Who's Hot/Who's Not Week 3
Stats accumulated from August 7th to August 14th at 8pm EST
Charlie Blackmon (RF Colorado Rockies)
.625 BA (.472 for the season)
1.595 OPS
.636 BABIP
1 HR 6 RBI
Statcast: xBA 99th percentile, xwOBA 97th, K% 95th, Whiff% 71st
Analysis: Chuck Nasty is averaging, for the year, a .508 BABIP. He's simply hitting them where they ain't. We're all hoping that Blackmon can keep up the trend and finish at least above a .400 BA for the year. He's bumped up his Statcast numbers since the last time he was on the list, expanding his xBA, xwOBA, and lowering his K%.
Jesse Winker (OF Cincinatti Reds)
.647 BA
2.008 OPS
.667 BABIP
3 HR 4 RBI
Statcast: xwOBA 94th percentile, Exit Velo 93rd, xBA 90th, xSLG 80th, Whiff% 24th
Analysis: Winker and his buddy Castellanos are up there with this leagues hardest hitting duos this year. It's a shame that they both can't pop off on the same game as you can tell by the RBI number. In the past week, Winker obliterated the ball as you can see by the OPS. I hope for the Reds fans out there that someone other than Sonny Gray can pitch for them because this teams offense has a ton of potential.
Franmil Reyes (OF Cleveland Indians)
.556 BA
1.433 OPS
.750 BABIP
Statcast: Exit Velo 77th percentile, Barrel% 69th, Hard Hit% 61st, Whiff% 10th
Analysis: Wasn't it just two weeks ago where Franmil couldn't catch a break? Well, the barrel of Franmil's bat has found the ball this past week. His hardest hit was a 108 MPH grounder through the left side of the Cubs defense. As long as he makes good contact, Reyes' batted balls find openings.
Joey Gallo (RF Texas Rangers)
.071 BA (1/14)
.636 OPS
1 HR
Statcast: Hard Hit% 96th, Barrel% 91st, EV 85th, Whiff% 3rd
Analysis: As a Gallo superfan, this is normal. Gallo is a low .200's hitter, so he's bound for these kind of weeks as shown by his Whiff%. He's also striking out 37.8 % of the time which is the most since his 2016 season. His fastest non hit was thanks to the shift when he scorched a 102.3 MPH line out into the shift right at JP Crawford. Gallo will fluctuate throughout the year, so no need to worry.
Matthew Boyd (P Detroit Tigers)
allowing 1.173 OPS
.379 BABIP
13.50 ERA
9.1 IP
Statcast: xERA 8th percentile, xBA 22nd, xwOBA 27th
Analysis: I would worry about Boyd. He allowed 7 ER in both appearances this past week, one of those being to the worst offense in the league, the Pirates. Every one of his rankings put him as a below average pitcher this year. To be fair, he does not have a lot of offensive support.
Matt Olson (1B Oakland Athletics)
.080 BA (2/25)
2HR 4RBIs
Statcast: EV 99th percentile, Hard Hit% 95th, xwOBA 85th, xSLG 82nd
Analysis: Olson is just cranking the ball, but it's going right to people. There's nothing he needs to change, they'll fall eventually. He's in the top 80th percentile in every hitting category on Statcast. I watched a majority of his at bats from last week. He's either just under it, or hitting it right to the defense.
Juan Soto (OF Washington Nationals)
.400 BA
1.524 OPS
5 HR 9 RBI
Statcast: Not Available Yet
Analysis: Guess who's back? Soto, as most of you know, is one to keep your eye on for his career. Stock up on as many rookie cards as you can because the pure hitting talent of Soto at 21 years old can put him on pace to break records.
Mookie Betts (OF Los Angeles Dodgers)
3 HR in one game
1.396 OPS
Statcast: Whiff% 99th percentile, Outs Above Average 96th, Outfielder Jump 90th, K% 88th, EV 81st
Analysis: Mookie had his 6th 3HR game for his career, and it would've been rude not to mention him. After this past week, Betts is back to his normal self, being a concensious top 5 OF in the game. He rarely strikes out and is really one of the few players that can challenge Trout in WAR thanks to his Gold Glove level defense (outfielder jump, outs above average)
HONORABLE MENTION
Fernando Tatis Jr (SS San Diego Padres)
1.059 OPS (OPS+187) ((Disclaimer: these are season stats))
8HR 18RBI
5 SB
Leads the league in TB (54)
Statcast: EV 100th percentile, Hard Hit% 100th, Sprint Speed 98th, Barrel % 97th, xSLG 96th, xwOBA 94th
Analysis: I had to add in Tatis here because he's been flirting with the tops of the who's hot chart all year. I dug into his advanced statistics and oh boy. This may be my pick right now for MVP. Tatis Jr is at the tops of most statcast categories, all while stealing bases, and playing superior defense at the SS position. his OPS+ of 187 is just silly for a shortstop. If you're looking at someone to start your franchise with, maybe other than Trout, Tatis Jr would be your pick right now. I fully admit that I was pessimistic on his improvement because he lead the league in BABIP last year, but Tatis has proved me wrong.