Christian Yelich (MIL) -Another day, another home run for Christian Yelich, who now has 27 and has hit a homerun in 9% of all his plate appearance this season and improved his slash line to .345/.441/.743. Yelich started the season with nearly a 10:1 home-to-away home run ratio, but today's dinger improved this ratio to 19:8. Yelich is squarely in the running for another MVP season and when factoring in his 16 stolen bases, he's making a strong case to be the clear #2 pick off the board in fantasy leagues next season.
Zach Davies (MIL) -One of the best pitching surprises of the 2019 season finally hit a speed bump on Wednesday as the Padres roughed up Zach Davies to the tune of 2.2IP, 9H, 5ER, 3BB and 3K. Yesterday's start was just the 2ndtime he has allowed more than 3 earned runs this season,. Davies has been quite fortunate, as evidenced by his 81% strand rate and .280 BABIP, although perhaps nothing epitomizes this better than his 5.02 xFIP compared to just a 3.06 ERA. He's a prime candidate for regression in the second half.
Franmil Reyes (SD) -Franmil Reyes added three more hits and cracked his 20thhomerun on Wednesday against the Brewers. Reyes has forced his way into everyday at-bats for San Diego and there's no denying his power potential, which is fueled by a 48% hard hit rate, but despite a near even distribution of his batted balls across the field, his hard hit rate has failed to buoy his BABIP. This has partially caused him to post a batting average that's artificially low at just .249 and an ugly .300 on-base percentage. He doesn't have much speed, so that's working against him, but Reyes is a nice candidate for better average in the future.
Willson Contreras (CHC) - Willson Contreras hit a grand slam in the first inning of the Cubs/White Sox game on Wednesday and added a solo shot in the third. Entering Wednesday, Contreras slashed .287/.387/.530, yet his batting EYE has actually seen regression versus 2018 when he posted a .43 EYE compared with .41 in 2019. Contreras is hitting the ball harder on a more consistent basis, which has helped him rise his BABIP from .313 in 2018 to .352 in 2019. After getting a little unlucky last season, Contreras is seeing regression as his friend, this year.
Jesse Winker (CIN) - Jesse Winker tallied 3 hits on Wednesday against Gerrit Cole and the Astros, raising his season average from .242 to .251 and driving in the winning run. Winker has been up and down this season, but overall have been a disappointment after being a trendy pick thanks to a strong ending to his 2019 season. Winker had crushed the ball this season with a 41% hard hit rate, but has yet to see that pull through his BABIP, which is sitting at a paltry .244. On the positive side, his HR/FB rate is up to 27%, a polar opposite swing from the 8.9% he managed in 2018. That level probably isn't sustainable, but if he keeps hitting the ball hard, good things will continue to happen for the outfielder.
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