Nelson Cruz - Nelson Cruz continued his torrid start to the season by going 2-for-4 with 3 Steals and 1 RBI on Tuesday against the Red Sox. Now hitting .333 with 7 HRs and 16 RBI, Cruz has an OPS over 1.300 through the first two-plus weeks of the season. Part of Cruz’s success can be attributed to his newfound pitch selection. After chasing 27% of pitches outside the strike zone last season, Cruz has only swung at 17% in 2010. When he does swing at pitches outside the strike zone, Cruz is connecting on an incredible 76% compared to 48% a season ago. From this data, we can assume Cruz is chasing only marginally bad pitches. By being more patience, Cruz has also seen an improvement with his first-pitch strike %, which has dropped from 63% in ’09 to 56% in ’10. He’s getting ahead in the count more often, not helping the pitcher as much and seeing better pitches to hit. A notoriously streaky hitter, if Cruz can continue to be patient and get ahead in the count, he could be in for an absolutely monstrous season.
Vernon Wells - This can’t continue, right? Left for dead after hitting .260/.311/.400 with 15 HRs and just 66 RBI in 2009, Vernon Wells is one of the hottest hitters in baseball through the season’s first two and a half weeks. Against the Royals on Tuesday, Wells connected for his 7th HR of the season and added two doubles to finish 3-for-4 with 2 RBI. For a guy who hasn’t eclipsed more than 20 HRs or posted an ISO above .200 since 2006, Wells is providing his fantasy owners with huge production. The biggest differences between 2010 and his career marks is that Wells is hitting more fly balls (50% in ’10 compared to 39% for his career) and showing much more patience (13.3% BB% compared to 6.8% BB% for his career). If you own Wells, you absolutely need to trade him with his value at its peak. There is no reason to believe he can continue to hit so well for the remainder of the season.
David Price - Tampa Bay’s young left hander tossed 5 innings on Tuesday against the White Sox and allowed 3 ER on 6 Hits while walking 3 and striking out 3. After Price posted a 0.61 HR/9 and 8.59 K/9 in his first two starts, he regressed a bit Tuesday but didn’t pitch as poorly as his line indicates. Besides allowing an RBI double in the 1st inning to Paul Konerko and a solo HR to Andrew Jones in the 6th, Price only pitched into trouble in the 4th inning. After allowing back-to-back singles to lead off the 4th, Price worked out of a bases loaded jam by retiring Mark Teahen and Alexis Ramirez. Overall, Price’s indicators are moving in the right direction as he’s lowered his fly ball ratio, increased his ground ball ratio, increased his K/9 and decreased his BB/9 from a season ago. It appears Price may have finally turned the corner as a SP and should be a strong fantasy No. 3 if he continues to show this level of improvement.
Kevin Slowey - On Tuesday night, Kevin Slowey became the latest pitcher to benefit from facing an inept Indians’ offense by holding the Tribe to 1 ER on 5 Hits and striking out 9 in 8 innings of work. Through his first two starts, Slowey was fortunate to post a 3.48 ERA despite a 1.74 WHIP and 84% LOB%. Often compared to former Twin Brad Radke (who also pitched to contact), Slowey has actually improved his K/9 from 6.35 in ’07 to 6.90 in ’08 before tallying a 7.44 mark in ’09. Home runs have been Slowey’s Achilles’ Heel the past two seasons as he’s posted HR/9 marks of 1.23 and 1.49, respectively. He entered Tuesday’s start with just a 0.87 HR/9 so if he can keep the ball in the park and continue to improve his strikeout numbers, Slowey should be a useful starter for any fantasy rotation.
Colby Lewis - For the second straight start, Colby Lewis tallied 30+ pitches in the first inning and couldn’t get through the 5th frame thanks to an elevated pitch count. He allowed 3 ER on 5 Hits and 2 BBs while striking out 5. After throwing 37 pitches in the first inning against the Indians in his last start, Lewis labored through the first inning Tuesday, tossing 33 pitches and allowing 1 Run on 1 Hit and 2 Walks. However, he struck out David Ortiz to end the threat and avoided any more trouble until a Jeremy Hermida HR in the 4th and a Josh Reddick RBI single in the 6th. For the season, Lewis continues to provide very solid strikeout totals (18 Ks in 17.1 IP) although his walk rate leaves a little to be desired (10 BB in 17.1 IP). If Lewis can improve his pitch efficiency in the first inning, the left hander could be one of best sleepers for the 2010 season thanks to a ton of Ks and decent ERA.
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