Salvador Perez (C, KC) - Perez made the most out of the Sunday doubleheader, going 3-9 on the day with three home runs and five RBI. He's now sitting pretty with a career-high .267 ISO over his first 162 plate appearances, with 11 HR and 28 RBI. The walk rate is still sub-5% (never change, Sal) but as bad as the catcher position is these days, his owners will gladly take the .280/.321/.547 line he's posting. He's decided to go all out for pull power this year, pulling 61% of his batted balls and also hitting a career-high 52% fly balls. That has led to an increase in hard contact rate, which at 42% is now substantially higher than last years 34%. He's also making just as much contact as he has for the past couple years, so it's looking like his owners are in for a treat this year. He should easily outdo his previous high water mark of 22 homers thanks to this new approach, and he's also cut his pop-up rate in half from last year, which will help keep his BABIP from tanking.
Marco Estrada (SP, TOR) - Estrada carved up the Orioles, striking out 12 over 7.2 innings with just one walk and one run allowed. He gave up only two extra base hits, a double to Trey Mancini and a solo homer to Adam Jones. He's now eeked his K/9 into double digits, at 10.05, which is easily a career-high for him. He's still got his typical great command (2.30 BB/9) and has now lowered his ERA to 3.30. He continues to be a master at limiting hard contact, with just 27% hard contact against this year, although his pop-up rate has mysteriously evaporated. He's induced just 3% pop-ups compared to 17% last year and 13% for his career. He's found other avenues to success though, with an arsenal that has been almost entirely fastball/changeup this year. His swinging strike rate is higher than ever, so we'll gladly take the K's over the pop-ups. He'll face the Rangers at home in his next start.
Wade Miley (SP, BAL) - Miley overcame a three-run first inning (although all three runs were unearned, cha-ching) to finish seven innings for the Orioles. He only struck out three but walked just one, and lowered his ERA to 2.59 on the season. His peripherals aren't nearly as rosy however, with a 4.42 FIP and 4.00 xFIP that scream regression. He's striking out a batter per inning, but if he keeps walking 5+ batters per nine, he'll see some regression indeed. He's managed to strand 86% of baserunners to date, with the league average laying around 72%. He's also allowed 39% hard contact, and with a below average 8.7% swinging strike rate, you better believe that strikeout rate going down as well. Hopefully you've enjoyed the ride if you've had him, but you might want to treat him like a hot streak at a casino and know when to quit. He'll have a tough matchup on the road against the Astros his next time out.
Andrew Triggs (SP, OAK) - Triggs had an uncharacteristic start, giving up six runs (five earned) over 5.1 innings. He struck out seven and walked three, getting yanked after 101 pitches. His defense didn't give him much help in this one, but he was also a bit erratic. Just 64 of his 101 pitches were strikes, and one of his best attributes is limiting baserunners since he doesn't get a lot of strikeouts. He mixed things up with his pitch usage quite a bit, throwing more sliders and curveballs than fastballs for the first time all year. As we can see though, it didn't have a great effect. He's been pitching over his head, certainly, but his ground ball rate and favorable home park should allow him to pitch closer to his 3.28 FIP than his 4.12 xFIP. He's already approaching his innings total from last year, so it would be wise to try and sell high on him if you can before the phrase "innings limit" is bandied about.
Adalberto Mejia (SP, MIN) - Mejia was recalled by the Twins to start the second game of the Twins/Royals doubleheader. He put forth a quality start and was rewarded with his first win as a Twin, going seven innings with three runs allowed, two walks, and three strikeouts. Mejia has piqued my interest with some increased velocity from 2016. He averaged 90 MPH on his fastball last year, but in this start was averaging 93. My interest waned upon glancing at his whiffs from this start however, as he got just six swinging strikes out of his 89 pitches thrown. That's pretty gross, and his 6.97 K/9 over 20.2 innings at Triple-A Rochester this season might even overstate what he's capable of at the major league level. His control isn't impressive either, so despite the decent showing in this game, don't feel bad leaving him on your waiver wire.
You can follow me on Twitter @NathanDokken
This is just a small sample our our daily analysis, join our member area for over 80 player updates daily: http://www.fantistics.com/salesbaseball.php3 Click here for details: https://www.insiderbaseball.com/baseballsample.htm
