Jonathan Lucroy, Texas Rangers - Jonthan Lucroy launched a pair of solo homers in the Rangers 3-2 win over the A's Saturday. This gives him three in his short time as a Ranger and now has homered in back-to-back games. He's already enjoying hitting in the AL as he's taken advantage of the Orioles and Astros' friendly confines for those three homers and in fact, he's already matched his homer total for July just four games into August. Lucroy is going to finish the season on an extremely strong note in that lineup and park, and AL only leaguers who were able to add him are likely going to have some championships won because of him.
Brad Miller, Tampa Bay Rays - After homering in three straight games, Miller was kept in the park on Saturday but he was able to steal two bags bringing his total to six for the year. Miller has quietly had a very nice season at SS with 20 homers and six steals to go with a .250/.306/.499 triple slash which although it isn't the best out there, it's still management with those kind of counting stats. We've seen his homers improve every month from April-through-July, and with three in his first three games this month he's on pace to go way over the seven from July. Obivously he's not going to homer 20+ times this month, but maybe we see him get to the 30 homer plateau with a continued strong second half.
Brad Miller, Tampa Bay Rays - After homering in three straight games, Miller was kept in the park on Saturday but he was able to steal two bags bringing his total to six for the year. Miller has quietly had a very nice season at SS with 20 homers and six steals to go with a .250/.306/.499 triple slash which although it isn't the best out there, it's still management with those kind of counting stats. We've seen his homers improve every month from April-through-July, and with three in his first three games this month he's on pace to go way over the seven from July. Obivously he's not going to homer 20+ times this month, but maybe we see him get to the 30 homer plateau with a continued strong second half.
Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians - Kluber shut down the Yankees over 8 innings allowing just two earned runs and five hits along with striking out eight batters. The outing lowers his ERA to 3.22 and his FIP has dropped down to 2.78as well. He's having basically a mix of his 2014 and 15 seasons turning in the peripherals of his season last year and the win totals from his Cy Young award winning season in 2014. After posting an ERA over 4.00 in April and May he's followed it with a 2.19 ERA in June and a 2.51 ERA in all of July. The Indians strengthened their bullpen in a big way with the Andrew Miller trade which means nothing but good things for Kluber and the rest of the Indians starting rotation this year.
Danny Duffy, Kansas City Royals - While Duffy didn't strike out 16 over 8 innings on Saturday, he still picked up his 6th win of the season. He threw 6.2 innings and allowed five hits and only two runs, including his 14th homer of the season. Since moving into the rotation on May 15th, Duffy is 7-and-1 with a 10.42 K/9, 1.79 BB/9, and a 2.98 ERA (3.36 FIP). The only knock on Duffy this season is that he's struggled with allowing the long ball surrendering those 14 homers I mentioned before, and 12 since being moved into the rotation. With his strikeout and walk rates he's virtually an ace over the rest of the season.
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