Ryan Mountcastle- 3B- BAL- Hot- Mountcastle went 2-for-4 with a double, run scored, and RBI. This follows a 3-for-5 performance on Saturday. Since July 21 he is 11-for-35 with 3 homers, 5 runs scores, and 6 RBI. Mountcastle's Statcast numbers are very close to what he put in during the shortened 2020 season. His 88.4 Exit Velocity and 9.6% Barrel% are a little above what he did last season while his 38.8% HardHit% is a little below. Mountcastle's BABIP this season is .308, well below the .398 he had in 2020. That mark last year was likely an outlier so his .254 average won't get any help from regression to the mean. Mountcastle has hit 17 homers and given the underlying numbers he has the power looks legitimate.
Whit Merrifield- 2B- KC- FYI- Merrifield went 1-for-4 yesterday to extend his current hitting streak to 12 games. As extended hitting streaks go, though, it hasn't been very productive. Merrifield only has one multi-hit game in the stretch and has only walked once. He is slashing .280/.294/.340 during the streak. Merrifield had some buzz before the trading deadline about being a possible player on the move. It probably wouldn't have had much of an impact on his value if it had happened and so also probably doesn't have much impact that he stayed put. Merrifield's career home/road splits and 1st half/2nd half splits don't show any particular trends between them. He does have a .298 BABIP, so some regression to the mean will be in his favor. Merrifield's Exit Velocity of 87.1 is above the 86.1 he had last season and his HardHit% of 28.1% is also above his 2020 number of 27.3%. He has 8 homers this season and hasn't hit a long ball since June 29. Merrifield's HR/FB ratio of 11.3% last season may have been a bit of an outlier but his 6.4% in 2021 is a little lower than what he normally posts. So he may get a higher homer rate as the season moves on.
Zack Britton- RP- NYY- Stats- Britton has had an injury-plagued season, limited to 13 games so far this season. His performance has been very inconsistent, as he has been scored on in 7 of those appearances and has a 6.35 ERA. Yesterday, Britton wasn't scored on and faced the minimum number of 3 batters in the 8th inning, but did allow a walk that was erased in a double play. Control has been an issue for Britton and yesterday was no exception. Only 5 of his 12 pitches were strikes and he has a 7.94 BB/9 for the season, higher than his 6.35 K/9. On the plus side, Britton has 6 holds and only 1 blown save. So for the most part he is doing his bit in holding leads and that has value in leagues that count holds. For the rest of his game, it looks like he is not back to his form of 2019 and 2020.
Jonah Heim- C- TEX- Hot- Joey who? Jonah Heim hit a walk off homer for the second straight game, giving him a total of 4 homers in his last three games (which is his consecutive homer streak.) Instead of being behind the plate he got the partial day off of playing DH. Heim has improved his Exit Velocity to 88.2 from the 86.0 he had in a brief appearance with Oakland last season. In addition his HardHIt% went up from 37.1% to 39.1% and his Barrel% from 5.7% to 7.2%. Heim shortened his stride recently and there have been some big production from his bat. He has a .233 BABIP and while that is actually a little above what he had in 2020, that was a small sample size of 41 PAs. Heim will probably see his .227 average rise some. The power may be legit. His Exit Velocity and HardHit% have been going up this month. Heim was at an Exit Velocity of 86.9 and HardHit% of 36.4% as of June 30.
Reid Detmers- P- LAA- Rookie- Detmers made his major league debut after only one start at AAA. The 21-year-old made his professional debut earlier this season with 12 starts for the AA Rocket City Trash Pandas. Combined in the minors Detmers had a 3.15 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 2.70 BB/9, and sparkling 15.9 K/9. He didn't give up a homer in his 6 IP at AAA, but had a HR/9 of 1.67 at AA. Homers were what crushed Detmers in his major league debut, as two of them accounted for 5 of the 6 runs he was charged with. He allowed 6 hits, walked 2, and struck out 2 in 4.1 IP. He threw 55 of his 82 pitches for strikes. Detmers has increased his velocity this year and his fastball topped out at 94.8. This outing is not enough reason to think any less of the #10 draft pick in 2020. In keeper leagues he is worth having.
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