Christian Walker- 1B- ARI- Stats- Walker lost the month of August due to an oblique strain but has put up decent numbers for the season, He is slashing .252/.337/.474 with 26 homers in 526 PAs. His homer per PA is almost identical to 2023 when he hit 33 long balls in 661 PAs. Walker has a 91.0 EV and 47.6% HardHit%, both numbers higher than he has posted since before COVID. He will be 34 in 2025 but isn't showing signs of age-related decline yet.
Connor Norby- 2B- MIA- Hot- Norby hit his 9th homer in 162 MLB PAs. He's currently slashing .253/.302/.493 with the Marlins. Norby had some difficulty adjusting to MLB pitching, as his K% is 32.1%. A lot of that, however, is a result of his .188/.188/.406 slash line he had with Baltimore before being traded. Norby is hitting .271 for Miami and has walked 11 times in 130 PAs with them. He should continue living up to his potential as a solid hitting 2B with power.
Kris Bubic- P- KC- Stats- Bubic has made a successful recovery from Tommy John surgery and move to the bullpen. He threw 2 shutout innings yesterday, allowing a walk and striking out 3. Bubic has earned 7 holds since coming back in July and has a 2.96 ERA, 2.03 FIP, and 1.97 xFIP. He misses more bats and has better control than he did as a starter per-surgery. Bubic has a K/9 of 11.85 and BB/9 of 1.65. His fastball has added a couple of ticks to 93.3. In 2025 Bubic may still get looked at as a starter, at least in spring training. He was stretched out to as max of 5 IP in his rehab stint before he was prepped for a bullpen role. If he does go back to the bullpen he will at least be a prime setup man and would have value in leagues that count holds.
Ernie Clement- SS- TOR- Hot- Clement went 3-for-5 with a double, run, and RBI yesterday. He is slashing .265/.286/.410 with 11 homers and 12 steals across 429 PAs. While Clement is striking out at a rate of only 9.1%, he is also walking at only 2.3%. His BABIP of .269 would seem to indicate that he is suffering from bad luck, but his xBA is lower than his AVG, at .253. That's because Clement has little plate discipline. His chase rate is 44.8% and his contact with pitches outside the zone is a whopping 78.0%. So his BABIP has a large component of his own fault. He's swinging at bad pitches and making a lot of bad contact. This is similar to what Clement did in a small sample size of 52 PAs in 2023 when he slashed .380/.385/.500. However, his BABIP in 2023 was .391. So the small sample size had a large helping of good luck baked in. Despite a chase rate of 44.2% and O-Contact% of 85.3%, balls found there way as hits, even with his HardHIt% of 19.1%. For Clement to produce he has to get a very unlikely run of good fortune. That's not likely to happen in 2025.
Aaron Ashby- P- MIL- Stats- Ashby missed all of 2023 recovering from shoulder surgery. It was hoped that he could fill an important rotation slot this season for the Brewers. After getting rocked for 8 runs (4 earned) in his season debut, Ashby was sent to AAA Nashville. He struggled with control there, walking up to 7 batters in a game. Last month Ashby went to the bullpen full time and exhibited a dramatic turnaround. After walking 3 batters in 0.2 IP in his first appearance and 2 batters in 1.1 IP in his second, Ashby only allowed 1 walk in his final 6.2 IP across 5 games. In the 10 games he has appeared in since being called back up, Ashby has walked 3 batters and struck out 25 batters in 17 IP. Yesterday he stopped the bleeding, tossing 1.1 IP of scoreless relief in a game the Brewers eventually won after being down 8-0. His role hasn't been very high-leverage, as he only has 2 holds. Ashby will probably be looked at again as a potential starter in spring training. He has a tantalizing combo of being able to miss bats as he has shown recently and also induce ground balls (57.1% GB%.) His progress in the Cactus League could make him a low risk/high return play.
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