Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals - Carpenter hasn't quite lived up to the lofty preseason standards he set for himself after his MVP caliber 2013 season, but the second baseman has been a good fantasy asset for owners this season. He launched a leadoff homer, his fifth homer of the year, and drove in his 35th run while going 2-fo-3 at the plate Tuesday. Hopefully this can be the game that get carpenter rolling, as he was 0-for-12 since the All Star break. Carpenter has seen a dip in his ISO over nearly 70 points, which can be partially contributed to his GB rate being a few percentage points higher than last year. While Carpenter is by no means a power hitter, his HR/FB rate is 2% below his career average so with a career high FB rate (disregarding his 7 game callup in 2011) it wouldn't be surprising to see him hit a couple more balls over the fence in the second half of the season.
Ben Revere, Philadelphia Phillies - After being relegated to pinch hit duties in the past three contests, Revere thrived in his return to the lineup going 3-for-6 while stealing his 27th and 28th bases of the season. The player who was once traded for now top prospect Trevor May is now slowly losing playing time to Grady Sizemore as Sizemore has been playing well since being called up from AAA. Revere's triple slash of .292/.313/.349 is right around his career average but it is his defense that has taken a drop down in his overall ability. When Revere plays and is able to get on base, he can wreak havoc on the basepaths evidence by his 28-for-31 success rate this season when swiping bags. It'll be an interesting situation to monitor as I feel Revere is the better player, and will ultimately get more playing time down the stretch than the over-achieving Sizemore.
Mike Minor, Atlanta Braves - Minor was a guy I said would be a good buy low target a few weeks back based on his peripherals, but as his ERA climbed to 5.32 after Tuesday's start I can say that suggestion has not come to fruition. The Marlins tagged him Tuesday for six runs on 10 hits over just three innings. His xFIP is still right on track for a career high at 3.61 as he cannot seem to get his HR/FB rate to come down to his career norm around 10.5%. What makes his decline even more frustrating is that he still has the second lowest fly ball rate of his career at 36.9%. It's coming down to the fact it may just be one of those weird situations where the peripherals don't match the traditional stats, while a fellow teammate Aaron Harang is the exact opposite and is outperforming his metrics completely.
Arismendy Alcantara, Chicago Cubs - Alcantara continued his excellent rookie campaign Tuesday hitting his second career homer and driving in his seventh run of the year. His triple slash line now sits at .282/.326/.590 over 43 plate appearances and he has a robust .308 ISO. The ISO is likely much higher than he will post for the rest of the season and it is being heavily weighed by his small sample size as his minor league ISO average is in the .170-.190 range. He has been immediately slotted at the top of the lineup hitting either first or second in every game, and he will likely stay there the rest of the season after the DFA of Darwin Barney. Alcantara is a great middle infield option for the rest of the season provided a nice speed/power combo for a player owned in just 32.8% of ESPN leagues.
Gregory Polanco, Pittsburgh Pirates - Polanco had a huge Tuesday going 2-for-5 with his third homer and he scored three runs. He also drove in three bringing his season total to 17. Polanco's hot start to the season has slowed some but is still playing well enough to be rostered in every league especially dynasty leagues. The homer was his first since the beginning of July and his ISO is well below any season in the minors at .096. His 20% LD rate is solid, but once he starts turning some of his grounders (49.1%) into line drives and fly balls that ISO will continue to stay low. Granted, hitting grounders and using his plus speed to leg them out isn't too bad for the Pirates out of the leadoff spot but it doesn't help fantasy owners that much.
Josh Sperry - @jsperry1991
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