Isaiah Kiner-Falefa- SS- TEX- Hot- Kiner-Falefa went 2-for-4 last night and swiped 2 bases. That boosted him into a double digit total of 10 for the season and second highest total in the majors. IKF has added a career-high 5 homers and is slashing .281/.323/.427. If he could increase his 4.0% BB% to his 6.1% career average that would give him even more steal chances. Kiner-Falefa is posting career highs in Exit Velocity at 88.0 and HardHit% of 35.6%. With a BABIP of .320 and career mark of .310 regression to the mean will negatively impact him, but the steals are a very valuable commodity, especially since he has eligibility in most leagues at 3B as well as SS.
Carlos Rodon- P- CHW- Hot- Rodon was back to his excellent self last night. He tossed 6 scoreless IP, allowing 2 hits, walking none, and striking out 13 Yankees. Rodon's K/9 is up to 13.08 and his ERA is down to 1.27 and his FIP was 1.89. Manager Tony La Russa was more conservative with Rodon last night than he often has been in 2021. Rodon tossed 95 pitches, 69 of which were strikes. That was a marked improvement from his last start, when he needed 110 pitches to get through 5.2 IP. Staying away from a high pitch count will give Rodon a better chance to maintain his stellar production.
Brett Gardner- OF- NYY- FYI- Manager Aaron Boone said that Gardner would get the bulk of the time after Aaron Hicks went onto the DL for possibly the rest of the season. Gardner will need to improve in order to keep his spot in the lineup. It may be a tough task for him to accomplish. Gardner's Exit Velocity has dropped to 86.0. His HardHit% has increased a bit recently but at 32.4% it's still well below the 36.5% he had last season. After hitting 28 homers in 2019 and 5 in 158 PAs in the shortened 2020 season Gardner has yet to go deep in 2021. He went 1-for-3 last night but is slashing .204/.290/.269 and that is not good enough to have a solid hold on that CF position.
Tyler Glasnow- P- TB- Cold- Glasnow has had 2 poor starts in his 10 this season and last night was one of them. He was charged with 5 runs on 9 hits and a walk while striking out 2 in 4.2 IP. The lone walk was a silver lining. Glasnow has had control issues at times this season, walking 4 in 3 of his starts. This was his second consecutive start with only 1 free pass. Glasnow threw 8 IP the last time out, so it was admittedly more impressive. After an outstanding beginning of the season, allowing 1 or fewer runs in his first 4 starts, he has come down to earth. Glasnow has allowed 3 or more runs in 4 of his last 6 starts. Still, except for last night his K total have been impressive and he has a K/9 of 12.63 for the season. Glasnow is still an asset.
Christian Vazquez- C- BOS- Hot- Vazquez went 2-for-5 with 3 RBI and a run. The two hits were doubles. His Exit Velocity, Barrel%, HardHit%, and FB% this season are all very close to those numbers he posted in the shortened 2020 campaign. So why is Vazquez slashing .264/.314/.382 this season after .283/.344/.457 last year? It boils down to his BABIP dropping from .341 to .304 and his HR/FB rate dropping from 14% to 7.1%. In other words, luck. In the case of the BABIP 2020 was a good luck year for him as his career mark is .301. For the homers his last full season saw Vazquez post a 16% ratio. So a boost to his average wouldn't be expected but given his underlying metrics Vazquez could see his homer rate increase as the season goes on.
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