Adrian Gonzalez- SD- FYI-A year ago Gonzalez had 10 homers and was about to go on an incredible tear, hitting another 10 before the end of May. That kind of run is highly unlikely in 2010 due to scheduling. Last year that hot stretch consisted of 18 games, half of them on the road. This year the Padres will be playing 12 of their 19 games remaining in May at Petco Park, where Gonzalez’ performance goes to die. He is hitting just .235 with a lone homer in 16 games at the extremely pitcher-friendly stadium. On the road Gonzalez is hitting .310 with 5 homers in 67 PAs. If he gets traded, his production and fantasy value will soar. Until then, he is worth playing half the time.
Dan Haren- ARI- Caution- Haren threw 114 pitches yesterday. That’s the 5th time in his last 6 starts that he has tossed 11 or more pitches. In 2009, Haren hit that level only 11 times. He failed to follow up with a quality start only 3 times, but never had the same sort of string of heavy work as he has already had in 2010. Already he has had 2 non-quality starts after an extended outing. Haren’s early workload is a definite concern.
Andre Ethier- LAD- Hot- Ethier went 2-for-6 last night, which actually dropped his average to .390, but it still counts as hot. Ethier is hitting .500 for the month of May with 4 homers. For the season, after hitting two doubles last night, he now has an equal number of doubles (10) as homers. That bodes well for continued power production, even if his average will be due for a correction if his .307 BHIPx sees regression to the mean.
Randy Wells- CHC- Hot- Despite getting tagged with the loss, Wells really bounced back from a bad outing. Like his last start, Wells had some early difficulty, allowing all of his 3 runs by the end of the 3rd inning. However, he pulled it together instead of imploding and ended up pitching 8 innings and giving up 4 hits and a walk while striking out 8. His K/9 of 7.84 and BB/9 of 1.96 are solid numbers and being able to come back with this kind of an effort shows good mental makeup as well. Wells’ ERA of 4.57 is more than a run and a half above his 2009 mark, but as he experiences regression to the mean (.369 BHIP), expect that number to drop dramatically if he can maintain command of the strike zone as he has.
Rod Barajas- NYM- Hot- For the second straight game Barajas went 2-for-4 with a double and run scored. Last night he added 2 RBI to the mix. What is almost more incredible than his power surge this season is that he has posted a .255 average, a level that he has only maintained back when his home park was the hitters’ paradise in Arlington TX, despite the horrendous luck exhibited by a .150 BHIPx. Don’t count on regression to the mean helping Barajas much, though. His Batting EYE of .17 doesn’t exhibit a whole lot of promise of sustaining a high batting average.
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