Torii Hunter, OF DET There isn't a better lineup spot in all of baseball than the No. 2 spot in Detroit's order, behind Austin Jackson and in front of run producers Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Victor Martinez. Torii Hunter has that spot, and he's not coughing it up like Brennan Boesch did last season. After hitting .350 after the All-Star break last season, Hunter has continued to swing a hot stick this April. He has six multi-hit efforts in seven games and is 14-for-33 (.424) overall. Prior to 2012, Hunter's career-high average was .299, and his career average is .277, so it's likely that his .313 average last season was caused by a fluky .389 BABIP. However, Hunter made some of the best contact of his career last season. He had a 22.6 percent line-drive rate, 52 percent groundball rate and 25.4 percent flyball rate. Those numbers were 18.3, 48.1 and 33.6 percent, respectively, as recently as 2010. He accomplished the change by swinging earlier in counts, as evidenced by his 3.57 pitches per plate appearance average, down from the 3.8 range from 2009-11. He has continued that approach this season, averaging 3.48 pitches per plate appearance through the first seven games. He should continue to get plenty of pitches to swing at early in counts with Cabrera on deck.
Jeremy Guthrie, RHP KC Guthrie took shelter in Kansas City after being bombarded in Colorado, and while he experienced a dramatic improvement with the Royals, he was also very lucky. Guthrie had a HR/FB of 3.8 percent, a .267 BABIP and a 72.6 percent strand rate in August 2012 and a HR/FB of 9.1 percent, a .246 BABIP and a strand rate of 81.7 percent in September 2012. Guthrie has a HR/FB of 10.6 percent, a .276 BABIP and a 72.5 percent strand rate for his career, so he's closer to a 4.00 ERA pitcher than the 3.16 he posted with the Royals in 2012. He's 2-0 with a 3.55 ERA and 1.03 WHIP through two starts, but he allowed three homers to the Twins Tuesday and has a misleading K/9 of 7.8 due to nine strikeouts in the season opener (career 5.48 K/9). Now would be a good time to shop him.
C.J. Wilson, LHP LAA Wilson had a 2.43 ERA in his first 118 1/3 innings with the Angels last season, but his high walk rate caught up to him when his luck went south. He got by with a 3.88 BB/9 in that first stretch due to a .244 BABIP, but posted a 5.79 ERA over his final 84 innings with a BB/9 of 4.29 when his BABIP skyrocketed to .333. Walks continue to plague the left-hander, as he has issued seven free passes over his first 12 innings this season. Wilson had a 6.7 HR/FB during his two years as a full-time starter with the Rangers, but he has posted an 11.1 HR/FB since joining the Angels. Since Rangers Ballpark is much more hitter friendly than Angel Stadium, that tells me that Wilson has simple been unable to locate his pitches like he was doing in Texas.
Lance Berkman, DH TEX With three more hits Tuesday, Berkman is batting .480 on the year. He's batting third this season, in Josh Hamilton's old spot. Hamilton had 171 plate appearances with runners in scoring position and 293 with men on base last season. If Berkman stays healthy, he's a lock for 100 RBIs, and 25-30 homers wouldn't be farfetched for a player who hit 31 two years ago. Berkman also gets on base at a .409 clip for his career, so he'll have plenty of chances to score with Adrian Beltre hitting behind him.
Alcides Escobar, SS KC Escobar hit .293 and scored 68 runs last season, but 236 of his plate appearances came hitting seventh, eighth or ninth in the order. He hit .264 in 360 at-bats as the No. 2 hitter, which is where he has batted in every game this season, but he still scored 40 runs in that span. The shortstop is off to a 10-for-32 start (.312) after going 3-for-4 Tuesday, and he has five runs, three steals and five RBIs. Escobar has a 3/3 K/BB through eight games after posting a 100/27 K/BB in 155 games last season.
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