Michael Cuddyer- COL- Hot- Cuddyer is on a 6-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games. Luck plays a major part, as his BABIP is .365 this season, compared to .287 last year. However, his Batting EYE has increased from .41 to .54, so there is some underlying improvement from Cuddyer himself, who owns a .50 career Batting EYE. Cuddyer has feasted at Coors Field, hitting 5 of his 7 homers there and batting .396 at home. With a .457 home BABIP expect regression to the mean to happen there when it comes.
Ian Kennedy- ARI- Stats- Kennedy's thoughts that he might have mechanical issues could be at least partially valid. His BB/9 ratio has increased from 2.38 last year to 3.53 this season while his K/9 ratio has gone down from 8.08 to 6.85. However another component in Kennedy's slow start is his homers allowed, which isn't a new trend. His 1.25 HR/9 is very close to the 1.21 he posted in both 2010 and 2012. It is looking like the 0.77 he posted in 2011 was the outlier. Kennedy has suffered from some bad luck as his 5.19 ERA is higher than his 4.73 FIP, but now that he has more than 3 major league seasons under his belt it is looking like his underlying abilities make him a 4.00+ ERA pitcher.
Tim Lincecum- SF- Cold- Lincecum was hit hard for the second straight start, allowing 5 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks while striking out 7 in 7 IP. He allowed 5 runs on 10 hits in 5 IP his last time out. Befor that he had shown flashes of coming back, recording his only 2 quality starts of the year. Last night was the first time this season Lincecum threw over 110 pitches. Reducing his usage now may be too little, too late. Lincecum's FIP is at 3.84 so he has suffered from bad luck, but his 4.32 BB/9, almost identical to 2012's 4.35, indicates that there are still serious issues. It's still time to stay away.
Jeanmar Gomez- PIT- Rise Value- Gomez was called on at the last minute when James McDonald went on the DL. He threw 5 shutout IP, allowing 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5. Gomez was very efficient, throwing only 66 pitches. This follows on the heels of another spot start on May 1st when he gave up 2 ER in 4 IP on 4 hits and 2 walks. Gomez will probably take over McDonald's rotation spot. His 2.38 ERA has a heavy luck component, evidenced by his 4.98 FIP. Gomez has had control issues (9 walks in his last 15.2 IP) but has been increasing his K rate. He has 14 Ks in that span after striking out only 1 batter in his first 7 IP. If he can maintain the K rate and reduce the walks he could have some value in deep leagues.
Matt Harvey- NYN- Hot- Harvey has gone three straight starts with a no decision, despite 2 of them being of the quality variety. He bounced back well from a start in which he threw 121 pitches. Harvey hasn't had any other games with more than 110 pitches, which bodes well for the 24-year-old's arm. He only threw one game of more than 110 pitches last season in the 10 he started after being called up so it appears the Mets are managing his workload well.
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