Anthony Rendon- WAS- Hot- Rendon went 3-for-4 yesterday to bring his average up to .361. Underlying that is a .447 BABIP, so expect some negative regression in that department. Power should increase, though. Rendon had 6 homers in 152 PAs at AA this year and only 1 so far in 68 PAs at the major league level. His LD% of 45.8% helps explain both his high BABIP and lack of homers. Expect his FB% of 31.3% to go up and more balls to leave the park.
Carlos Beltran- STL- Hot- Beltran's hitting streak may have ended at 14 games with his 0-for-4 yesterday, but he is still 24-for-69 with 6 homers in his last 15 games. He is already more than halfway to 30 homers for the season and his .306 average isn't outrageous given a .317 BABIP. The main danger sign for Beltran is a drop in his Batting EYE from .52 last year to .27. That is mainly due to his walk rate, which is usually in the double digits, being only 4.7% this year. His ISO, LD%, FB% and HR/FB ratios are all comparable to last year. It looks like Beltran has a good chance to sustain this level of performance.
Barry Zito- SF- Stats- Evidently someone needs to get the Giants' official website a subscription to Fantistics. The "unexplainable" extreme home/road splits for Zito can be seen as the product of luck. Since we last went over this almost two weeks ago the difference in his home and road ERAs has widened (1.94/11.28) due to an unlucky road start that actually has his road FIP (3.73) lower than his home FIP (3.81.) Currently Zito has more than twice as many IP at home as on the road so his overall numbers aren't as horrible as they could be. Regression to the mean will give a net boost to him as the season progresses.
Neil Walker- PIT- Stats- Walker has a point about his batting average from the right side being likely to rise. His BABIP is only .216 as a righthander, compared to .327 from the left side. He had similar bad luck as a righthander last year. His first two seasons spending significant time as a major leaguer his splits weren't that extreme. Walker's assertion about his power coming around is less likely. Since the beginning of 2011 Walker has hit 1 homer as a righthander in 358 PAs. There isn't any evidence that Walker's power from the right side increases as his average does.
Jean Segura- MIL- FYI- I've been to Miller Park 4 times so far this year and Segura continues to impress me. The main component of his game that stands out when watching him is his speed. That means that his .343 BABIP might not be a regression to the mean waiting to happen. Segura has 23 infield hits already as well as 19 steals. Speed will sustain his batting average and add in his 10 homers and there is a 20/20 candidate at SS. That Is a valuable commodity.
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.
