Hisashi Iwakuma (SP- Seattle)
Hisashi Iwakuma picked up his 5th win of the season today pitching 8 innings of 1 run ball giving up six hits and striking out 6. This strong performance brought his ERA down to 2.59. Looking at his peripherals, he seems quite able to sustain his stellar performance. Sporting an xFIP of 2.84, Hisashi is now inducing GB's at a 56% rate which is a significant improvement over last year's 48.7% number. Coming off a 14-6 record with a 2.66 ERA there was some skepticism that he could be as effective as last year. The fact is that Hisashi is in some ways pitching even better despite a 2% drop in swinging strike rate and a 1 mph decrease in velocity. In Iwakuma, we are witnessing a craftsman at work. If he has a little bit less to work with in velocity, he makes the adjustment and becomes a ground ball machine. The man knows how to pitch and he is a great complement to the total mastery that King Felix has displayed this year. Joe Nathan (RP-Detroit)
Joe Nathan picked up his 3rd win of the year today pitching a scoreless 9th although he did give up 2 hits. This has been a terrible year so far for Nathan that has seen him lose the confidence of the fans if not quite yet the manager. Nathan's ERA sits at an unsightly 6.57 and he is walking batters at a 4.74/9 inning rate. After a stellar season in Texas last year where he picked up 43 saves and had a 1.39 ERA, this seasons results could signal the end of a great career. His velocity is down but the loss in speed would appear to be manageable if it were not for the fact that every one of his other pitches has been less effective as well. This is especially the case with his slider, which he throws nearly 33% of the time, and has always been his reliable out pitch. With declining bite on his stuff, his swinging strike rate is down an astronomical 4% from last year so he just is not missing bats. And the bats that he makes contact with have smoked him for a 13.1% HR/FB rate that is up 10% from last year in a much less forgiving Texas park. His xFIP of 4.61 indicates that he is not this bad, but the fact is that at 39 years old he cannot keep his closer position pitching this way for a team that has playoff aspirations. Jose Reyes (SS-Toronto)
Jose Reyes had a double and a run scored in today's game to bring his average up to .269. Since returning from injury Reyes has been a productive but not elite base stealer with 15 in his first 246 PA's. As a player who has hit as many as 19 HR in a season his power numbers are a bit disappointing as well with only 5 HR on the season. Reyes has been hitting FB's at a career best rate of almost 43% but he has not been able to translate that in to power production with a 4.9% HR/FB ratio which is below his career 6.1% mark. He still has very good speed so his IFH rate of 9.9% is his best ever. The conundrum for Reyes owners is that he is producing more infield hits on fewer ground balls and fewer HR on more fly balls. Reyes remains an extremely valuable player at the SS position but he is not going to be a true leader at that position unless this two counterbalancing statistics start to regress more to the norm. Victor Martinez, (DH-Detroit)
Victor Martinez continues his great season with 2 more hits today to see his average to .333. He has hit 17 HR, driven in 44 runs, and hit 17 doubles in a highly improbable comeback campaign at 35 years old. His 17 HR's so far in 2014 is 3 more than he hit all last season when he had 400 more AB's. What is truly remarkable about Martinez's performance this year is that he has a higher walk rate at 8.5% than K% at 6.3%. Martinez has always been an elite contact hitter and this year is no exception as he is at a career best 92.7% rate. He is producing FB's at a 39.1% rate which is his best mark in the last 3 years. While his batted ball speed is the same as last year at 103.5 mph, what seems a bit out of place is his 18.9% HR/FB rate which is quite elevated for a hitter who never had a season over 13% in his career. The most HR's he has produced in a season was 25 in 2007 so while he seems certain to surpass that number I don't think he can reasonably sustain this HR pace. Then again, who would have thought that a season like this would be possible either? Yangervis Solarte (3B-NY Yankees)
Yangervis Solarte was 0 for 3 today with a run a run scored and saw his BA drop to .274 on the season. Solarte had a very surprising and solid start to the season and generated a lot of excitement that perhaps this soon to be 27 year old could somehow fill the void at 3B for the Yankee club. This was a lot of pressure to put on the youngster who had a decent but not stellar Minor League pedigree. He never hit more than 12 HR in any minor league season and he sits with 6 HR so far this year for the Yankees. The best thing about Solarte is that he has so far proven himself to be a very good contact hitter with an 89.1% rate which is well above the league average. In addition, he has good plate discipline with a 9.4% walk rate and only an 11.4% K rate. The problem for Solarte is that he does not have more than league average bat speed and his batted ball distance is not particularly good. As a corner infielder he does not project to have the power to be an impact player at the position. He falls into the James Loney type of player who can be productive in the majors but just not productive enough to be the long term solution at a position that requires power production. It should be noted that Solarte started today's game at 2B which would be a much better position for him with the hit tools that he has.
@stevietheshu
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