|
|
| Jordan Zimmerman lowered his ERA to 0.61 at High-A Potomac after throwing five scoreless innings on Friday. He allowed three hits, two walks and struck out six. |
Our View: Control has been an issue for Zimmerman, but the 2007 second-round pick is continuing where he left off during his pro debut at Low-A last season. The University of Wisconsin Stevens Point product is emerging as a solid pitching prospect for the Nationals.
|
|
|
|
| James Boone went 3-for-4 with a pair of home runs for Double-A Altoona on Friday. |
Our View: Boone is by no means an elite prospect, but the Mizzou alum is hitting .333-4-7 this season with 11 walks. He struggled with injuries last season but ended up hitting .281-10-51 with eight steals in fewer than 300 at-bats between Low-A and High-A. He still shows some potential as a fourth outfielder.
|
|
|
|
| Chad Gaudin hurled a gem on Friday night as he walked one, with eight K, on his way to holding the Royals to just one run in seven innings to pick up his first victory of the season. |
Our View: Gaudin looked superb against the Royals all evening as he turned around what had been a rough start to his season.
|
|
|
|
| Brian Bannister had his worst outing of the season as he fell to 3-1 thanks to allowing five runs in five innings to the A's. Bannister walked only one batter on the night, but he also had only one K as he permitted nine hits. |
Our View: Bannister isn't anywhere near as good a hurler as he has been in the early going, so it's not surprising to see him struggle a bit tonight. Look for more uneven work from Bannister moving forward as he will struggle when his control is even slightly off.
|
|
|
|
| Former chair-thrower Frank Francisco converted his fourth save of the season at Triple-A Oklahoma on Friday. |
Our View: Francisco could be helping the Rangers right now, but instead he is mowing down Triple-A hitters. He has not allowed a run this season in seven appearances, and he has an impressive 14/3 K/BB ratio in eight innings. Francisco’s career has not gotten completely back on track since Tommy John surgery and an unfortunate chair throwing incident in Oakland, but he still has the stuff to pitch at the end of games in the majors.
|
|
|
|
| Eric Duncan hit his first two home runs of the season for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday. |
Our View: There’s a blast from the past. The former first-round pick was one of the most highly regarded third base prospects in the game at one time, but he has never hit in the upper minors. He is off to another slow start this season hitting just .235, but he is still only 23-years-old.
|
|
|
|
| Emil Brown went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBI against his former Royals mates. Mike Sweeney, also a former Royal, had three hits and two runs scored as well. |
Our View: A great night for these two who for one night showed the Royals that they shouldn't have given up on the duo.
|
|
|
|
| Chris Carter went 5-for-6 with three RBI on Friday for Triple-A Pawtucket. |
Our View: Carter, a former first base prospect with the Diamondbacks, is making a switch to left field. He has been a hitting and on-base machine at every minor league level, but there have always been questions about his defense. He is hitting .344 this season and hit .316-19-88 last season between Double-A and Triple-A, so someone will probably find a spot for him to play, even if the Red Sox don’t have room.
|
|
|
|
| Cardinals 2007 first-round draft choice Pete Kozma went 2-for-5 with his first home run for Low-A Quad Cities on Friday. He is hitting .327-1-5 this season. |
Our View: Kozma is off to a nice start. He seems to have very good offensive potential if he sticks at shortstop, though he played at third base on Friday. It will be a while before we hear about the 20-year-old in the major league conversation, though.
|
|
|
|
| Bobby Crosby continued his healthy start to the 2008 season as he went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and five RBI for the A's. |
Our View: All Crosby needs to do to be productive is to stay healthy, but that has been something he has been unable to do since 2004, the last time he suited up in more than 96 games.
|
|
|
|
| Richie Sexson had his best game of the season on Friday night with two hits, two runs and four RBI for the Mariners. Both hits were home runs. |
Our View: Sexson is still struggling along at .237, but this outing doubled his home run total to four and pushed his RBI mark up to 13.
|
|
|
|
| Matthew Joyce hit his fifth home run of the season at Triple-A on Friday. He is now hitting .298-5-14 this season. |
Our View: Joyce was not a great outfield prospect entering the season, but he is off to a fast start offensively. We probably should not hope for too much considering that he hit only .257-17-70 at Double-A last season, but his early performance should make the Tigers feel better about their depth.
|
|
|
|
| Torii Hunter battled through some minor stiffness he picked up in a pregame car accident as he had three hits and three RBI for the Angels. |
Our View: Hunter has been everything that the Angels could have hoped for in the early going with a .323 average and 11 RBI to help to solidify the middle of the batting order behind Vlad Guerrero.
|
|
|
|
| Despite his early season struggles with health and performance, Francisco Rodriguez still picked up his seventh save on Friday night for the Angels. |
Our View: K-Rod allowed one hit in his lone inning as he needed 14 pitches to pick up three outs.
|
|
|
|
| Fernando Perez went 3-for-5 and was just a home run away from hitting for the cycle on Friday for Triple-A Durham. He also added his fifth steal of the season. |
Our View: Perez has plenty of major league potential, but he is raw in several areas offensively. He struck out 104 times in 393 at-bats last season and had a poor 64 percent stolen base success rate at Double-A (32-for-50). Still, the Columbia University alum has shown the on-base skills and athleticism to be an interesting player at the highest level.
|
|
|
|
| Jason Bergmann allowed four runs on six hits in three innings to earn the loss in his first Triple-A start since being demoted from Washington. |
Our View: He struggled against a decent Durham lineup, but this is still a bad sign. The Nationals had reason to demote him, and it does not look like he will be making his way back anytime soon.
|
|
|
|
| For the first time in four outings Dan Haren pitched more than six innings, he went seven tonight, and he held the Padres scoreless on just three hits and a walk to pick up his third victory of the season. |
Our View: Haren continues his dominating start to the season with a 1.80 ERA through 25 innings during which time he has permitted only 18 hits and four walks.
|
|
|
|
| Greg Maddux was torched on Friday after three great outings as he allowed 13 hits and nine runs in seven innings against the Diamondbacks. |
Our View: Maddux will have outings like this from time to time when his pitches bite off too much of the strikezone, but he actually pitched quite well after allowing six runs in the first inning.
|
|
|
|
| Conor Jackson tied his career-high with four hits on Friday including his third home run of the season for the D'backs. Jackson also scored three times with four RBI on the night. |
Our View: Conor is off to a tremendous start to the campaign hitting .364-3-17 in just 14 games for Arizona. Perhaps those pundits who predicted a breakout this season knew what they were talking about.
|
|
|
|
| Fred Lewis stole his first base of the season and had a hit and RBI for the Giants in their loss to the Cardinals. |
Our View: Lewis is a lower tier mixed league option in the outfield, but if the Giants continue to run him out there every day in the leadoff role, his value could grow.
|
|
|
|
| Chris Duncan was 2-for-3 with three runs scored, two RBI and two walks on Friday night. |
Our View: Duncan continues to thrive in the number two spot in the Cardinals order, and as long as he continues to hit in front of Albert Pujols, that figures to continue.
|
|
|
|
| Albert Pujols hit a 3-run home run on Friday on his way to four RBI for the Cardinals. |
Our View: Pujols just keeps on hitting in the early going as he is batting .375-4-14 through 17 games.
|
|
|
|
| Todd Wellemeyer continues to make Dave Duncan look like a genius as he held the Giants to just one run over seven innings to pick up win number two on the season. |
Our View: Sure this was the Giants he defeated, but still, he looked solid once again as he allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out six.
|
|
|
|
| Matt Cain was torched by the Cardinals a week after he held them hitless for six innings as he gave up a career worst nine runs in just 3.2 innings on the night. Cain permitted two home runs amongst the eight hits he allowed and he also walked three batters in his second loss of the season. |
Our View: Cain just didn't have it tonight as he threw plenty of fastballs in the 86-89 mph range. It's been a rough start to the season as he has 19 K and 15 BB in the early going.
|
|
|
|
| Chris Sampson was hammered on Friday for six runs on six hits and two walks to pick up his second loss. |
Our View: So much for his solid start to the season. Sampson is an average pitcher who doesn't put away enough hitters, so he should only be active when the matchup is right.
|
|
|
|
| Hunter Pence, mired in a brutal start to the season which saw him enter the night hitting .161, went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI on Friday. |
Our View: Pence has been a shadow of his fantasy relevant self of last season, but we are still talking about just a couple of weeks here so give him some time to hit his way out of it.
|
|
|
|
| Looking to find his stroke after a brutal start to the season, Troy Tulowitzki had two hits, two runs and three RBI on Friday. |
Our View: Even after all of that Tulo is still hitting just .185 with six RBI through 15 games, but Rome wasn't built in a day so he has to start somewhere.
|
|
|
|
| Garrett Atkins had a big night on Friday as he went 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored for the Rockies. |
Our View: One of those hits was a home run, and Atkins now has a more Atkins like line after a rough start to the season (.313-2-10).
|
|
|
|
| Casey Blake hit his first home run of the season on Friday as he had two hits, scored a run, and knocked in three in the Indians victory over the Twins. |
Our View: Blake needed this outing really badly as he entered the game hitting just .152. Look for him to use this as a spring board to some more productive AB.
|
|
|
|
| Justin Morneau went 0-for-3 on Friday night to drop his average to .241 for the Twins. |
Our View: Morneau does have four home runs and 13 RBI, but his average has been on the wane dating back to last seaso =n as he is hitting just .242 over his last 326 AB.
|
|
|
|
| Francisco Liriano was a little bit better in his second start, but he still allowed four hits and five BB in just five innings to fall to 0-2. Liriano allowed three runs on the night as well. |
Our View: Liriano is having trouble throwing strikes and controlling the strike zone, and until his control returns he will be nothing more than an average major league hurler. The control should return, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon, so continue to be careful with him.
|
|
|
|
| Cliff Lee continued his dominating start to the season with eight innings of two hit ball to pick up his third victory of the season against zero defeats. Lee has allowed a total of one earned run in 22.2 innings, a 0.40 ERA, and he has 20 K and just two BB on the season. |
Our View: Wow. Let us say that again. Wow. Lee simply cannot keep up this pace, but with the way he is pitching now he has already marked himself as the best waiver-wire pick up in the AL in the early going.
|
|
|
|
| Jim Thome hit the 511 HR of his career on Friday night as he plated three RBI in the White Sox win over the Rays. |
Our View: Thome has two HR and six RBI in his last three games as he seems to have found his home run stroke. Another season of 30-HR seems likely for the ageless slugger.
|
|
|
|
| B.J. Upton had two hits and a run scored on Friday night for the Rays from the third spot in the lineup. |
Our View: Upton has an entirely too high 15 K on the season, but he also has 10 BB which helps to offset the swings and misses.
|
|
|
|
| Jeff Niemann wasn't able to match his strong first start as he allowed eight runs, five earned, in just 3.1 innings on Friday night to pick up the loss. |
Our View: Neimann is nothing more than an AL Only starter at this point, and even that is a questionable play given that he has allowed three home runs and 11 hits in just 9.1 innings so far.
|
|
|
|
| Javier Vazquez won his third straight start on Friday night to improve to 3-1 thanks to allowing only two runs over 6.1 innings. Vazquez allowed six hits and one walk on the night. |
Our View: Vazquez got some publicity after his solid season last year, but he still doesn't get all the love he should as a consistent strike out producing, WHIP lowering starter.
|
|
|
|
| Edgar Renteria hit his second home run of the season on Friday night as he had two hits, three RBI and a run scored for the Tigers. |
Our View: With this outing Renteria's batting average inched over .300, and his 12 RBI are a solid total for a hitter in the bottom third of the order.
|
|
|
|
| Miguel Cabrera had two hits, an RBI, a run scored and his first steal of the season on Friday night for the Tigers. |
Our View: Cabrera is rounding nicely into form as he now has 12 RBI and a .283 batting average after struggling a bit in the early going. No shock there, he is one of the best hitters in the game.
|
|
|
|
| Rod Barajas hit his first home run of the season on Friday night as his average improved to .316. |
Our View: Greg Zahn still appears to be in line for the majority of work behind the plate, but if he continues to hit near his current .239 mark, Barajas could find himself with a few more AB moving forward.
|
|
|
|
| Jeremy Accardo had another rough outing on Friday night as he picked up his second blown save and third loss after allowing three runs, two earned, to the Tigers. |
Our View: Accardo now sports a 10.29 ERA through eight appearances, and he has to be considered a dubious option to be called on to pick up a save when B.J. Ryan is not available. For those of you looking to vulture saves, you might want to keep the name of Scott Downs in mind.
|
|
|
|
| Kenny Rogers won his first game since last July as he worked 6.2 innings and limited the Blue Jays to four runs on three hits and four walks. |
Our View: Rogers just needs to keep the game close to allow the Tigers time to mount some offense, but his ratio's are going to be borderline 'hide the children' territory, so you are really going to have to pay for those victories.
|
|
|
|
| David Ortiz hit a grand slam on Friday night as he drove in five runs in the Red Sox 11-3 victory over the Rangers. |
Our View: Ortiz is still hitting only .134, but he now has nine RBI on the year. The hits will come, just continue to have patience with Ortiz.
|
|
|
|
| Luis Mendoza had another rough outing in his second start as he permitted the Red Sox to score seven runs in just three innings as he picked up his second loss of the year. |
Our View: The youngster certainly has stuff, but he has allowed 19 base runners in just eight innings, and there is no way anyone can be successful with numbers like that.
|
|
|
|
| Daisuke Matsuzaka moved to 4-0 on the season thanks to allowing the Rangers to score only three runs in 5.1 innings. Dice-K only struck out four batters but he also allowed only two BB and five hits on the night. |
Our View: Dice-K continues to do just enough to pick up the win each time out, even if he continues to allow a few more base runners than is ideal. He could easily improve upon last years 15 wins with that offense.
|
|
|
|
| Jacoby Ellsbury is only hitting .229 on the year, but he continues to play while Coco Crisp is sidelined with a leg injury, and he scored three times thanks to a hit and three walks on Friday. |
Our View: Ellsbury needs to hit better than .229 if he hopes to garner 400+ AB this season, but perhaps this night will be the start of good things as he now has 11 BB and only four K on the season.
|
|
|
|
| Ian Kinsler had a hit and an RBI on Friday night but he also swiped his sixth base on the young season for the Rangers. |
Our View: Kinsler went 10/10 as a rookie and upped that to 20/20 last year, and though he has failed to go deep yet, he appears on his way to possibly swiping 30 bases this season.
|
|
|
|
| Milton Bradley went 1-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 13 games for the Rangers. Bradley also scored his seventh run in the game. |
Our View: Bradley is hitting a very empty .352 on the year with only four RBI and no HR through 54 AB, but he has been on the field and hitting, so consider yourself lucky if you drafted the oft-injured Bradley.
|
|
|
|
| Hank Blalock had two hits, including his third home run, and two RBI on Friday night for the Rangers. |
Our View: So much for Blalock needing a trip to the DL. He will continue to be an injury concern until he proves he can stay healthy for 140+ games, but Blalock is off to a solid start to the season.
|
|
|
|
| Derek Lowe allowed 12 baserunners, eight hits and four BB, in just 4.1 innings on Friday night as he picked up his first loss of the year. Lower was beaten for five runs, three earned, on the night. |
Our View: Lowe periodically has outings like this when the balls don't find the fielders, but even with this outing his ERA still sits at 2.59 through four starts.
|
|
|
|
| Russell Martin fell to .196 on the year thanks to an 0-for-3 outing on Friday night in which he was also thrown out on the bases. |
Our View: Martin also limped home to end last season and now has just three HR with eight RBI while hitting just .234 over his last 40 games. Its' not time to panic, but it's certainly time to be concerned.
|
|
|
|
| Juan Pierre didn't start on Friday night, but he entered the game late, went 1-for-1 with an RBI, and stole his third base of the season. |
Our View: Pierre is now hitting .303 overall thanks to a nine hits in his last 18 AB. With Andruw Jones hitting .167, things continue to be interesting in the Dodgers outfield.
|
|
|
|
| Mark Teixeira went 1-for-5 with a run scored on Friday night be he is still limping along with a .203 average and just seven RBI through 16 games. |
Our View: Tex has always been known as a slow starter, but this is ridiculous. Mark is hitting under .150 against left-handed pitching this season, and that is one of the main culprits for his terrible start.
|
|
|
|
| Chipper Jones hit two home runs for the second straight game and knocked in four runs for the Braves on Friday night. |
Our View: Jones is unconscious right now hitting .455 with six HR and 18 RBI in 16 games, and he is once again proving why talk of the HOF is 100% accurate.
|
|
|
|
| Robinson Cano went 1-for-4 on Friday as he continues to be mired in a miserable start to the 2008 season. |
Our View: Cano is hitting only .171 through 70 AB in an extremely sluggish start to the season. The guy has one of the sweetest swings in the game and owns a career .312 batting average, so pity the pitchers he will face when he gets his groove back.
|
|
|
|
| Nick Markakis had two more hits on Friday night to up his average to .328 from the third hole in the Orioles lineup. |
Our View: Even with all that hitting, Markakis has just eight RBI through 17 games as there just haven't been that many hitters on base when teams have chosen to pitch to Nick.
|
|
|
|
| Luke Scott picked up his 8th RBI of the season thanks to two hits on Friday night. Scott also scored two runs and his average now sits at .389. |
Our View: Scott continues to be everything the Orioles hoped for as he has been hitting and getting on base at almost 50% of the time.
|
|
|
|
| Phil Hughes allowed only one run his first five innings on Friday, but the Orioles exploded for four runs against him in the sixth inning to send him to his third loss of the year. Hughes permitted eight hits and two walks on the night while picking up only one K. |
Our View: As is the case with young hurlers, things can go from great to poor very quickly. Hughes doesn't appear to be in danger of losing his starting spot quite yet, but no one in pinstripes can be very happy with a 8.82 ERA after four starts.
|
|
|
|
| Daniel Cabrera was on his game on Friday night as he permitted just two runs in six innings to pick up his first win of the year against the Yankees. Cabrera allowed five hits and only two BB on the night. |
Our View: When Cabrera throws the ball in the strike zone and trusts his stuff, outings like this one are common place. Unfortunately, the norm is nothing like this and more often than not he pounds the backstop with his pitches.
|
|
|
|
| Hanley Ramirez had a hit and scored two runs for the Marlins on Friday, but it was the two SB he picked up that caught everyone's attention. |
Our View: Ramirez doubled his SB output tonight, though he has still attempted only four steals in 16 games. He will need to run a lot more than this to have any shot at a third straight 50-SB season.
|
|
|
|
| Jeremy Hermida had two hits on Friday night with a run scored and two RBI for the Marlins. |
Our View: This was nice to see after Hermida was 0-for-7 the past two nights. Hermida figures to be a solid source of production in the counting categories if he can stay on the field long enough to accrue the AB.
|
|
|
|
| Andrew Miller had his best outing of the season as he held the Nationals to only three runs in five innings. Miller picked up the no-decision as he allowed six hits and two walks while picking up three K. |
Our View: Better, but still a long ways from great. This start should at least quiet talk that Miller will be sent to the minors, but he continues to be on the edge of being a recommended play even in NL Only leagues.
|
|
|
|
| Felipe Lopez had three hits, scored two runs, and stole his third base of the season on Friday for the Nationals. |
Our View: Lopez will also start on Saturday for the Nats, and if he continues to cause havoc at the plate and on the bases, one would figure that he would continue to find his way into the lineup on a very consistent basis.
|
|
|
|
| Tim Redding struck out 10 batters on Friday night to help him earn his third victory of the season. Redding allowed only three hits and one walk on the night, though he still permitted the Marlins to score four runs in his six innings on the hill. |
Our View: Redding entered the game with only seven K and eight BB in 16 innings, so tonight was quite the change. Redding has vaulted himself to being a solid starter in NL Only leagues, but he should still be nothing more than a spot starter in mixed leagues.
|
|
|
|
| Nick Johnson had a big night on Friday as he drove in four runs thanks to two hits against the Marlins. |
Our View: Johnson is only hitting .275 so far this year, but the best news is that he is healthy and has already played in 17 games on the year. With Dimitri Young still dealing with health issues, look for Johnson to continue to pile up the AB.
|
|
|
|
| Bill Hall went deep for the sixth time on Friday night as he also knocked in his 12th and 13th runs of the season. |
Our View: Hall still is hitting a poor .210, and he picked up two more K tonight giving him 20 in 16 games, so until he puts the bat on the ball with more frequency his average figures to be below par.
|
|
|
|
| Brandon Phillips came back from his day off on Thursday to pick up two hits and a run scored on Friday night. He was also thrown out for the second time on the bases trying to steal. |
Our View: Phillips has only one home run and five RBI through 16 games so he has a long road to travel to justify the faith of those who chose him in the top-25 picks this season.
|
|
|
|
| Bronson Arroyo had another rough outing on Friday as he fell to 0-2 thanks to allowing five runs, four earned, in 5.2 innings. |
Our View: Arroyo allowed eight hits and three walks on the night, and he has now allowed a scary high 27 hits in just 21.1 innings on the season. Face it, he is nothing more than a slightly above average hurler at this point.
|
|
|
|
| Eric Gagne came in to pick up his fifth save of the season on Friday night for the Brewers. Gagne allowed a hit, but he also picked up both outs on strike outs. |
Our View: Gagne may not always get it done the way you are used to, but he continues to be just good enough on most days to get the job done. He has nine K and only two BB on the year which seems to signal that his stuff is still good enough to be successful if he can stay healthy.
|
|
|
|
| Ryan Howard continued his awful start to the season by going 0-for-4 to lower his season average to .197 on Friday night. |
Our View: Howard was hitting .222 after 35 games last season but still managed to hit .268 on the year. Howard does have four home runs this year, but he needs to do more than pop the odd long ball to produce as he should.
|
|
|
|
| Chase Utley hit his fifth home run of the season and pushed across his 12th run with the long ball on Friday night. |
Our View: Utley continues to be extremely productive even though a few of his mates continue to struggle with putting up big numbers on offense.
|
|
|
|
| Ryan Church had two hits and three runs scored on Friday night against the Phillies. |
Our View: Church seems to have found a home in the second spot in the order as he is 6-for-18, .333, since moving into that spot in the order.
|
|
|
|
| David Wright went 4-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI to up his season average to .333. |
Our View: So much for the slow start. Wright now has 17 RBI through 15 games including 10 in his last six starts. A top-10 fantasy season seems in the cards, baring injury, for the Mets third sacker.
|
|
|
|
| Cole Hamels fell to 2-2 on the season as he allowed five runs, four earned, on Friday night. Hamels stuck out only four Mets on the night as he allowed eight hits and three BB. |
Our View: Hamels owns a 1.86 ERA through four starts for the Phillies, but he just didn't have his best stuff tonight.
|
|
|
|
