Jeremy Hellickson, RHP TB In his two full seasons in the majors, Hellickson has posted a K/9 below 7.0, a BB/9 above 3.0 and a HR/9 of 1.0 or higher, so his FIP has been extremely high. However, he has stranded runners at an 80.8 percent for his career, which has kept his career ERA at 3.40. This year, though, everything has come crashing down. His K/9 and BB/9 are both better, but he has stranded just 62.7 percent of runners and owns a 5.82 ERA. While he has limited line drives to a 17.1 percent rate with the bases empty this season, his line-drive rate with men on base is 24 percent. Last year, Hellickson's line-drive rate with men on was just 16.1 percent, and it was only 13.3 percent with runners in scoring position.
J.J. Hardy, SS BAL Hardy has homered in two straight games and five of the last 11, giving him eight on the year. Hardy, as usual, has a low batting average (.236), but this year he has a career-low strikeout rate and a career-high contact percentage. Hardy has a .218 BABIP, and while his career BABIP of .272 suggests that it won't increase all the way to league average, it still will come up as the season progresses.
Yoenis Cespedes, OF OAK It has not been a good season by any measure for Cespedes, but there was a glimmer of hope Friday night. The box score says he went 0-for-4, and he is now 4-for-38 over his last 10 games, but all four outs were on line drives. Why does that inspire hope, you ask? Because prior to Friday's game, Cespedes had hit a grand total of seven line drives in 122 plate appearances.
Josh Donaldson, 3B OAK Donaldson surprised in April with a .314 average, two homers and 20 RBIs, and he has continued his surge in May with a .340 mark and four homers. Donaldson has a strong walk rate (10.9 percent) and line-drive rate (23.4 percent), and has hit homers on 15.4 percent of his flyballs. The third baseman hit .153 with one homer and a 26/1 K/BB in 100 plate appearances early last season before being sent down, but he excelled in Triple-A -- .335, 13 homers, 34/23 K/BB in 234 plate appearances - and was a different hitter after returning to the big leagues later in the year. He batted .290 with eight homers, a 35/13 K/BB and a 25 percent line-drive rate in 194 plate appearances after being recalled, so his improvement really has been across 364 plate appearances and carries more weight.
Chris Sale, LHP CHA After striking out 12 and allowing three hits and no runs Friday against the Angels, Sale is 4-1 with a 1.40 ERA and a 44/10 K/BB in 45 innings over his last six outings. He has thrown at least seven innings in eight of his nine starts and is 5-2 with a 2.53 ERA overall. Sale was a bit lucky to post a .294 BABIP last season despite giving up line drives at a 23 percent rate, but he has limited liners to 16.8 percent this year. Sale stranded 80 percent of his baserunners last year, and he has been similarly effective with men on base in 2013, stranding 80.2 percent.
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