Kendrys Morales (DH/1B) KC - Morales homered again on Monday, giving him 3 during his current 8-game hitting streak. Sure, Morales has been a bit of a disappointment this year, but the hard contact rate of 40.8% is extremely impressive, and that rate has jumped to over 46% in the second half of the season. In short, he's killing it, but the AVG doesn't reflect it. His extreme lack of speed is part of the issue, but some of it is just luck as well....I still think he's a standard-league starter, and he could easily finish the season with 30 homers for just the second time in his career.
Kevin Kiermaier (OF) TB - Kiermaier singled and stole two bases Monday, extending his hitting streak to 9 games. He's at 83 games for the year now, so just past a half-season, and he has 8 homers and 15 steals....perfectly respectable. The AVG has been the issue, and it's really not a contact rate thing with him. The hard contact rate is solid at 33%, the chase rate is down...he's had some poor luck with BABIP, much of which is due to a surprisingly high pop-up percentage of 25.3. With everything else about his game ether as expected or a bit better, I'm hopeful that, should he open 2017 as a starter, that he'll be a solid lower-tier starting OF option with his decent power and good speed. He won't turn 27 until the first month of the season next year.
Felix Hernandez (SP) SEA - Over the past 8 starts (including Hernandez's second straight struggle against Texas on Monday), King Felix has walked 27 men over 51 2/3 innings. He's managed quality starts in half of those outings, but the 4.42 SIERA coming into Monday's tilt tells you the story here: this is not the same guy that we 're used to seeing in that jersey. He does get a fairly cushy matchup in Oakland next weekend, but with two against Houston and one against Toronto following that, I'd be looking long and hard at other options for the last few weeks of the season.
Jefry Marte (1B/3B) LAA - Marte is definitely playing most of the time now for the Angels, and after another couple of times on base Monday (via a single and a walk) he's now hit in 7 straight, tallying 2 doubles, 3 homers, and a steal over that stretch. The power isn't all that surprising, as Marte managed an ISO over .200 (and 19 homers) in 128 games between AAA and the majors last year, but the credible AVG of .265 is a bit of a surprise. Marte chases too much (and misses too much) to ever expect a great batting average, but with a touch of speed and above average pop (406 ft avg HR distance this year) he's a worthwhile add for both the remainder of this season and beyond, especially since he is just 25.
Rougned Odor (2B) TEX - Odor is on a ridiculous tear, racking up 15 hits and 6 homers in the past 6 games after another 3 hit, 1 homer day on Monday. This is a really unique player, as his swing rate, contact rate, OBP, and LD rate all point to a player that will struggle to stay in the majors, yet the hard contact rate improvement, the power and speed, and most importantly the age (22) point to a superstar in the making. In the constant battle of adjustments between hitters and pitchers, we've seen one on each end for Odor this season. Odor really only hits fastballs at this point in his career, and pitchers have responded by throwing him far fewer in 2016 (3rd largest drop in FB% in MLB behind Kang and Gomez). He has since cut his swing% at anything that isn't a FB, and the hard contact rate spiked from June on. He's still a player without much room for error....as I mentioned, he really only hits fastballs at this point. Still, if I were to gamble I'd do it on the side of Odor becoming a top-5 2B for the next 10 years. He's one of my favorite targets in dynasty formats, as he has another 4-5 years on the good side of the age curve yet he's already a 30-HR player.
