/FB ratio hasn't been above 1 on a game by game basis since July 31st. With an xFIP of 3.48 this year much lower than his ERA of 5.12 look for Morrow to be a comeback candidate in 2012.
Ichiro Suzuki- SEA- Cold- Things aren't looking good for a strong finish for Ichiro. He is only 5-for-26 so far this September and is going to finish with his first average below .300. His BABIP has killed him. At .293 it is 59 points below his career average. Despite a .309 OBP he has still stolen 35 bases so his speed is still there. With more normal luck next year Ichiro could bounce back in a big way. He will probably be a relative bargain.
Follow me on Twitter all season - @fantisticspaul
There are over 100 player news blurbs posted in the member area each morning. Members can read the rest of today's player news by clicking here. Not a member? Join today.
