Adam Lind, 1B TOR Lind has been used almost exclusively against right-handed pitchers this year, and has responded well to the platoon. He's batting .286 with a 0.71 K/BB and a 12.6 percent strikeout rate and has hit all three of his homers this season in the last six games. Prior to this season, Lind had put up a 2.88 K/BB, and his career K rate is 19.1 percent. Lind has made the turnaround by chasing just 20.4 percent of pitches outside the zone, compared to 31.4 percent for his career.
Raul Ibanez, OF SEA Ibanez has returned to Yankee Stadium, the site of his 2012 postseason heroics, and blasted three homers in two games. He had six RBIs Wednesday and 12 over his last five games, but he's still batting .224. Safeco Field hasn't been the issue for the outfielder - he's hitting .256 with three homers and an .822 OPS in 12 games there. Rather, he has been awful on the road, going 3-for-28 with zero homers and eight strikeouts prior to this series at Yankee Stadium, where he hit 17 bombs last year (including playoffs). Ibanez also had lackluster numbers on the road in 2011 and 2012, so finding a comfort zone at Yankee Stadium shouldn't be mistaken for a road renaissance from the 40-year-old.
Vernon Wells, OF NYA Wells slammed home run No. 10 Wednesday against the Mariners, and here's a bigger surprise: he's hitting .301, and doing so with a BABIP of .289. Wells has posted his highest line-drive rate since 2005 and his highest HR/FB ever this season. But the biggest factor in Wells hitting .301 is his average over .300 on groundballs. The veteran has a career .257 average on grounders, and we could see his average fall when his luck begins to change.
Adam Dunn, DH CHA Dunn went 3-for-4 with a double, two homers, three RBIs and a walk Wednesday afternoon against the Twins and has three round-trippers over the last two games. The designated hitter's .156 batting average has likely caused many fantasy owners to move on, but his struggles this season are not similar to what he went through in 2011. He already has nine homers in 145 plate appearances this year; he hit 11 in 496 in 2011. His ISO in 2011 was just .118, but he has a .230 ISO in 2013 (.263 ISO in 2012). His batting average mostly has been kept so low by a .155 BABIP.
Justin Morneau, 1B MIN Morneau is hitting .386 with six doubles and 17 RBIs in May, and .306 with 28 RBIs on the season, but his power is gone. He has hit just two homers and has a 3.8 percent HR/FB this season. Target Field isn't even entirely to blame; both of his homers have come there, while he is hitting .229 with zero home runs on the road. If you want to look at the positives, Morneau's overall contact rate is up by five percentage points, and his strikeout rate is down from 17.9 percent to 13.8 percent. But his flyball rate above 43 percent could be an issue if he doesn't rediscover that power stroke.
