George Springer-Astros-OF
George Springer went 1-3 with his 9th homerun on Wednesday against the Royals. It was his sixth homerun in six games. He also walked twice and had two runs batted in. Springer has been one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball the past week. Springer was the uber prospect who almost joined the 40/40 club in minors last year. For the first month of his big league career he looked nothing like this player. He hit .182 with zero homeruns in April. However, May has been a different story, .325 with nine longballs. Springer does strikeout over 30% of the time, which is alarming. He also has below average contact rates, which coupled with his K% will not correlate to a high batting average, but if you have followed Springer through the minor leagues these numbers will not shock you. He brings a rare blend of insane power and speed. Now that Springer has shown his power at the big league level, it would be nice to see him steal more bases.
Chris Archer-Rays-SP
Chris Archer picked up the no decision against the Blue Jays. Archer went six innings walked two, struck out seven, and gave up two runs. Archer brought an 11 inning scoreless streak into play Wednesday. Archer's struggles in 2014 are a result of some bad luck and lack of control at times. Archer's walk rate has risen to 3.79/9. Couple that with an unlucky .329 BABIP and you have a recipe for disaster. Archer's potential the rest of the way hinges on improved command or he is looking at a very disappointing 2014 season. He has the stuff and strike out ability to dominate, but free passes are hard to overcome for any pitcher.
J.J. Hardy-Orioles-SS
J.J. Hardy went 2-3 against the Twins. Hardy is hitting .303 with zero homeruns and thirteen runs batted in. Hardy has homered 77 times over the past three years, so it is unusual that he has yet to leave the yard in 2014. Hardy's FB% is along his career lines, as is his GB/FB rate. He should start turning some of those flyballs into homers fairly soon. The only thing that will not continue, is his .296 average, which is due to a .353 BABIP (.275 career mark). As an owner of Hardy you should see an increase in power, with a drop in average as the season wears on.
Chris Carter-Astros-DH
Chris Carter left the yard twice against the Royals on Wednesday afternoon, raising his season total to eight. Carter managed to hit 29 bombs along with 82 runs driven in last year. The caveat is that he hit only .223. In AL-only or very deep mixed leagues, Carter might have been a late round selection for some based upon his ability to drive the ball out of the park and almost guaranteed playing time in the Astros lineup. Carter has been dismal so far in 2014, he boasts a .192/8/21 slash line. Carter was never going to be a guy that improved upon his .223 BA, because he strikes out over 30% of the time with a weak 65% contact rate. Carter has reduced his K% from 36% a year ago to 30% this year. However, his walk rate has also decreased. Carter is sporting a low BABIP of .247, but that plus his BA average are a result of his 50+% FB rate. The good news is that his HR/FB rate should normalize to around 20% from its current 11%. That means more HR are in the future, but at the cost of batting average and overall contact.
Lonnie Chisenhall- Indians-3B
Lonnie Chisenhall went 0-4 against the White Sox. Chisenhall is hitting a robust .358 in May. He has primarily been in the lineup when a righthander has been on the mound. Chisenhall has a 1.023 OPS and .203 ISO, which is a significant bump from April's numbers. In April, Chisenhall was hitting for average, but not a lot of power. In May, Chisenhall has continued to hit for average and has sprinkled in some power. He is due for some regression due to the fact that he has a .400+ BABIP. However, if Francona continues to play him only against righthanders, Chisenhall is going to improve upon his paltry 5.4 HR/FB%. His peripheral numbers suggest a decline in average and increase in power production for Chisenhall the rest of the way.
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