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Who's Hot/Who's Not Week 4

Stats are accumulated from August 14th - August 20th @ 8pm

Anthony Santander (OF Baltimore Orioles)

  • 5 HR 6 RBI

  • .435 BA

  • 1.736 OPS

  • Statcast: Outs Above Average 94th percentile, Outfielder Jump 93rd, K% 92nd, xBA 92nd, xSLG 91st, Barrel

  • Analysis: The Balitmore Orioles have been a fun team that has overshot their expectation by a ton and most of it is thanks to Anthony Santander. The four year outfielder has ripped off a couple of great weeks, but none like last week. To go with the excellent hitting is his borderline Gold Glove status in the outfield. As long as the O's continue to hit, Santander will continue to provide the power.

Dominic Smith (1B/OF New York Mets)

  • 2HR 9 RBI

  • .435 BA

  • 1.413 OPS

  • .471 BAbip

  • Statcast: Barrel % 96th percentile, xSLG 93rd, xwOBA 87th, Exit Velo 25th

  • Analysis: Dom Smith ripped off a clutch week of RBI's. His Barrel percentage mixed with hit Exit Velo tells me that this is a temporary hot streak. Essentially, he's perfect in contact, but the batted balls are just finding space at this moment. As an example, he hit a 34mph single on a curveball in the dirt, and a double into the shift that happened to land in between the shifted SS and LF.

Randal Grichuck (OF Toronto Blue Jays)

  • 6 HR 14 RBI

  • .423 BA

  • 1.637 OPS

  • Statcast: Barrel% 86th percentile, Sprint Speed 81st, xBA 80th, xSLG 76th

  • Analysis: Grichuck's bat has found the ball this past week smashing 6 homers. Other than the highlighted stats, everything else is about league average, so I can see Randal tapering off a smidge, but not by much. He's always been an above average hitter, but had a problem with striking out. This year, he's reduced his K% from an average of 28.6% to 20%

Javier Baez (2B Chicago Cubs)

  • 2/27

  • .286 OPS

  • .167 BABip

  • Statcast: Whiff% 6th percentile, K% 12th, xwOBA 20th, xBA 26th, Exit Velo 82nd

  • Analysis: This is what some experts were worried about with El Mago. His aggressiveness has always been his downfall, as you can see by his whiff% and K%. These numbers are fine when you're cranking home runs, not going 2/27. I will give him credit though, his EV is in the 82nd percentile. I believe he'll have a couple of hot weeks soon to get back to his average home run hitting self.

Byron Buxton (CF Minnesota Twins)

  • 1/21

  • .093 OPS

  • Statcast: xwOBA 25th percentile, xBA 29th, K% 30th, Exit velo 37th, Hard Hit% 37th, Sprint Speed 99th.

  • Analysis: After the previous week of 1.379 OPS and five homers, Buxton regressed. He's never been a consistent hitter, and that is showing the past two weeks. I do love to highlight his sprint speed though because he's a fun player to watch in the outfield.

JP Crawford (SS Seattle Mariners)

  • 1/23

  • .159 OPS

  • Statcast: Exit Velo 16th percentile, Barrel% 18th, Hard Hit% 20th

  • Analysis: While Crawford is a defensive whiz at short, his bat has never been a plus for him. This past week was especially tough hitting .043. Looking at his 2019 season however, this year is an improvement. He's increased in every statcast category minus sprint speed.

These are cumulative stats for this year

Lance Lynn (SP Texas Rangers)

  • 3-0

  • 39.1 IP

  • 42 K's

  • .81 WHIP

  • Analysis: Lynn will no longer make the "Who's Hot" list. This is just how good he is this year. One glaring stat that shows his improvement is wild pitches. Last year, he threw 18 of them in 208 IP. This year, he's at 0. If Lynn keeps this up, he can win the Cy Young in this abbreviated season.

Brandon Lowe (LF/2B Tampa Bay Rays)

  • 8 HR 23 RBI

  • 1.137 OPS

  • Statcast: Barrel% 100th percentile, xSLG 99th, xwOBA 97th, xBA 92nd

  • Analysis: Lowe has become one of the more exciting young players this year, and his statcast categories along with his numbers tell me he can win a Silver Slugger. The only bummer for him is that he seems to be the only Rays player that is hitting.

Luke Voit (1B New York Yankees)

  • 10 HR 20 RBI

  • 1.115 OPS

  • Statcast: Barrell% 98th percentile, xSLG 96th, xwOBA 92nd, xBA 89th, Hard Hit 88th, Whiff% 9th

  • Analysis: Voit's new slimmed down frame and higher launch angle (12.5 degrees last year to 20.2 this year) has led him to an increase in every statcast category. As true with most of the Yankees hitters, his Whiff% and K% (15th percentile) are a bit high, but it doesn't matter when you're crushing dongeroonis at a consistent rate. It will be fun to watch Voit and Judge battle for the home run lead (once Judge comes back from injury).

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