Everth Cabrera, San Diego Padres - Cabrera was activated from the disabled list before Tuesday's game and was immediately placed in his spot atop the Padres lineup. At the time of going down with his injury Cabrera was hitting just .218 but did have 13 steals and three homers. He is one of the more underrated speed guys in the league (compared to other big name stolen base threats) who swiped 81 bags between 2012-13. His stolen base totals this season can be directly related to his OBP being over 100 points lower than it was last season when he stole 37 times. He also isn't walking as much as last season and striking out in nearly 8% more of his at bats than in 2013, so the rest of his season doesn't look to bright. You can certainly do worse than Cabrera though, as he should be able to get into the 20-25 steal range even with the drop in OBP.
Jorge De La Rosa, Colorado Rockies - With seven strikeouts in six innings while allowing three runs, De La Rosa continued his hot stretch with a quality start against the Cubs. The QS was his fifth in a row, as he has just given up seven runs over his last 31.1 innings lowering his season ERA to 4.20. De La Rosa has always been able to rack up strikeouts in bunches, and this year is no different helped by his 9.5% swinging strike rate. This is just below his career average (9.9%), and he posted a SWST% of over 10% from 2008-2012 for the Rockies. He has been tabbed as a breakout candidate for what seems like years now so he is fully capable of success like the streak he is on, and he is slated to take on the Tigers next who strikeout at the 6th lowest rate in baseball this season.
Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals - Harper reached base three times Tuesday with two singles and a walk, helping push his season average to .268. It was his second multi-hit game in a row and it was his fourth such effort since the All-Star break as Harper is looking for a big second half to offset being hurt for most of the first half. In what can be labeled as a slightly small sample size, Harper is striking out in more the 26% of his at-bats which is up from his total last season that was 18.9%, but he isn't chasing more pitches out of the zone he's just not hitting the pitches out of the zone he usually hits. In 2012 and 2013 he hit almost 60% of those pitches he swung at, but is hitting just 46% of those this year. Harper is too talented a played for that 46 to not come up towards his previous years totals making him a candidate for a strong second half.
Maikel Franco, Philadelphia Phillies - Franco has been on a nice hot stretch in AAA and there have been some rumors floating around that he get the call to Philly soon. Over his last ten, he's hitting .333 with two homers, nine RBI, and a steal. On the season, Franco is triple slashing .241/.290/.382 but he has played very well since the All-Star Break slashing .313/.327/.511. Franco had a monster 2013 launching 31 homer and driving in 103 with a .320 average, vaulting up among the top third base prospects in the game. He'll still need to see some more play at this current level over the rest of the season but I'd be surprised if Franco doesn't see time at the hot corner in the majors this season, especially with the struggles that the Phillies have had finding production at third.
Dillon Gee, New York Mets - Gee was plagued by the homerun ball Tuesday allowing two homers and then loading the bases before being pulled and then got to watch Chase Utley launch a grand slam over the fence. Gee's final line was 6.2 innings with five earned runs and his FIP is beginning to climb and now is at 4.56. Gee's peripherals show that he is being hit more than any other year with a decreased SWST%, and he isn't getting batters to chase many pitches which isn't a good combination. He gets the Giants next time out, and I'd have a hard time throwing him out there on my team from here on out.
Josh Sperry - @jsperry1991
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