Elvis Andrus, SS TEX An 0-for-5 Friday dropped Andrus to .206 on the year, but he has been incredibly unlucky. Andrus grounded out five times Friday and has a 62.3 percent groundball rate, which isn't far off from his career rate of 57.5 percent. He also has hit 14 line drives (26.4 LD%) but picked up a hit on just three of them. His BABIP is .241. There's nothing to suggest he won't get his average back up to the .290s, and if he keeps hitting line drives as frequently as he has so far, he could even hit .300 for the first time.
Anibal Sanchez, RHP DET The Angels battered Sanchez Friday night for 11 hits in 6.2 innings, but Sanchez didn't walk a batter and limited the damage to three runs (two earned). Sanchez has a 1.75 ERA and 1.13 WHIP this year, but he has certainly been fortunate. The right-hander has a 27.4 line-drive rate but his BABIP after Friday's start is .288. He also has yet to allow a home run this year, but his four starts have come in favorable home run locations -- at Minnesota, Detroit, at Oakland and at Los Angeles.
Travis Hafner, DH NYA The Travis Hafner resurrection continued Friday night, as the DH went 2-for-5 with his fifth homer of the season. Hafner is hitting .349 and he is tied for the team lead in home runs. The Yankees have limited Hafner to six plate appearances against left-handers after he batted .197 in 61 at-bats against them last year and .233 in 104 at-bats against them in 2011.
Jose Bautista, OF TOR Bautista returned from a back injury that cost him four games and went 1-for-3 with a homer, a walk and two RBIs. Bautista is hitting .211, but he has four homers in 38 at-bats. Bautista's flyball rate is down so far (37.9%), but he is hitting the ball a long way when he does put it in the air (36.4% HR/FB). He should get his flyball rate back up to where it has been over the past three seasons, in the high 40 percent range.
Jed Lowrie, SS OAK Lowrie never has played more than 97 games in a season, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy his production while he is on the field. Lowrie served as a cleanup hitter Friday and went 4-for-4 with an RBI. He's batting .413 and owns a 10/8 K/BB in 63 at-bats. His torrid start hasn't had much to do with luck either -- he had a 32.7 percent line-drive rate coming into Friday's game. Scott Sizemore's second ACL tear means that Lowrie will have an everyday spot in the lineup, even if Hiroyuki Nakajima claims the starting shortstop job when he returns from the DL.
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