Jenrry Mejia - The 20 year old has been tearing up the minors since his demotion, but last night may have cemented his return to Flushing later in the week. Mejia took a no-hitter into the sixth against the Chiefs

Sean Burnett - Lost in the departure of Matt Capps and the ascension of Drew Storen has been the performance of Sean Burnett in the Nationals' bullpen this year. Burnett has pitched exactly nine innings here in August, allowing four

Mike Leake - I think we've moved into full-on warning mode with the Mike Leake situation, as Leake failed to produce a quality start for the eighth time in his last ten tries last night against the Cards. Leake gets

Travis Wood - Travis Wood picked up his fifth quality start out of seven by shutting out the Pirates over seven innings last night, walking one and striking out four. I certainly wouldn't have expected Wood to be the lefty

Mike Pelfrey - When Joseph said that he expected Pelfrey's ERA to move above 4.00, I'm sure he didn't expect it to happen in just a week or two. Nine baserunners and six earned runs (in just 1 1/3 IP)

Hunter Pence - Pence singled and homered yesterday against the Pirates to extend his hitting streak to 8 games, and he's really heated up since summer started, batting 333/429/524 since the first of July. Pence has continued to improve his

Fred Lewis - Lewis has been seemingly growing into the leadoff slot for the Jays before our very eyes, as July has seen him increase his walk rate dramatically, an impact that he has magnified by swiping five bags in

Mike Pelfrey - After another 13 baserunners in 4 2/3 yesterday, I think it's time to throw out the caution flag on Mike Pelfrey. In his last five starts Pelfrey has gone 28 1/3 innings while allowing 43 hits. He's

Howie Kendrick - I'm starting to see some positives with Kendrick, who put up a 301/342/451 line for the month of June. His HR/FB ratio is moving up, and he's made some huge strides in cutting his swinging strike%. He

Tim Hudson - Hudson made it 5/6 in quality starts for the month yesterday, shutting out the Nationals over seven innings of work in a 5-0 win. Hudson is riding a GB% of close to 70 and his best velocity

Jason Castro - Jason Castro is the new starting catcher for the Astros, which now gives them arguably six position players that might warrant ownership depending on league size and style. I say arguably not only because you could argue

Ryan Braun - Braun singled and homered last night, driving in 5 in the 12-2 win over LA. Braun has certainly made strides in his plate discipline over the past three years, increasing his walk rate while cutting his K

Dan Haren - Haren couldn't pick up a 2nd straight quality start last night against Atlanta, but he did manage to pick up the win with a 5 2/3 IP, 3 ER effort. Haren's scuffles have been discussed ad nauseum

Brett Cecil - Cecil was outstanding again last night, this time going eight innings and allowing only one run to the Yankees in a 6-1 victory. Cecil has only been hit hard once in nine times out this year, and

Matt Holliday - Holliday doubled and walked yesterday, finishing May with a five-game hitting streak in which he hasn't struck out once. Looking at his past three or four years though, Holliday really seems to be slowing down early in

Johan Santana - To piggyback onto Drew's comment of a few weeks ago, here are a few more stats that illustrate the decline of one of the better pitchers of this generation: his contact% against has risen to its highest

Michael Young - Young has been scorching in May, as another double and a homer yesterday bring his monthly line to 382/456/551. At age 33, most of Young's indicators have been pointing toward the negative for a few years now,

Mike Pelfrey - Pelfrey halted the Mets' skid last night, holding the Braves to two runs on seven hits over 7 2/3 innings, walking two and fanning three. Pelfrey's best asset is likely his ability to induce groundballs, and three

Casey McGehee - What I wrote two weeks ago about McGehee still stands: he has made tremendous strides this year in his power and control of the strike zone...so much so that I'm inclined to buy in. The AVG, however,

Travis Snider - Snider is heating up, adding three more singles last night to make him 11-20 (with 5 XBH) in his last five games. Despite Snider's slow start to the year, his peripherals are loaded with positive signs. His

Michael Bourn - Bourn singled, doubled, walked, and stole a base yesterday in a 9-1 loss. He definitely has the Juan Pierre 2.0 skill set down pat, which will make him an asset when he's hitting over .300 and

Jonathan Sanchez - Last night was certainly a contrast in styles, as the efficient Roy Halladay faced off against Jonathan Sanchez, who is anything but. Sanchez got the best of Halladay last night, although his 107 pitches only stretch through

Randy Wells - Converted from catcher early in his Cub career, Randy Wells suffered through six-plus minor league seasons (and one rule V selection) to get to the point where he isn't really fighting for a rotation slot with the

Everth Cabrera - There's no questioning Cabrera's raw speed, but you could certainly question everything else about him. Cabrera had a mere handful of AB's above A-ball before last year's decent showing in San Diego, but the decency was masked

Brad Hawpe - Hawpe is now 5-9 with 2 2B's and 2 HR's in the past two games after a couple of solo shots off of Mat Latos last night. At age 31 this year, Hawpe is probably a touch

Gio Gonzalez - Gonzalez looked great in his 2010 debut against the Angels last night, allowing two runs on six hits over six innings, walking only one while fanning six. Gonzalez had two critical issues that primarily influenced his subpar

Ubaldo Jimenez - After bumping up his average fastball velocity to 96.1 in 2009, Jimenez was throwing 96-99 consistently on Opening Day against the Brewers. Although he did allow a handful (plus a few) of singles, Jimenez only walked one

Jason Frasor - It looks like Cito, as is his wont, is going back to the well for Jason Frasor as the Jays' closer to start the season. Frasor improved his control by more than a full walk per nine

Twins 3B - The Twins' 3B "battle" pits the disappointing Brendan Harris against the scourge of all that is good, Nick Punto. With a career OPS of .647 and 5 HRs in 509 games over the last four years, you

Dan Hudson - The White Sox have already brought their 2008 5th rounder up to pitch out of the bullpen, and those of you who can find value out of non-closer RP's would be well served to grab him. Even

Jason Bartlett - A pair of singles and a double cap off a scintillating August for Bartlett, as his triple slash stats for the month read 343/435/535. You can put me in the seemingly small camp that believes that a

Barry Zito - Zito tossed his third straight quality start and ninth straight outing giving up three runs or less in beating the Rockies last night 5-3. Zito is showing his best velocity since 2005 and his best control since

Randy Ruiz - Ruiz chalked up another three hits yesterday, including his fourth homer in 46 AB's, as the Jays fell to Tampa 12-7. Ruiz may have over 4500 minor league plate appearances, but don't be fooled into thinking he

Alcides Escobar - Escobar picked up another pair of singles with two runs scored in his third career start for the Brewers, and it does look like he might be able to provide AVG, R, and SB out of the

Brett Anderson - Anderson was great again last night, limiting the Rangers to two runs over 7 2/3 innings. Over the past seven starts, Anderson is pitching to under a 2.00 ERA and is fanning more than a batter per

Melky Cabrera - Let's call this a big up arrow, as Brett Gardner's injury opens the door for Cabrera to get even more playing time to take advantage of his semi-breakout season. Cabrera's stats sell him a bit short I

Jorge de la Rosa - Jorge won his sixth in a row yesterday, holding the Giants to two runs over 7 1/3 innings, striking out seven without a walk. De la Rosa has made great strides this year in almost

Miguel Montero - Montero hit in his eighth straight, dragging his AVG up 20 points during that stretch to .273. The 26 year old backstop isn't showing as much power growth as I would have expected this year, but his

Ricky Romero - Romero tossed his seventh straight quality start yesterday against the Yanks, holding the Bombers to three runs over 6 1/3 innings to keep his ERA under 3.00. The high groundball/high strikeout combination that he's flashing is a

Scott Rolen - The 34 year old Rolen is having one of his best years (sans power, of course) ever in 2009, courtesy of a line drive rate that rivals the game's best. His .360 BABIP is actually quite a

Pablo Sandoval - Sandoval blasted two more homers yesterday against the Brewers, giving him 11 for the year. Sandoval has basically come out of nowhere to become the Giants' best hitter by far....he did virtually nothing in 2006 and 2007,

Hank Blalock - Blalock has definitely flown under the radar a bit this year, but the 28 year old has had a much better year than meets the eye. What's killing his stat line is twofold: a drastic reduction in

Zach Duke - Zach Duke is, to put it simply, a microcosm of pitching in general. In 2005 (8-2, 1.81 ERA, .296 BABIP, 26.4% LD) you saw extremely lucky Duke. In 2006 and 2008 (15-29, 4.62 ERA, .327 BABIP, 20.4%

Ben Zobrist - Zobrist reached base three more times yesterday against the Yanks, keeping his OPS up near the 1.100 mark for another day. I like Zobrist quite a bit three years back when he was a high AVG minor

Joba Chamberlain - Joba continued his string of strong road performances, posting his most efficient outing of the year against the Indians last night. Joba made it through eight innings before yielding to the Sandman, allowing only four hits, two

Mark Reynolds - Reynolds continued his hot hitting with a pair of doubles yesterday against the Braves, continuing a hot streak that has seen his AVG climb to a respectable .263. His BABIP is a good 70 points higher than

Nelson Cruz - People want to lump (at least before the season) players like Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis into the same low contact, high power group, but I wasn't buying it then and I'm not buying it now. Davis

Andy Pettitte - I'm getting a little worried about one of my favorite players of all time. Career worsts in K rate, velocity, and contact% against are hampering Pettitte this season and causing him to nibble a bit more than

Laynce Nix - Nix doubled, homered, and walked in last night's marathon against the Padres, and appears well on his way to securing more time in the Cincy OF. Nix's development has come off the radar for the most part

Michael Young - Young singled and homered again last night, but I remain on record as forecasting a decline. Fully one-third of the flyballs he has hit have left the park this year, and his BABIP of .355 is a

Michael Young - Young is off to the best power start of his career, but as Michael mentioned over the weekend a supremely fluky 40% HR/FB rate is the culprit, something that will work itself out in good time. I'm

Jeff Francoeur - Francoeur hasn't shown the increase in walks that we've all been hoping to see, but he has shown a bit more discipline this year if you dig a little deeper. The 25 year old had been fairly

Coco Crisp - Despite batting only .200, Crisp is off to a solid start with the Royals, posting an OPS of .923 in the first few weeks. A breakout from Crisp wouldn't be all that surprising if you look at

Jason Kubel - Kubel singled and homered last night against the Jays as he continues to provide some sorely needed offense for the purposely punchless Twins. I still contend that Kubel is finally catching up from the lost year of

David Purcey - The good and the bad of David Purcey was on full display yesterday, as the young left-hander allowed ten baserunners and five runs in just 4 2/3 innings to the Indians while striking out ten. Purcey did

Travis Snider - Snider is definitely one of the favorites for ROY in the AL, and he got off to a solid start yesterday with a double and a homer in four trips against Detroit. Snider hit 25 homers across

David Freese/Troy Glaus - Last night's news that Troy Glaus won't be available for much of the first half (if at all this year) certainly bumps David Freese's stock upwards, and you don't have to squint to much to see

David Freese/Troy Glaus - Last night's news that Troy Glaus won't be available for much of the first half (if at all this year) certainly bumps David Freese's stock upwards, and you don't have to squint to much to see

Daisuke Matsuzaka - Matsuzaka's first spring start looked remarkably like last year's action, as the Red Sox hurler tossed five innings, allowing only two hits and two runs (one earned) with three walks and two K's. Matsuzaka's ERA was expected

Alfredo Aceves - Aceves has thrown two straight quality starts against the Angels and White Sox after last night's outing, leading to all sorts of speculation that he'll be in the Yankee rotation next season, something I find reasonably unlikely.

Brandon Wood - After two homers last night, Wood has three in his last three games, so maybe he's finally adjusting to the big league level. The 23 year old has seen his plate discipline deteriorate in each of the

Justin Verlander - Yesterday was the latest in a season-long stretch of rough outings for Justin Verlander, as he allowed six singles, a homer, and two walks to the Yankees in just 1 2/3 innings to take his league-leading 15th

Will Venable - With Scott Hairston gone for the year, Will Venable has gotten the call for the Padres as, likely, their everyday CF. The Padres' minor league system is full of offense-suppressing parks, as you'd expect given their big

Nelson Cruz - Just like last time he came up, Cruz returned to Texas with a bang last night, blasting a homer, double, and a single in five trips to the plate. Something to keep in mind every single time

Jon Lester - Lester continued his emergence as one of the better young pitchers in the game last night, holding the Orioles to four hits and a run over seven innings to earn his 12th win of the year. He's

Denard Span - Span just keeps hitting, adding a double and a steal to his tally last night against the Yanks. He has looked every bit the leadoff man in August, hitting 325/400/525 with three steals in three tries. The

Omar Infante - Infante is tearing it up right now, showing huge jumps in LD%, BB rate, and contact% this year with the Braves. This is a guy that had 52 extra-base hits in Comerica Park as a 22 year

Marlon Byrd - Byrd was the hero last night with a walk-off grand slam against the Yanks, bringing his post-All Star break line to 283/406/528 in nearly every-day play. Byrd is posting career highs in walk rate, K rate (in

Adam Jones - Jones has been hot since about the 20th of May, and after last night's 3-6 performance he is virtually assured of putting up his second straight month with a better than .800 OPS. He still swings at

Mike Pelfrey - Pelfrey won his seventh in a row last night, shutting down the Cards over seven innings in a 7-2 win. The Mets have won his last nine starts, he's only walked three men in his last 36

Howie Kendrick - Kendrick added to his scorching July with another couple of hits (including a homer), bringing his line for the month to 373/387/678. Basically, Kendrick now has a remarkably similar line to his 2007, with a bit of

Kyle Lohse - Yesterday's outing makes three straight quality starts for Lohse (and 8 of 10, if you're counting), as the right-hander extended his winning streak to eight with seven innings of shutout ball against the Pirates. As easy as

Daisuke Matsuzaka - Matsuzaka has now allowed only one run in his last 17 1/3 innings after shutting the Twins down completely into the eighth last night, helping the Sox to a 1-0 win. That said, I'm still concerned over

Justin Masterson - Masterson scuffled again last night, walking five in six innings and allowing four runs for the second straight outing. He seems to be finding the adjustment to the majors rather difficult, but some of that is masked

Chase Headley - Headley hit a two-run homer last night to account for the Padre offense, giving him three in his first 40 AB's for the Pads. People tend to discount stats from the Cal League and the Texas League

Justin Duchscherer - If you're trying to find some evidence that Duchscherer is due to backslide, I'll offer up a few points to consider. The .242 BABIP has been mentioned already, and by itself it isn't too far from his

Bartolo Colon - Colon didn't have much last night, giving up eight baserunners (including three homers) and several other hard-hit outs in just four innings of work before leaving with a stiff back. Colon has had a very favorable schedule

Edgar Gonzalez - After hitting .290 or better in four out of five seasons in the minors, Adrian's big brother finally ended up in the right place at the right time with the Padres and is picking up consistent playing

Nick Swisher - I think he's back. Yesterday was a Swisher-style line with two homers and two walks, and since his K's are down and his LD% percentage is up from last year, you certainly wouldn't expect this kind of

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Sabermetric Tuesday – Week 10 style. Today I’d like to try and see if we can find some solid evidence pointing toward sustained breakouts on the offensive side of the ball, and perhaps unearth

Michael Young - Young has now hit in 18 straight games after three hits last night and raised his AVG.....10 points. Lots of 1-5's in there for the 31 year old of late, which makes for good press but not

Jason Giambi - Giambi now has an OPS of 1.146 for the month of May after a double and a homer last night, and that obviously doesn't count another ball that he hit to the warning track in left-center, which

Jon Garland - Garland rattled off his fifth straight quality start last night, holding the Tigers scoreless over 7 1/3 innings while allowing four hits and three walks against five strikeouts. More walks and fewer K's, Garland's lot in 2008

Josh Hamilton - Hamilton continued his hot hitting with his 11th homer last night, and with his strikeouts down 8% while basically everything else has remained the same, you've got to be more and more excited about his long-term potential.

Jesus Flores - Flores has jumped right into the Nationals' void at catcher with a modest five-game hitting streak, including a couple more singles last night against the O's. Rule V picks are tricky to project, because they always lose

Delmon Young - One of the biggest Delmon Young supporters I know asked me yesterday about including him in a deal, so the time may very well have come to put the full-court press on his owners in your respective

Travis Hafner - Put simply, this is just not the same guy that we watched from 2004-2006. After making only 40% of his outs on the ground during that tremendously productive three-year stretch, Hafner's GB% has increased to 49% since

Josh Hamilton - The most exciting thing about Hamilton so far this year is not that he’s basically maintained his hitting stats crossing over to the tougher league, although that’s nice in and of itself. For me, the drastic reduction

Conor Jackson - Jackson continued his assault on the NL last night, finishing up with a single, two triples, and a homer in five trips to the plate. He is hitting 364/473/750 on the year, and Drew's prediction for a

Ervin Santana - Santana posted his third straight quality start, allowing three runs over seven innings to the Rangers last night. Santana was very unlucky on balls hit into play last year, and that fact, combined with his excellent stuff,

Huston Street - It's hard to believe that there isn't something wrong with Street. After allowing only 12 homers in 199 innings from 2005-2007, he's allowed 3 in 3 2/3 innings this year - one in each appearance. There are

Nate McLouth - I really think that Nate McLouth is one of those rare players that has changed their game at the major league level. In the minors McLouth was a speed guy, slapping singles and doubles and racking up

Jeremy Guthrie - One look at Guthrie's splits from last season (and the rest of his pro career, if you want to get technical about it) leads you to believe that one game might actually mean something this time. As

John Bale - Bale pitched poorly yesterday down in a AAA game, but as bad as Jorge de la Rosa continues to be (four runs on nine baserunners in four innings, also yesterday) he may still get a rotation slot.

Homer Bailey - Homer Bailey was pretty far ahead of Johnny Cueto in the pecking order this time last year, but it appears that Cueto has passed him this spring, as Dusty Baker seems inclined to give Cueto the third

Looks like the dreaded "job-share" is in force for the catching position with the Padres, as both Josh Bard and Michael Barrett are likely to get substantial playing time. That, of course, relegates them to lower-tier status in just about

Garret Anderson - Not only is Anderson hitting as he did at his peak (after 3 1/2 years of visible decline prior to July), but he's walking more than he ever has before to boot. Anderson is hitting 316/376/564 since

Daric Barton - Barton made his major league debut yesterday against the Mariners, and this isn't going to be your ordinary cup of coffee......Barton may very well be in the lineup to stay. (Incidentally, he went 2-3 with two walks

Alex Gordon - Gordon had three singles for four RBI's yesterday against Texas, but it's his power since the break that intrigues me a bit.....his ISO of .240 is actually quite good, which you'd never believe given the lack of

A.J. Burnett - A.J. Burnett was at it again last night, walking batters with aplomb until he absolutely had to get an out, which he of course was able to do. Burnett has had a very cushy schedule since coming

Danny Richar - Richar hit his second homer of the year last night against the Royals, and although he's only batting .192 through his first 52 AB's, I'm a bit optimistic about him. He's only 24, and if we ignore

Ryan Zimmerman - Zimmerman had three more hits last night, and the 22 year old is now hitting 307/364/504 since the break, which is more like what everyone expected from him coming into the season. He seems to fly under

Wilson Betemit - Betemit did what he does best again last night against the O's, posting a homer, a walk, and a strikeout in three plate appearances. I wasn't sure that Joe Torre would recognize Betemit's value any more than

Melky Cabrera - Fresh off of a 368/410/528 July, Melky Cabrera keeps nosing his way toward a .300 AVG and an .800 OPS as we move toward the home stretch. Cabrera picked up three more hits, including a triple, against

Joe Blanton - Joe Blanton has been whining about the presence of rookie Kurt Suzuki behind the plate for his last few starts, but there are a few other factors at work in his last five starts that aren't likely

Coco Crisp - Crisp had four more hits last night, giving him ten in his last three games, and also boosting his July line to 366/430/606. This last flurry has bumped his 2007 line above last year's totals, and although

Matt Garza - Garza has been overlooked a bit this year, both by the Twins and by most fantasy players, after a poor MLB debut last season. The fact remains, however, that Garza has managed a strikeout rate of 10.36

Chris Duncan - Chris Duncan didn't start again last night, but he did come in as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning and singled home two runs to make the game tight at the finish. Duncan is leading the Cardinals

Vernon Wells - Wells has had a horrible first half, but perhaps last night's 4-5 performance will jumpstart him. Wells' AVG this season is about 20 points below his career worst, and after posting four straight years with ISO's between

J.D. Drew - How is it that Drew is owned in only 1 out of 3 ESPN leagues? After another hit and two walks last night, Drew is hitting 306/353/565 for the month of June. He is still a dangerous

Conor Jackson - Jackson has been scuffling a bit lately, but in my mind the 25 year old is a breakout waiting to happen. There might be one or two hitters per team that can exert enough control over the

Jonny Gomes - Three homers in a couple of days for Gomes, who might have a little window here between the troubles of Elijah Dukes and the re-injury of Rocco Baldelli yesterday in a minor-league rehab stint. No matter how

Josh Fields - Josh Fields is going to be the White Sox starting 3B for the foreseeable future, and that after only 1400 minor league AB's to his credit. Fields has solid offensive potential in every category, with 52 HR's

Melky Cabrera - Including last night's 0-3, Cabrera is on a little 8-18 streak right now for the Yanks, and without Jason Giambi in the fold for quite some time, Cabrera is basically assured of playing time for the indefinite

Chad Gaudin - Gaudin's BB:K ratio may not be stellar (3:2 last night despite allowing only one unearned run, and merely 23:46 for the year), but you can look no further than the 0 homers allowed in his last ten

Anaheim Angels: Recap - The Angels have played .600 baseball to open up a 4 1/2 game lead on the A's largely due to the second-best pitching staff (in terms of actual run prevention) in the league thus far. The

Mark Teahen - Teahen has returned to his 2006 post-break performance here in May, hitting 356/447/575 for the month so far. I know there were quite a few skeptics out there in April, but with a .401 OBP through the

Carlos Pena - Carlos Pena is making a bid to keep his playing time once Aki Iwamura returns, as Pena is hitting 343/429/629 for the month of May. Ty Wigginton is the entrenched veteran in the Ray lineup, so perhaps

New York Mets: Recap - Despite having the second-best Pythagorean record in all of baseball, the Mets find themselves 1/2 game behind the Braves in the NL East. Atlanta's performance notwithstanding, the Mets have to be pretty happy with how

Alfonso Soriano - Expanding on what Joe said this morning, I completely agree that Soriano is primed for an excellent month. One thing I've noticed about hot hitters is the tendency to hit the ball with authority to the opposite

Dustin McGowan - With Gustavo Chacin hitting the DL with shoulder pain, Dustin McGowan might be getting another shot at the Toronto rotation, although Chacin's replacement has not been offically announced as of this morning. McGowan would be on the