Kolten Wong- 2B- MIL- Hot- Wong has had a tendency in his career to be streaky so when he does something good, it can be worthwhile to try and jump on the train for a while. Yesterday he went 3-for-5 with 2 doubles and a steal. It is the second time in 3 games that Wong has gone 3-for-5 and 3rd game in his last 5 that he has gotten multiple hits. In his last 14 games Wong has hit safely in 5 of them. All of those 5 games were multihit performances. When Wong hits, he hits in bunches. Earlier this season he had a 4-game stretch of multiple hit games. He could have a few more in him in the near future.
Brad Hand- RP- WAS- Cold- Hand picked up his 5th save of the season but it wasn't easy. He recorded 3 strikeouts in the 9th inning but allowed 2 hits, including a homer that cut the Washington lead to 1 run. Hand has allowed runs in 4 of his last 5 appearances after not allowing a run in 9 IP across his first 8 appearances. He has saved 2 games and blown 2 saves in that recent span. Hand's grip on the closer role may be loose.
Dansby Swanson- SS- ATL- Cold- Swanson moved a little farther from the Mendoza line by going 2-for-4 yesterday to raise his average to .209. However, he also struck out for the 14th time in his last 7 games.
The strikeout has been the bane for Swanson this season. His K% for the year is up to 31.4%. When Swanson has hit the ball, he hasn't done too badly, according to Statcast. His Exit Velocity of 90.5 and HardHit% of 45.6% would be career highs if he maintains them. Despite the high K% Swanson is actually making contact more often than he did in 2020. His could be a case where if regression to the mean is kicking in (his .280 BABIP is below his career .304) he may stop pressing as much and production will rebound.
Kevin Gausman- P- SF- Hot- Only once in his 9 starts this season has Gausman allowed more than 1 run. Yesterday he threw 6 scoreless IP against the Reds, allowing 1 hit, walking 2, and striking out 8. It was Gausman's 7th quality start and he has not gone fewer than 6 IP any time out. He increased his strikeout power in 2019 and has continued this season with a 10.11 K/9. Gausman has not benefited from having a favorable pitcher's park as his home base. At Oracle Park he has a 3.15 ERA and has given up 3 homers in 20 IP. On the road Gausman's ERA is 0.91 and he has only allowed a single homer in 39.2 IP. He probably will not be able to keep that kind of performance going in away games so his current performance will not continue indefinitely but his drop will still leave him with good production.
Jake Cronenworth- SS- SD- Hot- Cronenworth hit an inside-the-park homer yesterday to extend his hitting streak to 7 games. In that span he has 3 multihit games and has gone 12-for-27 with 7 runs. On the season Cronenworth is slashing .305/.378/.451. He has a BABIP of .336 which is very close to his career mark of .333, but that career consists of 98 major league games. He has already equaled his 2020 total of 4 homers. Cronenworth's Statcast numbers are down compared to his rookie season of 2020. His Exit Velocity is 88.0, down from 89.8 and HardHit% has dropped from 42.7% to 30.9%. Cronenworth's FB% has increased considerably, from 29.4% to 37.5%. Chances are that Cronenworth won't be able to keep up this pace given the whole basket of indicators, so consider him a sell high candidate.
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