Wily Peralta- MIL- Hot- For someone who threw a 3-hit shutout last night, Peralta wasn't as impressive as his line looks. He threw 113 pitches, 71 of them for strikes. After the first 4 IP, though, Peralta had thrown 29 strikes and 23 balls. He might have been a little rusty since his last start was a week ago and he got extra rest due to a minor hamstring injury. Peralta hasn't given up a run in either of his last 2 starts but he didn't look sharp enough for long enough last night to really go all in on him yet. There is potential there.
Tony Cingrani- CIN- Hot- Cingrani looked like the best version of himself despite taking the loss in a 2-0 game. He allowed only 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 10 in 7 IP. Of Cingrani's 109 pitches, 70 were strikes. Cingrani continues a recent trend of allowing fewer walks and striking out more batters. It is going to be tough for him to improve on last night's performance but if he can even come close he will be very productive.
Gerrit Cole- PIT- Hot- Although 2 of his six starts haven't lasted long enough for him to get quality starts in them, the others have and he has yet to allow more than 3 runs in any of his appearances since coming up to the majors last month. Cole has actually had a slight bit of bad luck, as his ERA of 3.68 exceeds his FIP of 3.42. Cole is living up to the hype.
Scott Hairston- CHN- Hot- A change of venue might have been just what Hairston needed. In his first game with Washington he went 2-for-5. Even with that his BABIP is a woeful .149 so there is enough room for positive regression to drive a Mack truck through.
Joey Votto- CIN- Stats- Votto has 15 homers this season but it's not a product of Great American Ballpark. Only 6 of his homers have come at home. Normally he doesn't have extreme homer splits (except for last year when 10 of his 14 homers were at home-but 2012 gets a bit of an injury asterisk.) Votto is usually much more even. His HR/FB splits are 16.7% and 24.3%. With a career mark of 19.0%, expect him to hit more at home and fewer on the road in the second half.
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