J.A. Happ had a night to forget as he gave up 7 ER in just 3.1 innings, allowing 10 hits with 2 walks. Prior to yesterday, Happ was posting his best swing and miss rates of his career, leading to an excellent start to the season. Much of that was erased yesterday. Still, the underlying peripherals for Happ are encouraging, but color me skeptical following last night's performance. Be patient as he could provide great value going forward, but it appears the occasional goose egg will appear now and again.
Salvador Perez hit a first inning grand slam yesterday, his fourth of the season (and on his birthday!). Since returning from injury, Perez is actually posting his best offensive season since he was 22. The improvement is mostly due to his absurd 47.1% Hard% (career 31%). It may be difficult for Perez to keep making such fantastic contact as he hasn't historically displayed that, but enjoy the run he's on while you can.
Hanley Ramirez hit his 5th HR of the season yesterday, continuing his resurgent season. Hanley has made some minor contact improvements, though mostly he's benefitting from 60 point improvement in his BABIP. I don't quite know if that's sustainable - my guess is it will fall somewhere between last season and this season, which would be a 270ish average with 20 + home runs.
Manny Machado wasted his 10th HR of the season yesterday with the Orioles. Did I say wasted? Whoops. Machado was 2-for-3 with 2 walks, improving his OBP to .429 on the year. Machado is having a career season, and at first glance it appears he has only made some subtle improvements, but a deeper dive shows he's managed to decrease his K% by over 4%, while increasing his BB% by 6%. Those two changes combined have led to a significantly more productive player that will likely be dealt over the next few months.
