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Who's Hot/Who's Not Week Two

Stats are from June 30th to 6pm July 6th.

Donovan Solano (SS San Fransico Giants)

  • .500 BA

  • .516 OBP

  • Statcast: xBA: 92nd percentile, xwOBA: 75th xSLG: 81st, K%: 83rd

  • Analysis: The Giants this year (and possibly next) won't be seeing above an above .500 season. However, players like Donovan Solano could help bolster his status as a starter in this league. Solano has been around since 2012 playing for the Marlins ad 9 games with the Yankees. Solano has shown his glove (2013 Wilson Defensive Player), but was rarely considered for his bat (career .666 OPS coming into this year). Solano has caught fire and the Statcast numbers favor a continuation of an above average hitter. Obviously, we're not looking at .500 for the rest of the year, but if Solano can keep the strikeout percentage down and keep making excellent contact, he can certainly be a bright spot for the Giants this year.

Aaron Judge (OF New York Yankees)

  • .333 BA

  • 6 HR 14 RBI

  • 1.437 OPS

  • Statcast: EV: 100th percentile, Hard Hit: 93rd, xwOBA: 97th, xSLG: 98th, Barrel: 95th, Sprint speed: 60th, Whiff: 10th

  • Analysis: What's to analyze that you haven't heard already? Judge is leading the league in exit velocity and is smacking the crap out of the ball. There's really only one player that's doing it better (I'll mention him later). I would like to highlight his sprint speed and whiff rate. 60th percentile for Judge at his size is incredibly good, and the whiff rate being in the 10th percentile means he's swinging and missing A LOT. Given Judge's size and holes in his strike zone, this is to be expected. However, I think we can all agree that we'll take the swing and misses to see the fireworks pop off of Judge's bat.

Charlie Blackmon (OF Colorado Rockies):

  • .481 BA

  • 2HR 11 RBI

  • Statcast: xBA: 92nd percentile, xSLG: 76th

  • Analysis: Chuck is putting the bat on every ball he should which is evident by the xBA. Thankfully, Colorado's offense has put runners on board for him as well, stacking up 11 RBI's in the past 7 days. I do see a downward trend approaching as Statcast is showing a below average exit velo and whiff rate. For now, Chuck Nasty is raking for the Rockies.

Franmil Reyes (RF Cleveland Indians)

  • .153

  • 1HR

  • Statcast: EV: 80th percentile, Hard Hit: 57th, xwOBA: 10th, xSLG 25th, xBA: 19th, Barrel: 58th

  • Analysis: Reyes has seen a drop off in contact as you can see by the xBA/xwOBA being so low. He is still hitting the ball hard, but he scrapes barely above average on Barrels. Digging into the meaning, you'll see the power is still here. Reyes just needs to make better contact and take some pitches which is easier said than done especially coming from a guy behind a keyboard.

Mike Zunino (C Tampa Bay Rays)

  • 0/16

  • 1 BB

  • Statcast: EV: 22nd percentile, Hard Hit: 21st, xSLG: 2nd, xwOBA: 5th

  • Analysis: Mike just isn't hitting the ball at all. Take out the obvious that he doesn't have a hit in 16 AB, and you'll see that the contact he is making is way off of the power that Zunino usually possesses. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a lingering injury given the steep drop off in contact with the ball. Mike famously had the worst batting average in the league while also being alphabetically the last player in the league in 2015 after hitting .174 in 350 AB's in 2015. Thanks to his glove, he still has a spot in the lineup for the Rays, for now.

Justin Upton (OF Los Angeles Angels)

  • 1/20

  • Statcast: EV: 56th, Hard Hit: 53rd, xBA: 19th, xwOBA: 25th, Barrel: 37th, K%: 13th

  • Analysis: Jupton's Statcast numbers tell me he's just about to break the slump that he's in. He's floating around average in most of the categories, but has just fallen victim to above average defensive plays. Strikeouts have always been a thing with Upton, so I don't take that as an indicator of bad performance. I would be shocked to see another 1/20 performance next week.

Luis Robert (OF Chicago White Sox)

  • 1.008 OPS

  • .444 BABIP

  • Statcast: Sprint Speed: 100th percentile, xBA: 79th, xwOBA: 71st, xSLG: 68th, EV: 61st, Outfielder Jump: 81st, K%: 27th, Whiff: 2nd

  • Analysis: The time has arrived for Luis Robert to cement his status as AL Rookie of the Year. He's the fastest player in the league right now and also features a great amount of pop. His battery mates of Jose Abreu, Eloy Jimenez, and Yoan Moncada all protect him so these AL/NL Central teams can't pitch around him. I'm ok with seeing the swing and miss numbers where they're at especially given the results. The BABIP is a little high for my liking, meaning I can see a slight dip next week. I would bet any of my baseball cards that next year (if we have a full season), we'll see at least a 25/25 season out of Robert.

Nick Castellanos (OF Cinncinatti Reds)

  • .350 BA

  • 4 HR

  • 1.409 OPS

  • Statcast: Barrell: 100th percentile, xSLG: 100th, xBA: 98th, xwOBA: 100th, Hard Hit: 94th, EV: 88th, Whiff: 18th, Outs Above Avg: 2nd

  • Analysis: Here's the player that is hitting better than Judge. The only reason Judge superseded Castellanos is that he had more home runs. For some reason, Cincinnati Manager David Bell has been batting Nick 2nd recently, leading his last weeks RBI total to 5 even though he's tearing the stitching out of the leather. I did leave one nugget of information in here that needs to be mentioned: Outs Above Average (OAA). This is a players ability to field their position and Castellanos simply can't this year.

Feel free to comment on who was missing or anyone you would like me to check out!

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