It's never easy to live up to hype as an uber prospect, but Ronald Acuna may, as he hit his 18th and 19th HRs of the season yesterday while going 3-for-5. I can't add anything else to the analysts that my colleagues have already. It's scary that his OPS is over .900 while he's striking out 29% -- while that isn't rare, Acuna's minor league K% was closer to 20%, which suggests he'll continue to hone that as he gets more MLB at-bats.
Rhys Hoskins was 1-for-3 with a HR, the lone run scored for the Phillies. It was Hoskins' 23rD HR of the season, and I'm betting that we'll see plenty more than next 7 weeks. Hoskins' HR/FB rate is just 16%, down from 32% last season, and down from around 20% in AAA. I would be surprised if he didn't pass 30 HR by season's end.
Jhoulys Chacin carved through the Cubs yesterday, going 7 scoreless while striking out 10 and allowing just 3 hits. Ironically, Chacin went 6 scoreless the last time he played the Cubs, which amount to two of his best starts of the season. Chacin should be avoided in just about every format. His SIERA entering yesterday was a pitiful 4.68, and his 18.8% K% is far from desirable. Despite the great start, avoid Chacin.
Ryan Braun was 2-for-4 with 4 RBI on the day. Braun carries name value only at this point, as he entered yesterday with just a 94 wRC+. However, it's worth nothing that he's had a fair bit of poor luck this season, as his BABIP is just .279 on the year, vs. career .329. Now you'll say that he obviously won't put up his career BABIP since he's well past his prime. However, his LD% of 23% this season is quite good, and not indicative of his career low BABIP. Braun should heat up the rest of the season, but I'm not sure what his ceiling will be - certainly much lower than his prime years, but perhaps enough to get to OF2? We'll see.
Anthony Rizzo was 0-for-4 yesterday batting leadoff. His SLG% is down to .436, lower than Ben Zobrist. Sheesh. Rizzo's peripherals aren't all that far off from last year, which suggests that we should just be patient and better results should come. However from a larger perspective, this would be the second straight season that his ISO has dropped meaningfully, so we could be seeing a large overall skill deterioration trend, as his ISO has dropped from .252 to .234 to .176 the last three years. My bet is that Rizzo turns it around and improves upon his 114 wRC+. After all, a two-week hot streak at the plate can erase a lot of these deficiencies we've seen. But he needs to produce soon.
