Cavan Biggio- 2B- TOR- Hot-Biggio went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and his third homer of the season. Over the past 3 games he is 5-for-9 with 3 walks and no strikeouts. Regression to the mean is kicking in as his BABIP has risen from .260 to .293. There is still room for positive regression as his career BABIP is .308. Biggio's Statcast numbers, GB%, and FB% are comparable to what he has put up in his young career. So far he hasn't made the progress expected but he is breaking out of a dreadful start.
Freddy Galvis- SS- BAL- Hot- Galvis went 1-for-2 yesterday with his 4th homer of the season. He is slashing .286/.343/.516. Galvis has an ISO of .231, better than any of his full seasons. It is better than his .178 in 2019, when he slugged 23 homers in 589 PAs. That's primarily because he has hit 7 doubles already this season in 100 PAs and hit 28 in 2019. Galvis has Exit Velocity and HardHit% numbers close to what he had in 2019 but a Barrel% that is higher. His 45.6% FB% is higher than he has posted in any season where he played as a regular. With a BABIP of .338 higher than his career .293 you can expect his average to drop some but it shouldn't go down to anywhere near the .220 last season. Galvis looks to have rediscovered his power stroke.
Lou Trivino- RP- OAK- Rise value- With Trevor Rosenthal out all year and his return date unknown, the A's have been forced to look elsewhere for a closer. Lately, it has most often been Trivino. He saved his 6th gave of the season yesterday, his 4th save in his last 6 appearances. Trivino had another save opportunity last Wednesday that he blew. His 6 saves are twice as many as any other Oakland pitcher. Control is an issue for Trivino. Only 14 of his 26 pitches yesterday were strikes and he has a 4.82 BB/9. Trivino's 1.34 WHIP and 3.86 ERA are not exactly stellar for a closer. He didn't have a 1-2-3 inning in any of is last 6 appearances and faced at least 5 batters in all but one of them. Yesterday Trivino loaded the bases to start the 9th inning before getting the side out with no runs allowed. Jake Diekman would likely be the first reliever turned to if Trivino's messes start catching up with him. For now, though, Trivino seems to have the closer role.
Brett Gardner- OF- NYY- Caution- A pinch hit on Thursday had Gardner touching the Mendoza line, but an 0-for-3 yesterday (all strikeouts) dropped him back down to .190. He is currently slashing .190/.269/.224. In 2020 Gardner hit 5 homers in 158 PAs but hasn't gone deep at all in 2021. His Batting EYE has also dropped to 0.39 from 0.74 last year. Gardner has a BABIP of .262, but in 2020 it was .264 and in 2019 .265. Instead of being an indicator of bad luck it seems to be developing into his new normal. Looking at Statcast doesn't inspire much hope. Gardner's Exit Velocity of 86.4 equals a career low, his 30.2% HardHit% is worse than all but one of his full seasons and he has yet to hit a barrel. The trends are not good for the 37-year-old.
Joey Wendle- 3B- TB- Cold- Regression to the mean has been impacting Wendle over the past few weeks. His BABIP has fallen from .385 to .333 since April 20 and he has hit .239 in that stretch. Given that his career mark is .327 he is close to his normal. Wendle has also cut down on some free-swinging tendencies he showed earlier. Since April 20 his Swing% is 42.7%, after being 51.8% in the early part of 2021. His Exit Velocity has also dropped from 91.4 in those early games to 87.7 in his most recent outings. Wendle's .288 average is closer to the projection of .277 and more like what he will likely end up with.
This is just a small sample our daily analysis, join our member area for over 80 daily player updates sent to your inbox every morning and track your team online. Click here for details: http://www.insiderbaseball.com/baseballsample.htm Click here to register: http://www.fantistics.com/salesbaseball.php3
