Brandon Lowe (2B - TB) - Lowe had a massive day Monday, singling and hitting two homers against the Orioles in a blowout win. Lowe is up to 28 HRs on the year now, and you'd be forgiven for casting him into the pile of "sold out for power, now just HR and RBI with the hurting AVG" guys that are scattered throughout the landscape. It looks like Lowe might have found something the past few months though, as a pull% that's dropped 11.7% thus far in the second half is the one thing that jumps out in a K% that has dropped (unbelievably) an equal 11.7%. That's helped push the AVG up 75 points while only sacrificing 25 points of ISO, a trade-off that would seem to be well worth it. I'm merely speculating on the cause/effect here, but it stands to reason that allowing the ball come a fraction further into the zone gives you just that tiny extra bit of pitch recognition (plus minimizes the impact a shift might have). Lowe is rapidly moving up my redraft boards for 2022, as I choose to believe this is actual improvement.....coming right around 1000 MLB PAs like it did just furthers my opinion that it could very well be the case.
Carlos Correa (SS - HOU) - Correa has been pretty poor since right before hitting the COVID list in early July, so hopefully his 19th HR of the season Monday night will get him back on track. Before the lengthy slump, Correa was being more patient than ever before, chasing less and cutting his swinging strike rate to within 0.1% of a career-best. Even with the slump he's 3rd in WAR and 4th offensively among SS, yet I still feel like he's a bit underrated...he's yet to turn 27 and is still easily a top-8 player at the position.
Matt Chapman (3B - OAK) - Chapman hit his 4th homer in the past 3 games as he tries to come out of what is essentially an 18-month slump. He barely resembles the solid contact/massive power bat that we saw in 2018-19, instead swinging and missing much more often and showing an alarming drop in exit velocity (93.1/92.7/93.6 from 2018-20, 89.2 thus far in 2021). This is extremely unusual to see from a player at age 28 without an injury, and Chapman has played in all but 3 games for the A's this year, so if it's an injury he's playing through it. Last year the contact went but the power was still present....this year is a disaster to this point. As hot as he is the past few games I would re-activate him/keep him in the lineup right now, but if this level of both contact and exit velo persist, he's no longer a top-20 option at 3B.
Bradley Zimmer (OF - CLE) - Zimmer picked up his 5th HR and 9th SB on Monday, putting him on roughly a 15/25 pace for a full season, showing off a bit of that ceiling we mentioned a month ago. The AVG will likely always be an issue due to the contact problems, and it's much more of an actual contact issue than a strike zone judgment one, but especially in OBP-based leagues he is clearly showing enough to be a viable starting OF. I like him probably more than I should.
Jorge Mateo (ss/2B - BAL) - Jorge Mateo is exactly the kind of player that the Orioles should be messing around with at this point. The Orioles claimed him a few weeks back when the Padres exposed him, and he's been playing every day since in the middle infield. He's reached base in all 10 games he's played for Baltimore, hitting 12-39 (.308) with 5 2B, 1 3B, and 3 SB. He has a bit more power than you'd think and obviously has blazing speed (his sprint speed is 3rd in MLB behind Trea Turner and Tim Locastro), but there's one glaring issue here: contact. He doesn't walk and makes poor contact when he does swing, and it's costing him a career, because he isn't a bad fielder at either middle infield position and his speed is extremely useful. The O's have nothing to lose trotting him out there every day, and that's going to make him a viable player in many formats simply because of the speed. I'm intrigued in all formats because of the little bit of pop that's been developing the past few years, but if you need some speed he's a great add regardless of league size.
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