Julio Rodriguez- OF- SEA- Great Player- Rodriguez has seen a massive amount of regression to the mean over the last week. After the Mariners' game on August 15 he was slashing .256/.319/.432 with a .318 BABIP. In the 5 games since then he went 18-for-27 with 3 doubles, 2 homers, and 5 steals. Rodriguez now owns a slash line of .278/.336/.462 with a BABIP of .346, just above the .345 he posted in 2022. Rodriguez had maintained his Statcast metrics. His EV was 93, maxEV 116.7, and HardHit% 51.7% before his breakout. It looked like Rodriguez was due to catch up. It's just not usual for it to come in a grand total of 5 games.
Dylan Carlson- OF- STL- Inj Update- Carlson said that his ankle injury (which is different than the oblique injury that has him on the IL) may require season-ending surgery. If his season is done it ends with a disappointing slash line of .219/.318/.333 and 5 homers in 255 PAs. Injuries have impacted Carlson, as has a BABIP of .256. His EV improved to 89.3 and HardHit% to 37.0%. Carlson had a chase rate of 28.6% and SwStr% of 9.3%. His BB% of 10.2% and K% of 19.2% showed improvement over 2022, even with the injury issues. Carlson is only 24, so still has potential for more positive development. He would be in the sleeper category for 2024.
Luis Matos- OF- SF- Rise Value- Matos was called up from AAA Sacramento when Brandon Crawford went on the IL. He was only 1-for-12 in the 3 games he played for Sacramento since being sent down earlier last week. Overall Matos was scorching at AAA, with a .367/.406/.625 slash line. He performed more like that in starting for the Giants yesterday. He went 2-for-5 with a solo homer. In his 50 MLB games before yesterday he had a chase rate of 30.3%, SwStr% of 7.6%, and Contact% of 83.7%. Matos has a BB% of 7.2% and K% of 11.7%. His Statcast metrics are not outstanding, with an EV of 87.3 and HardHit% of 32.4%. Matos' BABIP of .271 is what his held his average down. He will get some chance to play, with Crawford out and LaMonte Wade, Jr. day-to-day. Matos should see his average of .245 increase with some regression.
Justin Turner- 3B- BOS- Hot- Turner went 2-for-4 with a walk and his 20th homer of the season yesterday. It was the 4th time in his last 7 games that Turner collected multiple hits and he has 3 homers in that span. Getting called out last week on one of the all-time worst third strike calls (you should Google "Justin Turner third strike" if you haven't seen it) didn't faze him but his few days out with a heel injury didn't either. Turner has remained solid and consistent.
Will Smith- RP- TEX- Caution- Smith gave up 3 runs on 4 hits while striking out 1 in 0.2 IP yesterday. It wasn't a save situation, as the Rangers were losing. Smith was brought in to keep the game close and he didn't do that. Smith is the last Ranger to record a save. He is also the last to blow a save. Smith has now yielded runs in 4 of his last 6 appearances. He has struck out 3 in 4.2 IP across those appearances. Bruce Bochy is a patient manager but Smith's troubles may result in swapping places with Aroldis Chapman for the closer and setup roles. He has saved 22 games but we are getting to crunch time.
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