Kyle Gibson- P- TEX- Hot- After not lasting long enough to pick up a quality start last time out (no runs allowed but only 5.1 IP) Gibson was back on form yesterday afternoon. He allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5 in 6 IP. The runs came on two solo homers. Gibson may see some regression in his HR/FB rate. It currently stands at 8.2% (up from 5.8% before yesterday.) His career mark is 14.2%. Gibson also had a 3.8% Barrel% going into yesterday where it is 5.7% over his career. Gibson's K/9 is at 7.28, down from 7.75 in 2020 and his peak of 9.00 in 2019. He may also be benefiting from the pitch framing of the Texas catchers, reputed to be good. Gibson has a BB/9 of 2.64 in 2021 compared to 4.01 last season and 3.15 in 2019. His CSW% of 29.4% is better than the past 2 seasons (27.5% and 28.0% respectively,) but not that much higher to prompt that significant an improvement in plate discipline. Gibson's catchers may be helping him on crucial pitches. He has been superb so far this season, which makes him a prime trade candidate as the Rangers turn to seller mode. Where he ends up, along with how much regression he experiences, will determine how long Gibson will be able to maintain his production level.
Sean Manaea- P- OAK- Hot- Manaea tossed his 4th quality start in his last 5 outings. It would have been his 5th if he had lasted another inning on May 23rd when he allowed 1 run in 5 IP. Yesterday he threw 6 shutout innings and allowed 2 hits and walked 2 while striking out 3. Manaea is posting K/9, ERA, FIP, xFIP, and FB% better than he has had in a full season in his career. His BB/9 is just barely above his career best. Manaea's Exit Velocity and HardHit% are very close to his career averages. Manaea's SwStr% of 12.6% is higher than he has ever finished a season. Yesterday he threw 111 pitches, which was the same number he threw in his previous start, which was a 9 IP complete game. Manaea hasn't thrown that many pitches since 2017, before he underwent shoulder surgery. He has never thrown consecutive high-pitch games like that, so watch his next start carefully.
Matt Harvey- P- BAL- Get Rid of Player- 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes described life without society as "nasty, brutish, and short." If he were a sportswriter today he could use the same phrase to describe the bulk of Harvey's 2021 starts. He (Harvey, not Hobbes) has only one quality start in his 13 outings. Harvey got clobbered by his former team, the Mets, in a very unlucky 13th start of the season yesterday. He was tagged for 7 runs on 8 hits and a walk in 3 IP. Altogether in his previous 6 starts Harvey pitched 20.2 IP and allowed 24 runs on 35 hits and 8 walks. After several injury-plagued seasons it was hoped that Harvey could make a comeback. It doesn't look like that is a reasonable hope any more.
Gerrit Cole-P- NYY- Great Player- Cole bounced back from his second poor start of the season as well as being the object of controversy. He threw 66 of 94 pitches for strikes and turned in a quality start. Cole allowed 2 runs on 5 hits and did not walk a batter while striking out 9. If he used foreign substances, nobody detected them as he won his 7th game.
Bo Bichette- SS- TOR- Hot- Bichette went 3-for-5 with a run to extend his hitting streak to 8 games. He has collected multiple hits in his last 2 games. All but two of his 11 hits in this streak have been singles. There is probably some regression to the mean going on here. Bichette had a BABIP of .295 when the streak started and it is now up to .331. With a career mark of .345 there is still room for more positive regression and in increase in his current .274 average.
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