Tyler Naquin OF (CLE) - I'm going to keep writing about Naquin until people start paying attention. The 25 year old homered again on Sunday, and he has 2 2B, 2 3B, and 2 HR in the past 5 games with a 322/376/591 line in 115 on the year. Yes, there's quite a bit of swing-and-miss in his game, but the 43% hard contact rate and 25% LD rate will play for sure, and he is being protected against most LHP despite showing very few same-side issues...I think he could be a full-time player for the Tribe, but there are a lot of mouths to feed in that OF. I like Naquin a decent amount, and he's getting enough PT right now to be a viable option in most formats....something will give when Brantley returns, so the situation will be necessarily fluid.
Brad Miller SS (TB) - Miller had his second straight three-hit game on Sunday, and he's now hitting 248/300/445 for the year. Miller had a decent park move to TB this offseason, he's slowly improving his chase rate, swinging strike%, and hard contact rate each season, and he's second overall and (obviously) first among MIF in avg HR distance this year. Miller has a very real chance of being a 20/10 guy as a SS this season, and he's still just 26. The contact issues persist, which limit the ceiling, but he's an every-league guy at the position.
Ian Kennedy SP (KC) - Kennedy was brilliant against the Astros Sunday, holding them to 3 hits and a run over 7 innings, walking 1 and fanning 11. KC plays as a neutral run-scoring park but suppresses HR's by about 20% (that's a big number, BTW), which might explain why Kennedy has 49 K's in 38 innings with an ERA around 2.00 at home this year. He's been wretched on the road, but for the most part his numbers are reasonably similar to his usual production. He's always been a guy that you protect from smaller parks, so there's no reason to change tactics now.....he's a viable SP at home against most offenses, and occasionally on the road (but not often).
Nathan Eovaldi SP (NYY) - I've missed viewing Eovaldi's past few starts, but people assure me that Sunday's outing (which I did catch) was somewhat typical. He was dominant for large stretches of the contest, getting to 5 2/3 innings while allowing 3 hits and 1 run with 2 walks and 4 K's. The next four batters went walk, homer, homer, homer, and two of the three were on hanging breaking pitches. Eovaldi battled his control all day, but was able to get groundball after groundball when pressed until the sixth inning. His underlying stats are still very strong, but the perplexing ability to suddenly lose focus completely is, well, Pineda-esque. I remain convinced that Eovaldi is actually moving forward as a pitcher, but it does have a tendency to feel like two steps forward, two steps back at times. The velocity gains are still there, the chase rate and swinging strike% are still steadily climbing, and the GB rate is still excellent. I wouldn't mind buying low, to be honest, as I view him as a solid #4 for the remainder of the year. The HR/FB rate of likely over 20% after the outing is bound to return to earth.
Max Kepler OF (MIN) - After another homer Sunday, Kepler now has 9 doubles and 3 homers in his first 95 ABs with the Twins this year. There are still potential roadblocks to playing time if he slumps, but the trader of Oswaldo Arcia removed one of them, and the 23 year old Kepler does have a nice power/speed combo with solid contact ability. I like his potential very much, and I think that he should be owned in most formats right now and started in the leagues of standard size or greater.
