Salvador Perez- C- KC- Hot- Perez went 1-for-4 with his 3rd homer of the season last night. He is slashing .327/.362/.509 with 11 RBI and 7 runs scored for the season. Perez has a 90.1 EV, the same as last season and a 41.5% HardHit%, slightly below his 43.6% in 2023. His chase% is a big 53.8%, higher than his 49.5% last season, while he has lowered his SwStr% from 17.0% to 13.6%. Perez has dropped his K% from 23.3% to 19.0%. His Contact% of 77.9% and O-Contact% of 67.2% has limited his strikeouts. It has also helped translate his .366 BABIP into hits. That likely won't continue, but Perez is maintaining his power metrics from last season and is on pace to pass his 23 homers of last year. That can change quickly. Perez is solid and gets a lot of PAs for someone who is catcher-eligible.
Evan Carter- OF- TEX- Hot- Carter went 3-for-5 with a double, 2 runs, and a RBI last night. He is slashing .238/.385/.429 on the season. Carter has excellent plate discipline, with a 17.3% BB% and 11.5% K%. His .257 BABIP has held his average down while his Batting EYE of 1.50 has helped him get on base. Carter has only stolen 1 base but has potential for more. With a chase rate of 19.0% and SwStr% of 6.5% pitchers will either challenge him or allow him to reach via walk. Carter was one of the candidates for AL Rookie of the Year, along with teammate Ryan Langford, and the small sample size so far has kept him in that talk.
Kevin Gausman- P- TOR- Cold- Gausman got roughed up by the Rockies last night, allowing 6 runs in 3.2 IP. He gave up 10 hits while striking out 4 and walking no one. Gausman's ERA is up to 11.57. There are signs that this is Small Sample Size Syndrome. Gausman has only allowed 2 walks in 9.1 IP. He gave up 3 homers in his first 2 starts, but none last night. Gausman has struck out 10 batters. His xFIP is a much more reasonable 4.20. Even his single game xFIP for last night was 3.79. Gausman's early results have not reflected his underlying metrics.
Marcel Ozuna- OF- ATL- Hot- Ozuna hit his 6th homer of the season as part of a game in which he went 3-for-5 with a walk, 2 runs scored, and 3 RBI. Ozuna is slashing .360/.407/.760. He is carrying on with his performance of 2-23 when he slugged 40 homers and slashed .274/.346/.558. Ozuna has a 20.4% K%, down from 22.6% last season. His EV of 91.7 is just a tick slower than his 91.8 in 2023 and his excellent HardHit% of 49.0% has grown this season to 52.8%. Ozuna's SwStr% has jumped from 12.2% to 15.2%, so that is a negative sign, and his BABIP of .364 makes it likely regression will negatively impact his average. The power metrics are an early sign, though, that he can repeat the homer numbers of last season.
Kutter Crawford- P- BOS- Hot- Crawford has given up 1 ER across 15.2 IP in his first 3 starts of 2024. That gives him an ERA of 0.54. Crawford has struck out 18 batters but walked 8. He has not allowed a homer, which is driving the discrepancy between his ERA and xFIP of 4.02. Crawford has a BABIP of only .189 against him. He held the Orioles scoreless over 5 IP on Wednesday night, which was positive. There is still a lot of room for negative regression but his projected ERA was 3.98, so even if he ends up there it is still solid.
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