Tom Wilhelmsen- SEA- FYI- Wilhelmsen may be feeling some fatigue from his 61 appearances this season. Whether it is physical or mental is still a question. He has walked at least one batter (for a total of 8) in his last 7 appearances, while only striking out 3 batters in the 5.2 IP during that span. Wilhelmsen's work in a non-save situation didn't seem to settle him down as intended. He picked up the save yesterday but not before giving up half of the 2-run lead he inherited and allowing the potential tying run to reach scoring position.
Mike Trout- LAA- Stats- Trout cooled off in the batting average department last month, hitting .284 in August. That is due to regression to the mean, with a .329 BABIP, but also a (likely not unrelated) drop in line drives, with his LD% going down to 17.9% and his GB% shooting up to 53.6%. Trout's FB% wasn't his worst month at 28.6%,but not his best either. When he did get hold of one, though, it went a long way. Trout's 29.2% HR/FB ratio resulted in 7 homers. It looks like Trout's relative slump is only a matter of statistical ups and downs and not anything to do with a sudden loss of the ability he has shown. Regardless of how the last month turns out, Trout is still at the top of the list for 2013.
P. J. Walters- MIN- FYI- The Twins are going to see if they have anything in Walters, who they signed to a minor league free agent contract last off season. Much of his 2012 season has been spent on the DL or in rehab. There really doesn't seem to be much there as Walters only has an ERA below 4.00 in one of his 5 AAA seasons. In his 87.2 career major league IP he has had a problem keeping the ball in the park, allowing 19 homers. The Twins are in audition mode as they look to 2013 but unless Walters catches lightning in a bottle he doesn't look like he will end up in their plans.
Tony Abreu- KC- Hot- Abreu has played in 8 games since being called up from AAA Omaha. He was batting .322 there and is hitting .344 for KC. In both places he has been the beneficiary of extreme good luck. Abreu's BABIP at AAA was .365 and it is even higher in the majors at .423. Abreu's Batting EYE hasn't made any sudden improvements to give hope that his performance is more than lukc-related. He had a mark of .20 at Omaha and has yet to draw a walk in KC.
Chris Sale- CHA- Cold- I may be in the minority here at Fantsitics.com, but I see warning signs of fatigue in Sale's recent outings. He has only 1 quality start in his last 4 outings and has walked 12 in 24.1 IP in that span. His strikeout rate is still high but he has allowed multiple homers in 4 of his last 6 starts for a total of 10 in 39 IP. Sale has allowed at least one homer in each of his last 8 starts (for a total of 12) after only allowing 5 homers in his first 16 starts. He has thrown far more innings than he ever has before and that could be taking its toll.
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