Grady Sizemore, Philadelphia Phillies - Sizemore continued his excellent work for the Phillies going 3-for-5 out of the leadoff spot with two runs. While for the season his average sits at just .239 he is hitting an impressive .341 since being called up by the Phillies. While hitless in his past three games coming into Friday, Sizemore churned out a seven game hit streak in his first week with his new team. He has begun to get playing time over Ben Revere in centerfield for the Phillies and will also play left field from time to time. The Phillies are likely to keep throwing Sizemore in there every day while the hot streak is rolling, so owners can do the same but just be careful as the Sizemore that hit under .200 for the Red Sox could show up at any moment.
Alex Wood, Atlanta Braves - Wood's line of five runs (four earned) in five innings isn't pretty, but when you look at the fact he allowed 12 hits owners have to be thrilled that it wasn't worse. Wood has been great for the Braves in his return to the rotation in mid-June with four quality starts out of his first five start before Friday's dud. His FIP is an excellent 3.35 and he is striking out nearly a batter an inning. While his fly ball rate has jumped nearly 10% from 2013, Wood has done a great job keeping the ball in the yard having only allowed 10 homers on the year. That's really the only cause of concern for Wood is that his HR/FB% could fluctuate from game to game, but overall Wood is a reliable fantasy option game in and game out.
Alfredo Simon, Cincinnati Reds - The man who is doing is best to reaffirm skeptics of advanced stats beliefs' began to come back down to Earth a little with Friday's performance. Simon, who is now 12-5 on the season, took the loss as he allowed three runs on nine hits in just 4.1 innings which rose his ERA to 2.86. Although oddly enough, his poor start lowered his FIP but it still sits at a less than desirable 4.34. The outing marked just the third time all year he's given up four earned runs, and the first time he had since May 27th. The one mark that does work well for him is his near 50% GB rate, which is rather helpful in his home starts at The Great American Ballpark. I'm still selling high on Simon if I can, as if he continues to regress you don't want him hurting your team come playoff time.
Wilson Ramos, Washington Nationals - Ramos went 2-for-5 while scoring his 17th run of the season Friday, helping raise his average up over the .300 mark at .301. Ramos has been on an absolute tear for almost all of June and July since returning from his injury and has hit safely in 17 of his 18 games since June 26th. For July, Ramos has triple slashed .346/.358/.423 with a 121 wRC+ while hitting one homer and driving in nine. Ramos hasn't provided much in the power department this season, evidenced by his .104 ISO which is fairly far below his career ISO of .165. So while he will never be label as a "power hitter", a little uptick in power over the rest of the season wouldn't be surprising. Owned in just 62% of ESPN leagues, he's worth looking at as a backup catcher or a starter while his hot streak is running.
Brad Hand, Miami Marlins - Hand picked up his second win with 7.1 innings allowing no runs with four strikeouts. This marks the second straight outing for Hand where he has gone seven innings, and has allowed just two runs over 14.1 innings. These two outings have lowered his FIP down to 4.11 to compare very closely to his 4.19 ERA. A note for concern with Hand, even with these two good starts, he is walking batters at a 1.5:1 rate which will definitely need to see some improvement. His 45% GB rate is good and he has lowered his LD% to under 20% which is closer to his career average of 17.9%. Next start could be hit or miss as he gets the NL East leading Nationals who have tagged Hand for 8 runs in 6.0 innings this year.
Josh Sperry - @jsperry1991
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