Anibal Sanchez has recorded just two wins and currently sports a 3.46 ERA with a pedestrian 1.34 WHIP, but he's become quite interesting if you look deeper. After posting an 11:0 K:BB ratio against the Nationals during his last start, he's now fanned 43 batters over 41.2 innings this season. Like usual, his control has remained shaky (3.67 BB/9), but that's really the only area he needs to improve to reach ace potential if this K rate is here to stay (that and staying healthy, of course). Sanchez has always been tough to hit (career BABIP .293) and homer against (career 7.2 HR/FB|PERCENT|), and we've yet to truly see how effective a fully healthy version can be. His average fastball velocity is a career-high (91.7 mph), but the real eye opener has been his slider, which he's thrown at an average of 86.1 mph – a full 2.4 mph faster than his career norm. Sanchez remains highly inconsistent, but he's on the radar at a minimum, and those in daily leagues should feel confident using him at home, where he posted a 2.65 ERA last year and currently boasts a 31:7 K:BB ratio with a 1.69 ERA and 0.79 WHIP over 26.2 innings.
Charles Barkley with the world's oddest golf swing. Stanky leg!
Minor league watch: Even in standard 12-team mixed leagues, Dominic Brown, Desmond Jennings and Brandon Belt should be stashed right now. Ben Francisco hasn't been worthless since he's getting on base at a decent clip, but it's come with little power. Meanwhile, Brown is back to health and currently hitting .367/.429/.673 with four homers over 49 at-bats in Triple-A. It should only be a matter of time before the Phillies turn to the former top prospect…Jennings is playing much better than last season, as he's currently posting a .417 OBP while recording eight steals without being caught. His recall isn't imminent, since the cash-strapped Rays want to keep his service time down and as an organization always want to be 100 percent certain their prospects are ready before giving them a chance in the bigs, but Sam Fuld, sadly, has just three hits over his past 50 at-bats…Belt is hitting .389/.514/.593 since being sent down to Triple-A Fresno, and while it's unclear what his role would be back in San Francisco (most likely, he'd play left field), he's going to get another chance sooner rather than later.
I'm beginning to think this guy may have had too much to drink.
There's legitimate concern Mat Latos is pitching hurt. After dealing with an arm injury in spring training last year, he followed by tossing 184.2 innings, which was 61.2 more than he had ever thrown before. Then he again dealt with an arm issue in spring training entering 2011, and his walk rate has taken a spike since, sometimes a precursor for someone pitching hurt. Moreover, his average fastball velocity is down from 93.7 mph last season to 91.9 mph this year, and the same is true with his slider (down from 84.7 to 83.3). A pessimist could also point to his 4.86 ERA despite a .275 BABIP. However, if you believe he's healthy (and he and Bud Black state he is, for what it's worth), or if you are a gambling type, Latos is an excellent buy-low target. After all, he's now 0-10 over his last 11 starts. While his average velocity is down, he's hit 96 mph at times, and more importantly, he's struck out 34 batters over 33.1 innings. Every pitcher in baseball will have a rough 5-6 start stretch from time to time, his just happens to be amplified because it's occurred at the beginning of the season, a time in which he actually could be expected to start slow since he missed most of spring training. Trading for him now would take a leap of faith, and there are real health concerns, but Latos is a dominant pitcher when right and calls Petco Park home, so a huge reward could be the payoff.
Count me in for self-driving cars.
Mitch Moreland opened the year batting eighth or ninth and sitting against left-handers. He's currently hitting fifth and even getting some starts against southpaws, including Wednesday, when he hit a grand slam off Gio Gonzalez before the game was postponed (brutal for his fantasy owners and amazing luck for Gonzalez owners). His OPS is now .925 and if the move up in the order sticks, his counting stats will get a big boost as well. Moreland may not truly be that great of a player (current road OPS is .775), but that doesn't matter to fantasy owners since he plays half his games in Arlington. It looks like he's going to go down as one of the better corner infield steals in fantasy leagues.
I hate to say it, and I know some will argue it's far too soon to declare any such conclusion, but moving forward, I'm treating Jason Heyward as an injury risk until proven otherwise. Maybe it's just been bad luck, and he's admittedly only 21 years old, but this is becoming a concern. And it's always a different part of his body too. The latest is a sore shoulder that will require an MRI and even worse, numbness in his forearm. That doesn't sound promising. I hope I'm wrong. It's encouraging he's been able to play through these injuries, which shows he's tough, but there is seemingly always some nagging problem sapping his production.
Maybe the 80th time will be the charm.
Homer Bailey has looked dominant over his first two starts since returning from the disabled list, allowing just one run with a 12:1 K:BB ratio over 13.0 innings. Of course, it's a two-start sample both coming against the Astros. But this dates back to last year, when he recorded a 9.1/9 K rate and a 3.1:1 K:BB ratio after the All-Star break. The real interesting aspect is just how different he's pitched so far in 2011. After throwing his slider 9.9|PERCENT| of the time throughout his career, he's used the pitch a staggering 29.8|PERCENT| this season, with terrific results. The downside is the major increase in slider usage doesn't exactly instill confidence in a pitcher who's dealt with past arm injuries staying healthy, but remember Bailey was once considered the top pitching prospect in all of baseball. He's pretty intriguing.
Just when you think Shake Weight jokes are all played out, there's this gem. I love the local news.
Gaby Sanchez is off to a fantastic start this season, posting a .331/.412/.534 line with a 19:18 K:BB ratio. He's also on pace to finish with 28 homers, 102 runs scored and 107 RBI. He's absolutely crushing fastballs, as his 13.9 runs above average leads major league baseball. Sanchez, who did most of his damage against left-handers last year, is actually hitting righties (.967 OPS) better than southpaws (.854) in 2011. He's shown great strides at the plate and is just now entering his prime at age 27. Sanchez has established himself as the Marlins' cleanup hitter, and like Ike Davis, these two seemingly good but not great first base prospects suddenly look like elite ones six weeks into the 2011 season.
Speaking for the first time in 20 years, Charles Manson recently gave his views about global warming. And why wouldn't we want to know this man's thoughts on the matter?
Tim Lincecum is just 3-3 on the year, but he's pitching better than ever over his first eight starts of 2011. His 10.73 K/9 rate and 55.0 GB|PERCENT| are both career-bests, the latter by a wide margin. His walk rate (2.93 BB/9) is also the second-lowest mark of his career, and his 2.11 ERA is all the more impressive when you consider five of his eight starts have come on the road, and the Giants have fielded the third worst defense in baseball, according to their -10.7 UZR/150 rating. Among the top-45 starting pitchers on the GB|PERCENT| leaderboard, only three others (Roy Halladay, Ricky Romero and Matt Garza) also sport a K/9 better than 9.0. Lincecum's 55.0 GB|PERCENT| is better than those three, and only Garza's 11.69 K/9 rate is superior. In fact, not one pitcher has finished both with a K rate above 9.0 and a GB|PERCENT| above 50.0 since Fangraphs started recording groundball rates in 2002. To reiterate, Lincecum currently sports a 10.73 K/9 and a 55.0 GB|PERCENT|! After an awful August last year, Lincecum dealt with serious adversity for the first time in his career, so instead of letting his dominant September and World Series win satisfy him, he worked harder than ever during the offseason, including an In-N-Out diet that consisted of a single order typically being three double-doubles, two orders of fries and a shake in an effort to bulk up (he now weighs 169 pounds AFTER gaining 11 lbs over winter), and it's paying off. His velocity is up with his fastball, curveball and especially his slider (up 2.6 mph from his career level), which he has used with much more frequency this season, finally giving him a true out pitch against righties to counter his deadly changeup versus lefties. Roy Halladay is baseball's best pitcher, but Lincecum is off to a ridiculously fantastic start this season.
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