Casey Kotchman- ATL- Stats- Looking at Kotchman’s Fantistics Player Charts, certain numbers are almost identical between 2008 and so far in 2009. His batting average, singles average and Batting EYE are all just about the same. The thing that kills him as far as fantasy value is concerned is his almost complete lack of power. It looks like his home run swing was lost when he made the move from Anaheim to Atlanta. In 391 ABs with the Braves, dating back to his trade last year, he has hit only 5 homers. That is an unacceptable number for a first baseman. As this power drought continues, the odds of Kotchman regaining value diminishes.
Geovany Soto- CHN- Cold- Soto’s power, which had returned last month, has escaped again. He has hit only 1 homer in his last 10 games, covering 32 ABs. His average has faded as well over that stretch, with Soto only hitting .219. He is being hurt by bad luck this year, with a BHIPx of .220, almost 40 points lower than in his rookie campaign last year. Soto has maintained a decent Batting EYE of .83 in this stretch and has hit 2 doubles, so the power may be there, but just lurking under the surface.
Johnny Cueto- CIN- Cold- Cueto has thrown only 1 quality start out of the 4 he has had since throwing 110 pitches in back-to-back starts last month. Even in his quality start he had some control issues, walking 4 in 6 IP. Last night was the pits, with 9 runs allowed in 2/3 of an inning before getting yanked. Cueto is only 23. This is a lot of usage to be getting at that age. Watch his next start. See is throwing only 49 pitches gave him some rest.
Jimmy Rollins- PHI- Hot- It looks like Rollins is becoming regression to the mean personified. With a .167 BHIPx, you’d expect some luck to go his way. With a 3-for-4 performance last night he is now on a 5 game hitting streak, with 4 of the games being of the multi hit variety. Rollins is hitting .526 during the streak. His strike zone control has returned with a vengeance as he has walked 5 times and only struck out once in those 5 games. Rollins will probably level off at some point, but it should be nearer to his normal production instead of far below as it has been so far in 2009.
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