Who's Hot/Not - Week 2 - 2021
Ronald Acuña Jr (OF, Atlanta Braves)
Quick Hits:
13/28 (.464)
4 HR, 10 RBI
.543 OBP
Analysis: It’s safe to say we’re not shocked at the level that Acuña plays with. He’s rocking at least the 94th percentile in everything Statcast related other than walk percentage where he’s in the 70th percentile at that. He’s on an incredible pace this year with splits of .433/.493/.581/1.409 with 7 HR, 16 RBI, and 3 SB. The only thing holding those stolen base numbers up are the extra base hits and I think the Braves are just fine with that.
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Max Scherzer (P, Washington Nationals)
Quick Hits:
13IP
15K
0.69ERA, 0.62 WHIP
Analysis: While Scherzer did gather a loss for his April 11th outing, he only gave up one run through six. In Max’s second start, the Nationals, trying to do their best “New York Mets when deGrom starts” impersonation, only mustered one run, but Scherzer shut down the Diamondbacks over 7 shutout innings gathering 10 strikeouts. Scherzer is still getting the swing and misses he needs (90th percentile), but a bulk of his pitches live dangerously in the strike zone.
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Yu Darvish (P, San Diego Padres)
Quick Hits:
14IP
15K’s
1.29 ERA, 0.50 WHIP
Analysis: Yu had the luxury of going against the Pirates for his first start where he gave up one run over 6 innings while striking out 7. Darvish had to flip around to face possibly the best team in the NL in the Dodgers last night. While he only gave up one ER (a walk to Kershaw with the bases loaded #bantheDH), the Padres couldn’t score on Kershaw and company. Through last night, Darvish has a solid 2.55 ERA in 24.2 IP.
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Nick Senzel (CF, Cincinnati Reds)
Quick Hits:
0 hits in 16 at bats
Coming into this week, Senzel started off hot, batting .400. He’s since crashed down to .222 (8-36) after not getting a hit this week. What’s promising with Senzel is that he’s not chasing the ball and walking a decent amount (.317 OBP). With his top tier speed, he still affects the game when he’s on the base paths.
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Willy Adames (SS, Tampa Bay Rays)
Quick Hits:
2 hits in 24 AB's
The hard throwing shortstop is colder than a polar bears toenails to start the year. On the season, he’s batting just .180 with a .572 OPS. On the Statcast side, it’s not looking great. He’s under the 20th percentile in every aspect of the game minus Hard Hit percentage (59th percentile). That’s where the glimmer of hope should be for the Rays, given that he’s hitting the ball hard enough to warrant a spot. If he keeps this up, will we see Wander soon? (I couldn’t leave this alone, of course he’s not coming up.)
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Jordan Montgomery (P, New York Yankees)
Quick Hits:
11IP
11K
6.55 ERA, 1 WHIP
Ryan P’s favorite Yankees pitcher Jordan Montgomery had a rough week. After a stellar outing to start the year versus Baltimore, Montgomery has given up four runs in each of his last two starts versus the Rays. The positives with Montgomery is he's getting people to chase (84th percentile). For a pitcher like Montgomery who doesn't feature the fastest pitches (average fastball of 92mph), it's important to feature a strong mix of pitches, which he does. Between his top four pitches, he only deviates 6% between usage meaning his changeup (24.1% thrown) and his curveball (18.3%) keeps hitters on their toes.
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