Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels - Ohtani was held out of the lineup on Monday but was back in it on Tuesday and he launched his 16th homer of the season. The homer was the first homer all season for him that has come off a lefty. More Ohtani news has come out recently that Ohtani is going to throw two bullpen sessions this week and he's potentially going to start for the Angels on Sunday against the White Sox. It seems crazy to me that they are going to run him back out there after seeing the dramatic velocity drop from 99 to 90 MPH over his three-plus innings last Sunday. Like I said in the weekly report, I have very little interest in Ohtani the pitcher over the rest of the season.
Yuli Gurriel, Houston Astros - Gurriel homered for the second straight day, pushing him into the double digits for the season. Gurriel has played only 115 games this year but his power production is right in line traditionally with his 18 homer season from last year, and his batted ball profile shows that he might have had an even better season than last year. His FB% is right in line with last season, his pull% is right in line with last season, and his hard-hit rate is down by 4% (not too much) but he also saw his HR/FB% drop by an equal 4%. That kind of 1-to-1 drop in hard-hit rate and HR/FB rate isn't something normal, so he may have eclipsed 20 homers if he was able to play a full season.
Alex Bregman, Houston Astros - Remember when some people were concerned over Alex Bregman when he had his slow April? Those concerns are long gone as Bregman improved his season line to .296/.395/.549 with a 161 wRC+ after going 3-for-4 at the plate with three doubles on Tuesday. Bregman is closing in on 7 WAR for the year and is also going to reach the 30 homer plateau. He currently has 28 homers after hitting 19 last year but has 20 fewer at bats this season.
Tommy Pham, Tampa Bay Rays - Pham had to exit the game on Tuesday in the 9th innings after tweaking his groin while beating out an infield single. Pham has been great in his time with the Rays posting a 148 wRC+ while dealing with injuries fairly frequently. He went 2-for-5 with an RBI triple Tuesday that extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Luke Voit, New York Yankees - Voit homered again on Tuesday (third day in a row) and over his last 12 games, he's hitting .375 with seven homers and 13 RBI. Voit has posted a 173 wRC+ and a .343 ISO over his 78 plate appearances this season. Baseball is such a strange sport as he has the same hard hit rate same FB% as he did in his brief stint with the Cardinals in 2017, but this year he has a 46% HR/FB% compared to a 14.3% rate last season.
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