Ben Zobrist- TB- Hot- Zobrist went 3-for-5 with 2 doubles, a run and 3 RBI. It extended his current hitting streak to 6 games in which he has gone 8-for-26. That's not a very hot streak and yesterday was his first multi-hit game of the stretch. It actually broke up what looked like some regression to the mean, as Zobrist had gone 10-for-65 in his 16 games prior to yesterday. His BABIP still stands at .317 so there is still room for more negative regression. His Batting EYE has dropped from .86 in 2010 to .61 this season and his FB% has dropped for the 3rd straight season. He looks like he will be a player you can count on for double digits in homers and steals, but whose average will be highly luck dependent. Keep that in mind looking towards 2012.
Zach Britton- BAL- Cold- Control was Britton's problem yesterday as he walked 4 in 5 IP, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits and striking out 2. Only 55 of his 100 pitches are strikes. Britton is not at Daniel Cabrera levels of wildness so it is probably a matter of maturing as a pitcher. Britton has shown flashes of potential and will probably improve his consistency in 2012.
Matt Wieters- BAL- Hot- Wieters broke a 4-game hitless streak with a homer, his 3rd of the month and 4th in his last 11 games. As Fantistics' Drew Dinkmeyer pointed out last week, Wieters is putting together the factors that warranted his draft position and looks poised to continue the surge into 2012.
Josh Willingham- OAK- Stats- The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum is known as a pitchers' park. So you might think that Willingham's production is hampered by playing his home games there. Not really. His .262/.345/.524 slash line at home tops the .241/.323/.435 numbers on the road. So if you were thinking maybe he has use as a road warrior, it's not there. Willingham hits homers (his 25 lead his team) but not much else is happening.
Ryan Raburn- DET- Hot- The pendulum of regression to the mean has gone a little far in the case of Raburn. After a BABIP of .375 last month and .400 so far this month his now stands at .307 overall. Raburn has been striking out more in September, with a 31.6% K%, so don't take this fast finish as necessarily representative of what he'll do in 2012.
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