Christian Yelich, OF, MIL
Yelich came up a triple shy of the cycle on Thursday afternoon, going 3 for 4 with three RBI. After three years of ineptitude, the 31-year-old is quietly having himself a solid 2023 campaign. He is slashing .287/.376/.480 and owns a 132 wRC+, all of which are his best marks since 2019. His power isn't back to where it was in his prime, but his 14 dingers are already equal to his output from the 154 games he played last season. Yelich has been using the whole field with more regularity this season and has been hitting the ball much harder as well. His 32.8% Oppo% and 53.8% HardHit% are both career-bests.
Andrew Abbott, SP, CIN
Abbott hurled 8.0 innings of one-hit ball against the Giants. The Giants have struggled mightily against LHP this season (93 wRC+) and the Reds' rookie southpaw took full advantage of that on Thursday afternoon. He struck out six, walked two, and didn't surrender a run in the contest. Abbott is now 5-2 with a sparkling 2.10 ERA in his first nine career starts. His 4.08/4.59 FIP/xFIP aren't as sparkling, but it's hard to argue with the results thus far. His 95.5% LOB% is an unsustainable figure (no qualified pitcher has higher than an 88.0% mark this season), so expect some regression over the coming weeks.
Spencer Strider, SP, ATL
Strider fanned 13 batters on Thursday afternoon against the Diamondbacks. He cruised through 6.0 innings but then gave up a pair of homers and four runs without recording an out in the 7th. The 13 Ks matched a season-high and improved his league-high K/9 to a hefty 14.58 mark. Strider has pitched well this season but has a surprisingly high 3.78 ERA. Despite his dominant strikeout numbers, batters have faired much better off Strider in 2023. His 12.7% Soft% and 8.9% Barrel% are career worsts. That being said, don't worry too much about the inflated ERA as both his FIP (2.89) and xFIP (2.68) indicate he has been better than the ERA would suggest.
Byron Buxton, DH, MIN
Buxton went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts on Thursday night in Seattle. He has struck out 15 times in his last 25 at-bats and owns a 31.6% K% for the season. The Twins' have opted to use Buxton as purely a DH this season in an effort to keep him healthy and keep his bat in the lineup. Fine idea in theory, however, his bat has been ice cold for most of the season. He is slashing .193/.281/.404 with 15 homers and eight stolen bases. Not exactly numbers a DH should be putting up. Buxton has had a solid approach at the plate thus far and is walking at a career-high 10.3% clip. He just can't make contact, and when he does, nothing happens. Buxton's 44.2% HardHit% and 32.6% Hard% are both down significantly from a season ago, while his 13.8% LD% is a career-low. Buxton is a career .208 hitter as a DH and a .245 hitter as a centerfielder. Maybe if the Twins let him roam the outfield again he will find his offensive stroke.
Austin Riley, 3B, ATL
Riley homered for the third consecutive day, going 2 for 4 with three RBI and capping an outrageous series against the D-Backs. He had six hits, all of which went for extra bases (4 HR, 1 3B, 1 2B) and drove in 11 runs in the three games. With a .268/.330/.447 triple-slash line and 20 homers for the season, Riley hasn't been spectacular thus far. However, July and August are historically his best months of the year and he looks to be in peak form at the moment.
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